A3B—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 4,1983
Mix reviews dairy
(Continued from Page A 32)
The states contributing the most
to CCC purchases are Wisconsin
and Minnesota, combined they
account for two-thirds of all CCC
purchases. Along with California,
the three states account for 85
percent of all CCC purchases. The
Northeast presently makes up only
eight percent of CCC purchases.
Mix gave a brief synopsis of a
conference held May 18, between
Secretary of Agriculture John
Block and the dairy sub
committees of both the House and
Senate. They met in an attempt to
get an agreement between the
administration and both houses of
Congress that they can mark-up in
a bill and take to the full House and
Senate Agriculture Committees,
and then to the floor.
The proposal that came out of
the meeting contained the
following points according to Mix:
-It would leave the current
legislation, the 50 cents
assessement, m place until Oc
tober 1,1983.
-Before then, new legislation
would be enacted to lower the
support price to 112.60 (by 50
cents).
-A diversion payment of 10 cents
per hundredweight would be payed
to producers who cut production by
5-30 percent from their 1961)82
base. This diversion payment
would be payable thru December
31, 1984 and would be funded by
monies collected from the 50 cents
assessment.
-A mandatory 15 cents per hun
dredweight would be deducted for
advertising and promotion. Credit
would be given up to 10 cents per
hundredweight for present ad
vertising and sales promotion
payments.
-On January 1, 1965 if the
Secretarry of Agriculture
estimates the CCC purchases to be
more than 6.0 billion pounds of
milk equivalent per year, this
support price will drop another 50
cents to $12.10.
-If that wasn’t sufficient to
reduce purchases then the support
prices would drop another 50 cents
on July 1,1985 to $11.60.
In response to this proposal Mix
attempted to estimate its impact.
A one dollar decrease in the price
of milk per hundredweight would
mean a $260 million decrease in the
Northeast, according to Mix. That
decrease would translate into a
$1.3 billion drop in the overall
economy of the Northeast because
a factor of five is used for dollar
drop on the farm to the overall
economy.
Mix stressed the importance of
high sales per cow if the dairyman
is going to survive these lower
prices. He said there are three key
factors that will determine those
who stay in business and those who
are forced out. Those factors are:
debt service per cow, pounds of
milk sold per cow, and milk price
legislation.
“I believe the net affect of these
key factors for the year ahead will
be such that perhaps eight to ten
percent of Northeast dairy far
mers will be forced out of business
by 1985,” Mix predicted.
Alot of people are giving higher
percentages for drop out, said Mix.
The longer the surplus lasts, the
bigger the drop out will be.
Mix brought a bit of pertinent
history before the conference that
dealt with the dairy surplus
problem in 1953-54. Purchases by
the CCC hit a record high, for that
time, of 11.3 billion pounds of milk
equivalent. Build-up of CCC
purchases lasted for 21 months,
and increases m cow numbers
peaked at 10 months.
Mix said that this time around
there is no evidence that cow
numbers have peaked yet. The
number of cows has been in
creasing for the last 39 consecutive
months.
“Therefore, the problem we
have is more deeply entrenched
that it was before,” Mix pointed
out. “At that tune theJSecretary of
Agriculture dropped the suport
price 70 cents, in today’s dollars
that is equal to 82.39. It took 18
months to bring production in line
with consumption in 1953-54. We
are more deeply entrenched this
tune, thus there will be a longer
turn around tune, probably a
minimum of two to three years.”
In his concluding remarks Mix
said, that unless we experience a
miracle along the lines of con
sumption, a reduction in cow
numbers by 1.2 million will be
needed by 1990. Other factors he
pointed to, to correct the surplus
problem were a mandatory 15
cents per hundredweight for ad
vertising and sales promotion,
increased standards for solids-not
fat, and increasing exports.
“I’m an optimist,” said Mix. “I
believe the cycle has turned before
and it will turn again, but it’s going
to take a broad understanding of
the situation we are in by all
dairymen. We can’t go on thinking
that all we have to do is put on
more cows to maintain a cash flow.
MOM
FINGERTIP
FEED CONTROL
PARADISE The newly
organized Grange in the Paradise-
Strasburg area, Pequea Valley
Grange No. 2078, will hold its next
meeting on Friday, at the Paradise
Township Municipal Building.
Officers elected at the last
meeting include: Robert Coates,
Master; Roy Witmer, Overseer;
Dorothy Zimmerman, Lecturer
and Ruth Clark, Secretary.
Carl Meshey, • Paradise Town
ship supervisor, spoke to the
Grange about the past activities
and future plans of Paradise
Township. A game conducted by
Dottie Stauffer was won by Sandy
Weir and the door prize was won by
Robert Coates.
Regular meetings of the Pequea
Valley Grange No. 2078 will be held
on the second and fourth Fridays
at 8 p.m. at the Paradise Township
Building. Anyone interested in
becoming a member of this
community organization is
welcome to come to Friday’s
meeting.
Additional information can be
obtained from Robert Coates 442-
4134 or Dottie Stauffer 548-2009.
HORN OF RUNTY
FINGERTIP FEED CONTROL
More Milk
Less Wasted
Feed
More Profits
Daily Ri
WORKING 24 HOURS / PER DAY FOR PENNIES
SAVING YOU THOUSANDS
FOR MORE INFORMATION
HORN OF PLENTY DEALERS
WITHER IMPLEMENT ROVENDALE SUPPLY ERB& HENRY GERALD
Shippensburg, PA Watsontown, PA EQUIPMENT MENDENHALL
717-532-6139 717-538-5521 Newßerlinvlle, PA Brookville, PA
215-367-2169 814-849-5539
BURCHFIELD’S INC. McDOWELL FARM
Martinsburg. PA • IMPLEMENTS TRI-STATE FARM RAY ESBENSHADE
814-793-2194 Grove City, PA AUTOMATION Jersey Shore, PA
■a,m iudiidc 814-786-7735 Hagerstown, MD 717-753-5226
INIrrUNBUnb 301-790-3608
FARMERS WINGERTONKEY twmkw CLIFF KNEPPER
EXCHANGE MIX BEN HAINES FAR* SUPPLY
Mitflinburg, PA Waynesboro, PA Rising Sun, MD Somerset, PA
717-966-1001 717-762-4130 301-658-5359 314-445-6306
CUMMINGS & BRICKEH INC.
Distributors Farm & irrigation Equipment
111 Cedar Street 100 Stover Drive
P.O. Box 272 Batavia, N.Y. 14020 Carlisle, PA 17013
(716) 343-5411 (717) 249-6720
Pequea Valley Grange to meet
COMPUTERIZED FEEDING
Controls Exact
Amount Of Feed
To As Many
As 499 Cows
Using Up To
32 Feeders
One Or Two
Rations
Handling
and Storage
Heat
Ration * 2
. eqi . alley Grange in Lancaster County
include, front row from left, Ruth Clark, Dorothy Zimmerman
and Roy Witwer; back row, Clair Hillard, left, and Robert
Coates.
Ration #1
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Batter Planning
Better Health
Mora Profits
Automatically
Reports Daily
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Consumption With
f Special Updated
Reports Anytime
Individual
3? Feeding
proportioned
throughout
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Reporting and
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Consumption