E2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 2,1983
NFO head says ag needs dramatic changes
BY HAROLD SHELLY
PLUMSTEADVILLE - An
overflow crowd of almost 250
people packed the Plumsteadville
Fire House last Saturday night for
the 17th annual dinner-meeting of
the Bucks County Chapter of the
National Farmers Organization.
The group consisted of members,
guests and local agri-businessmen,
who gathered to hear national
representatives of the N.F.O.
speak on problems in agriculture.
National Delegate Richard
Hoffman, a dairy fanner from
Delanson, N.Y., told the gathering
that if the U.S. Department of
Agriculture is successful with its
proposed milk tax, 15 percent of
the dairy farmers in Bucks County
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NFO National President DeVon Woodland addresses
overflow crowd at I7th annual Bucks County dinner.
Wool Pool meets
BUCKINGHAM - The annual
meeting of the Bucks-Montgomery
Wool Pool was held recently at the
Tyro Hall Grange.
The 35-year-old cooperative is a
non-profit organization, which
pools wool grown by farmers in
Bucks, Montgomery and Chester
Counties.
The wool is sold at the Penn State
sale in April. Buyers who are
familiar with the type and quality
of wool produced by the various
pools throughout the state submit
sealed bids for wool they are in
terested in buying.
The actual physical shipment of
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Lambs are collected at Middletown Grange Fairgrounds for third annual Bucks-
Montgomery Co-op Pool. Lambs are graded and weighed for Easter holiday market
will be out of business by this time
next year.
He said that the N.F.O. has in
stituted a law suit to get a per
manent injunction against the tax
which will deduct 50 cents per
hundredweight from the farmer’s
milk check effective April 16, and
another possible 50 cents later.
“The cheap food policy of the
Federal Government is going to
hurt the producer, Hoffman said.
“If the USDA is successful with the
milk tax, then beef, grain and hogs
will surely follow.”
He finished his remarks by
saying that the farmer is being
penalized for producing an
abundance of food and fiber.
“This is the only country in. the
the wool takes place on the first
Tuesday in June in Doylestown. All
the producers bring their wool
which is graded by graders from
Penn State.
Eighty-five persons of the 185-
member co-op attended the
meeting. The Board of Directors
consists of President, Warren
Landis, Montgomery; Jane Cox,
Vice President, Bucks; Rod
Gilbert, Secretary, Bucks/ Fred
Haentze, Treasurer, Montgomery;
William Rockafellow, Bucks;
Homer Schwenk, Montgomery;
Phil Rodell, Bucks; and Dean
Morey, Montgomery .-H.S.
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Attending 17th annual NFO dinner meeting at Plumsteadville Fire House are. from the
left, Dawn Yerkes, Bucks County dairy princess; Rosemary Garges, William Garges,
Bucks County NFO president; and DeVon Woodland, National NFO president.
world where you can eat all you “The surplus is not the farmers’ saying that compared to the rest of
want, three times a day,” he said. fault,” he said. the economy, the true figure for
Lindsay Leiser, Regional “The government buys as much the cost of production for the
Representative of the N.F.0., said product as is offered, and it makes dairyman is >21.00 per hun
that the surplus in dairy products good economic sense for the plants dredweight
that has led to the proposed milk
tax was brought on by the butter,
cheese and powdered milk plants
selling to the Federal Government.
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Directors of the Bucks-Montgomery Wool Pool include, from the left, Rod Gilbert,
secretary; Jane Cox, vice president; Warren Landis, president; Bill Rockafellow and
Homer Schwenk.
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to sell to it. The government
guarantees a market, a profit and
a check.”
Leiser closed his remarks by
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Easter lamb pool held
-
WRIGHTSTOWN - The Bucks-
Montgomery Wool Co-op held its
third annual lamb pool at the
Middletown Grange Fairgrounds
last Sunday. .
pm
The event was coordinated by
Mike Fournier, Bucks County
Extension Agent, who said that 24
lots of lambs totalling 205 animals
were shipped to Catelh’s m
Richboro.
The lot sizes ranged from one to
30 lambs, with 30 being the
maximum number accepted from
one producer. Fournier said the
packer will accept a maximum of
300 lambs. The weight range is
restricted to a minimum of 25
pounds and a maximum of 55
pounds. The lambs were one month
to three months old and will be
readied for the Easter Holiday
market.
The majority of the producers
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The featured speaker of the
evening was DeVon Woodland,
National President of the N.F.0.,
(Turn to Page E 4)
who participated were small
operators who would normally ship
only five to eight lambs per year.
The animals were delivered to the
Fairgrounds in pick-up trucks,
family cars, station wagons, and
even a VW bus.
The lambs were graded into
three categories as they were
unloaded. “Thick,” “average” and
“thin” were each designated by a
different colored chalk stripe on
the lamb’s back.
The prices paid would be set on
the average of prices at the Lan
caster Market on the day after the
lamb Pool. Iliis pooling of the
animals would ensure the producer
getting the benefit of the Lancaster
Market without the expense of
transportation. The Co-op gets a
one percent commission for
grading and weighing.