AlB—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 22,1983 Grange plans egg trip to Washington HARRISBURG Pennsylvania State Grange Master Charles Wismer, Jr. today announced the Pennsylvania State Grange is sponsoring a bus trip to Washington, D.C. in order to - “personally convey the plight of the Pennsylvania poultry fanner to our Congressional Delegation, and stress the serious need for immediate and comprehensive legislation to save the family poultry farmer from extinction.’’ The bus trip will take place on Nov. 2, from Gettysburg in Adams County (the 2nd top egg producing county in the state) to Washington, D.C. where the meeting with state Congressional Delegates is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. including a luncheon at 12:15 p.m. in room B-340 of the Rayburn Office Building. Several representatives of Pennsylvania’s independent egg producers have previously met in September with state officials to present their “blueprint for sur vival” in a depressed egg market. Producers from Adams, Lan caster, York and Cumberland Counties-major egg producing counties in the state-cited profit losses due to foreign and domestic corporate investors, high feed prices brought on by the Payment- In-Kind program and the drought, and high utility rates. In Washington on Nov. 2, specific solutions will be urged by egg producers, including: an im mediate stop to foreign and cor- 'Jlii^ M STRIKE IT RICH! SELL IT WITH A LANCASTER FARMING CLASSIFIED porate investment groups and others using this as a tax shelter in agriculture; the addition of eggs and poultry to the Packers and Stockyards Act, which will provide payment protections for poultry growers; support for the inclusion of eggs in the 1937 Farm Com modities Agreement Act; creation of a national poultry sup ply/management program; the release of government surplus grain for feed; and the lowering of interest rates for loans to family egg producers with under 200,000 birds. Family egg producers are ex periencing their fourth consecutive year of losses, according to Dolly Sterner, a spokesperson for the egg producers and a Grange member. A poultry farmer, she noted that 40 percent of the state’s 4,700 in dependent egg producers went out of business last year. “Producers are losing up to six cents on every dozen of eggs they produce,’’ Sterner said. Sterner also ,said that in dependents are losing their markets in part to large foreign and domestic investors who continue to expand in a surplus egg market. Foreign investors now own up to 25 percent of all laying birds in Pennsylvania compared to 15 percent a year ago. The poultrymen feel that these million bird operations are expanding to the detriment of the small family farmers, who will eventually be squeezed out of the market. In QDll HI SBM AUTOMATIC brooders ODIfIW 100% SHUTOFF ' DOWNGOING HEAT Sunnybird 2 4.400 BTU Maximum FEATURES ELECTRONIC IGNITION 1. FUEL WASTING PILOTS 4. GUESS WORK 2. OVER HEATING 5. ADJUSTING NUMEROUS 3. UNDER HEATING THERMOSTATS Adams County, foreign-owned laying hens far outnumber hens owned by family producers, and foreign competition is the number one contributor to the Adams County poultryman’s financial crunch, Sterner asserts. Wismer said the Grange is working with the State Assembly on controlling further foreign expansion, as well as on in troducing legislation requiring prompt payment by processors to Pennsylvania poultry farmers. It ELIMINATING: COMPLETE SYSTEMS, EQUIPMENT, SALES, INSTALLATION, SERVICE FOR CATTLE. HOG, POULTRY AND GRAIN joining Eari Newcomer, presi jncaster Farmers Assn., in cutting the rib bon for opening of Farm-City Week observance at Park City shopping mall are, from the left. Ken Brandt, state representative; Congressman Bob Walker; Bob Magel, advertis ing and promotions director at the mall; and Robert Boyer, Lancaster County Commis sioner. AVAILABLE FOR POULTRY ORSWINE Sunnybird® 8 14,000 BTU Maximum -AGRI 2754 CREEK HILL RD., LEOLA, PA 17540 PHONE: 717-656-4151 is expected that U.S. Senator Arlen Specter will introduce similiar legislation on the latter, this session of Congress. “Pennsylvania is a state that is traditionally ranked third in the nation in egg production, and it generated a market value in eggs of nearly $2Bl million in 1962; therefore, it is vital that we protect the future of Pennsylvania’s family egg farmers,” Wismer commented. The Grange expects a group of equipment, INC* ★ SERVING PA. N.J. and N.Y. about 40 emissaries on the Washington trip including Grange representatives, independent poultry farmers from across the state, and other farm organizations representatives. “We hope to be duly received and listened to by Senator’s Arlen Specter (R) and John Heinz (R), as wed as the state’s Congressional Representatives, and we expect a good response for our efforts in Washington on November 2nd,” Wismer stated. Sun Master™ (Auto Group Control Kit) ★ THE NEW CONTROL PANEL DIS PLAYS ROOM TEMPERATURE CONSTANTLY ON A LCD PANEL ALLOWING THE OPERATOR TO TELL ACCURATELY AT A GLANCE WHAT HIS ROOM TEM PERATURE IS. ★ FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL OR WRITE. STORE HOURS Mon.-Fn 7:30 to 4:30 Sat. 7:30 to 11 30
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