VOL. 27 No. 36
" Dairyman Charles Benner, left, of Mount
:’ Pleasant Mills, Snyder County serves as co
; chairman of the Farmers for Thornburgh-
Scranton committee. More than 50 farmers
A & B trims salaries; Hatfield expanding
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
LANCASTER The volatile,
ever-changing meat packing in
dustry in Pennsylvania shifted
again in the past week or so with
one company cutting wages to
combat current economics and
Snotber proceeding with the final
tages of expansion that will
• significantly increase its capacity.
In Allentown, the A and B Meat
Packing Company put mto effect
an approximate 15 percent cut in
wages, which will continue during
the remainder of the year.
And, Hatfield Packing Company,
* which is a full-line packer and
- manufactures meat products,
expects to complete expansion of
its cut floor and kill floor in the fall,
, bringing slaughter capacity to 3500
- 4000 hogs a day.
The A and B wage cut went into
effect on June 27, following ap-
proval by employees belonging to
• the Meat Packers and Teamsters
gNnions at the company.
The decision to trim wages,
which amounts to a $1.50 an hour
cut for the union employees, is due
to the present status of the
' economy, according to Lorm
" Coffman, executive vice president
.of A and B.
The reduction cuts the unionized
base rate from $9.57 to $8.07- an
hour. • ' '
,r : .“By, tightening up during these
Four Sections
Farmers endorse Thornburgh
harder times, we plan to come
back in the better times,” Hoffman
said.
The A and B wage cut program
includes plans for reinstating the
original wage level on January 1
and then repaying the lost income
to employees, plus interest, over
an 18-month period.
The lost wages, plus 10 percent
interest, are to be repaid to em
ployees in three installments six
months apart in June and
December, 1983, and January,
1984.
Hotlman also reports that the
customary seasonal summer
dropoff in pork demand from the
New York market is greater than
normal this year, causing a larger
than usual reduction in the A and B
slaughtering schedule recently.
As a slaughtering firm, A and B
primarily provides dressed hog
carcasses to the New York area.
"In the past, our summer
slaughter had dropped off to about
2600 to 2700 head a day,” Hoffman
said.
“Now, we’re ranging from 2000
to2sooaday.”
During the fall and wmfer, A and
B had been processing up to 3500
hogs a day.
"The New York market is
tighter,” he explained.
, /‘There has been reaction to tb/s
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 10,1982
gathered at the Robert Kauffman farm near
Elizabethtown on Thursday afternoon to
announce their endorsement.
higher hog prices and their effect
on retail levels and they tell us that
the cut-outs just aren’t good at this
time.”
At* Hatfield Packing Company,
the present slaughter schedule
numbers 2250 to 2300 hogs a day,
which is about 5 or 6 percent above
last year, according to Jerry
Clemens, ot the buying depart
ment.
“The expansion ot the cut floor
and the kill floor, which is due to be
completed in September or Oc
Conestoga cleanup moves ahead
LANCASTER After the first
year ot sign-ups by tanners in the
northeastern section ot Lancaster
County, the federally funded, cost
sharing program tor the cleanup ot
the headwaters of the Conestoga
Kiver is moving head about on
schedule.
Thus tar, $175,000 in federal
funds have been committed out ot
the total $1.4 million in federal
funds available for water quality
improvement contracts.
“This means that about 12
percent of the funds available for
actual contracts have been
committed in the first year ot the
10-year project,” Kay Brubaker, ot
the Lancaster Agricultural
Stabilization and Conservation
Service Office, said.
“That would put us just about on
»‘'> > > i
BY SHEILA MILLER
ELIZABETHTOWN - “What’s
that button you’re wearing?”
Answering that question,
dairyman Charles Benner of
Mount Pleasant Mills, Snyder
County, proudly stuck out his chest
to permit a better view of a bright
yellow tractor with farmer on
board, surrounded by the words
“Farmers for Thornburgh.”
Benner, who co-chairs the
Farmers for Thomburgh-Scranton
committee, wasn’t the only one
wearing the eye-catching pin on
Thursday afternoon. At' least 50
other farmers were sporting these
political buttons as they shared
stories about the crops, cows, and
other topics while waiting for the
governor to make his appearance
at Bob and Mim Kauffman’s farm.
The Kauffmans, renowned
throughout Lancaster County and
the state for their top-of-the-line
Holsteins, hosted the committee’s
first public press conference at
their 220-acre farm. According to
Mim, this is the first time a
governor has visited their farm
during the 20 years they lived
there.
When asked if she did anything
special to prepare for the gover
nor’s arrival, Mim said, “We
swept up a little more than usual
and we got the lawn mowed
earlier.” The little extras that
require special efforts on a farm
where spare time is the exception
tober, will increase our capacity to
3500 to 4000 a day,” Clemens said.
“We won’t be going to that
number right away. It all depends
on the economy and how the
products are selling at that time.”
Growth at Hatfield has been
averaging about 10 to 12 percent a
year, according to Clemens.
Last year, the overall state meat
packing situation changed con
siderably with the cessation of
operations by Penn Packing ol
Philadelphia, which had been
schedu.e over the full term ot the
project."
To dale, 18 water qualuv plans
have been developed and approved
by the county committee tor
contracts on a cost-sharing basis.
Ot these plans, the hfst j-Car ot
eight contracts have been paid. *
Thus tar, a total ot 48 ap
plications are on file at the ASCS
Office to participate in the
program.
Based on the average cost of
approved plans during the first
year ot the program, it would
appear that approximately 150
farms can be aided in the project to
install improved management
practices to reduce agricultural
pollution in the Upper Conestoga.
With a total ot $175,000 com
mitted durn» the first year to the
$7.50 per year
and not the rule were all for a man
the Kauffmans say is “doing a
good job” for farmers.
On schedule, the governor’s car
rolled dustily down the graveled
road leading to the Kauffmans’
immaculate homestead. After a
few words with the assembled
farmers, the usual handshakes,
and a wolfed-down sandwich,
Thornburgh was ready to meet the
press, taking his position next to
dairyman Benner. The two men
and other key supporters posed in
front of a white-washed wooden
gate as young Holstein heifers
curiously peeked around the
boards while munching on a
strategically placed bale of alfalfa
hay.
Expressing the committee’s
sentiments, Benner said farmers
are happy with the job Dick
Thornburgh has been doing over
the past four years. “We want to
keep a ■ jnan like this in
Harrisburg,’ ’ he stated.
Benner and his fellow farmers
applauded Thornburgh’s
legislative efforts in preserving the
family farm and Ids support of
agriculture and agribusiness. The
30 farm bills that were signed into
law during Thornburgh’s four-year
administration were offered as
proof of this politician’s concern
for agriculture.
With an ear-to-ear smile, the
governor accepted the farmers’
(Turn to Page A 18)
processing some 5500 to 6000 hogs a
day.
In the interim, Portland In
dustries, Inc., ot Riverside, N.J.,
opened a hog slaughtering facility
in the Ezra Martin facilities along
the Old Philadelphia Pike m
Lancaster.
The slaughter is averaging about
1200 head a day, according to Tony
Bonaccurso, plant manager.
The carcasses are then shipped
to the Porkland fabricating plant
in Riverside. N.J.
IB approved pians, tne ac viatic
federal share uer farm is running
about $9,700 Thus, some 130 farms
can be included in the project witn
total lederai contract funds ut
$1,448,000 available.
Some 400 farms are included in
the critical areas oi the project
Critical areas have been defined as
those near small tributaries, those
with animal density of more than
1.5 units per acre and farms using
high rates of commercial nutrients
or pesticides
Federal cost-sharing tunds are
designed to cover 50 to 75 percent
of the cost ot installing unproved
pollution control parctices and
taciiities, with a maximum limit ot
$50,000 per farm over the 10-year
hie span of the project.