First minimum milk price was $2.10
HARRISBURG - The first milk
price order written by the Penn
sylvania Milk Control Commission
(now the Milk Marketing Board)
was issued on February 28,1937, on
an emergency basis, less than two
months after the law went into
effect on January 2, of that year.
The order was written for the
Eric Milk Marketing area which
then included only the City of Erie
and the countryside 20 miles
around. Within two weeks the
territory was enlarged.
The minimum Class I price to be
paid for farmers in that order for
one hundred pounds of 3.5% but
terfat milk was only 82.10 which
was just over 4 'i cents per quart.
The Class 2 price was set at $1.40.
The minimum price to the con
sumer was 10 cents a quart and 6
cents a pint. With inadequate
refrigeration those days most
dairies made two home deliveries
daily and a pint each time was not
uncommon all in glass bottles, of
course.
The minimum Class 1 farm price
today for that Erie market is
$13.91, which is just over 30 cents a
quart or seven and a half times
more. The minimum price out-of
stores for the now popular gallon is
$l.BB, which is only 47 cents a
quart. This means the consumer
pays about four and a half times
more than he did in the Depression
•30s.
Had the consumer price gone up
at the same rate as that paid to
farmers that gallon would cost
$2.65 instead of $l.BB. More ef
ficient plants, higher volumes and
other savings made this possible,
according to Henry R. Geisinger,
executive vice-president of the
Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania
Association of Milk dealers.
“The fact that farmers are
getting more and consumers are
paying less by comparison is
understandable,” the dealer
spokesman added. “The Milk
Marketing Law came into being
because farmers during the pre-
World War II depression were hard
hit. They were going out of
business and those remaining had
difficulty maintaining any kind of
quality, which was a threat to the
public health. Thus, the General
Assembly in a special session took
action to protect the farmer and
the Pennsylvania consumer.”
While the jump from 10 cents to
47 cents a quart might sound large
it must be remembered wage
scales also have changed
drastically. Back in the '3os the
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average salalry was around $2O a
week or below and people raised
families, bought homes, etc. The
Pennsylvania Department of
Labor says the average weekly
wage today is about $4OO. At that
rate, the old 10 cents quart of milk
should sell for $2.00 instead of 47
cents a gallon would cost $B.OO.
If one considers milk as a
beverage rather than “nature’s
most nearly perfect food”,
Geismger said, it still is a
tremendous bargain for Penn
sylvania families. A recent chain
store advertisement featured a
two-liter bottle of a popular soda as
a “special” for $1.19. On a gallon
basis that would be $2.25 for
sugar, flavoring and carbonated
water.
Farmers and dealers know there
is much more to producing milk
when all of the expensive equip
ment, sanitation practices,
laboratory tests and refrigeration
are considered. Milk must move
from cow to customer in short
order.
Over the 37 years since that first
price order was written the Penn
sylvania dairy industry in most
part has continued to thrive and
grow, at least from a farmer
standpoint. While the Keystone
State is only 33rd in size among the
50, we continue to be the fifth
largest milk producing state in the
nation.
According to the Pennsylvania
Crop Reporting Service, the top
quality cows in Penn’s Woods turn
out around 10 billion pounds a year,
which for the uninitiated is just
under 5 billion quarts (2.15 pounds
to the quart). This has a value of
about $1.5 billion ’ today, a
tremendous benefit to the economy
of the Commonwealth, amounting
to over $4 billion daily from bossy’s
production.
With the problems in the steel
industry, agriculture has become
the number one state business and
more than 40 cents out of every
farm dollar comes from milk. This
is vital. In addition, the dealer
executive continued, there are
some 11,000 additional employees
not counting farm families and
farm workers who help to
process, package and deliver milk,
ice cream, cheese and other dairy
products. That payroll amounts to
about $3.5 million weekly.
While milk production continues
to increase, dealers have had
problems. When Milk Marketing
first began there were around 1,100
processors licensed in the state.
Today, there are less than 100. Low
profits and tough competition have
had their effect and many old and
familiar milk dealer names no
lunger exist, according u>
Cleisinger
The Pennsylvania Milk
Marketing Law does me more
great thing for farmers in addition
to guaranteeing a fair price. This is
the bonding or the Milk Security
Fund. The latter concept, which
began in 1980, has run into some
difficulty, but legislation has been
introduced to provide added
protection for farmers.
“Most states in the nation have
no protection for dairymen,” the
milk dealer head stated,” and
farmers must take their chances
the same as in other businesses.
Texas, for example, has a
maximum bond of about $5,000
which would provide protection for
about 96 minutes of production
instead of the 40 days provided in
the Pennsylvania Law.”
Currently, dealers have filed
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more thai M> million dollars
worth ol bonds to protect their
farmers which does not include the
1 cent per hundredweight being
paid by some 69 dealers into the
Security Fund. This is protection
unlike that provided dairy farmers
across the country.
The continued growth in the
state’s milk industry during these
changing times must be attributed
to the stability afforded by the Milk
Marketing Law, according to
Geisinger. It not only has provided
some financial security but it has
resulted in top quality products
which continue to improve under
the direction of the state Depart
ment of Agriculture.
Thus, the farmer t»a° protection
Chicken
contest to continue
GEORGETOWN, Del. - Despite
cancellation of the 1984 Delmarva
Chicken Festival due to the threat
of avian influenza, the Delmarva
Chicken Cooking Contest will
continue. The contest will be held
as a closed event and will operate
under a set of rigid restrictions
established by Delmarva Poultry
Industry, Inc.’s Emergency
Poultry Disease Task Force.
Previously a three-state com
petition, the Delmarva Cook-off
has expanded to include 12 nor
theastern states and the District of
Columbia. The first contest under
the new format will take place on
Saturday, June 9, in Salisbury, Md.
Finalists, two from each of the
eligible states, are currently being
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and the Consumer gets a great
product at a fair price lower
than the national average, despite
the fact farm prices in most areas
are lower than here.
“Dealer margins are lower than
in non-regulated states,” the
dealer spokesman said, “because
there is some type of floor at the
retail level so damaging price
wars do not result. In many states
such wars have occurred and
many dealers were run out of
business, thus losing markets for
farmers. Later, when competition
is gone it is strange to note'prices
above what they had been at the
outset consumers are charged
whatever the traffic will bear.”
cooking
notified of their selection. Names
of the 26 finalists will be released
by May 1.
While the cook-off will not be
open to the public, a cookbook
containing the recipes from the
1984 contest is in preparation and
copies, at $1.25 each, will be
available from Delmarva Poultry
Industry, Inc. after June 10. In
addition to contest recipes, the
booklet will include a collection of
all-tune chicken favorites, plus a
section entitled, "Chicken With A
Foreign Accent.”
For further information on the
Delmarva Chicken Cooking
Contest, contact Delmarva Poultry
Industry, Inc., R 2, Box 47,
Georgetown, Del. 19947
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