Al2-Lancaster Famine, Saturday, March 9,1985 Dairy Promotion Board (Continued from Page Al) informed them that Uie ra. oairy promotion ads will be back on the airwaves in April. For a sum of $30,000 Creamer is also arranging a Pirates promotion at Three River Stadium. At the baseball game on June 30, the conclusion of Dairy Month, youngsters will be given jerseys with the “Make It Milk’’ logo. A celebrity milking contest and other promotion activities will also be held that day. Muschweck also stated that “giving the Pa. Dairy Board an identity as a promotion program” will also be a goal in the coming months. His comments tied in closely with a concern that sur faced several times during the meeting on Monday. “Recognition problem” “I’m disappointed with the lack of knowledge and interest of the dairymen,” stated board member Thad Woodward. And other board members were quick to express their dismay at the “recognition problem” from which the Pa. promotion program suffers. Members remarked that as they talk to fellow dairy farmers they are discovering that the producers have little knowledge of the Pennsylvania promotion effort. One person even noted that he’s talked to farmers who are con fusing the 50 cent diversion program assessment with the 15 cent advertising deduction. Woodward called for a “means of selling this program,” as the board members hashed over the identity problem. “We’ve talked about this every meeting. What are we going to do?” challenged Donald Duncan. While Harteis shared a motivating presentation that he <K> FARMTRONIX COMPUTERIZED FEEDING SYSTEM has given at dairy meetings, and everyone agreed that they must be willing to speak to farmers about the promotion efforts, no one came up with a clear-cut solution to mobilizing the “army” of more than 15,000 dairy farmers in the state. “You’ve got to get it into a package for the farmer who doesn’t come out to meetings,” commented Larry Yeager, area Extension marketing agent, from the audience. “There are more of them out there than we realize.” Ideas of informing extension personnel across the state and of devising a “fact sheet” about the program were discussed, but action to escape the dilemma was nil. Local promotion funds In other action during the meeting, the subcommittee handling local funding requests reported a relaxation of the guidelines for receiving local promotion monies. With a board decision to extend the application deadline, county dairy promotion organizations can still submit requests. Reporting for the local promotion subcommittee, PDA staffer Bill Smedley said that the consensus of the group was that the guidelines and application procedures were “too negative and too strict” before. In the last funding period, of $42,000 in requests for local promotion funds, only $9,800 was * SPECIAL PRICING On A Reconditioned Unit Fit To Your Operation Ask For Details! Q Earl Hostetter at Keystone Mills 717-354-4616 717-738-4251 1-800-292-2111 KEYSTONE MILLS • Easy To Learn Diversion payments total $537 million WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture today said milk diversion checks for the January-March 1984, April-June 1984, and July-September 1984, quarters that were paid, cashed and processed through December allocated. No funding for travel expenses, dairy princess pageants, radio or brand advertising, or capital investments were allowed in the first six months. The board will now fund up to $6OO per radio station for Make it Milk ads, and up to $lOOO, one time only, for capital investments. In both cases the state board is requesting 25 percent local mat ching funds. In an update on promotional materials Bill Smedley reported that the milk truck decals were delivered and the first decals will be placed on milk tank trucks this week. Other promotional materials that will be arriving or will be reordered include the “Burma Shave” signs, cups with the “Make It Milk” logo, and point of purchase promotion aids. Also reporting at the meeting was Dr. Robert McCarthy, Penn State food scientist. McCarthy is conducting research, with funding by the Pa. Dairy Promotion Board, on the potential of milk con sumption to reduce cholesterol levels. He expects to be able to report back to the board this summer with some results from his study. R.D. #3 Ephrata PA 17522 • Easy To Upgrade • Designed To Fit YOUR Needs! * MARCH-APRIL PROMOTION! Dollars Off To Reduce Our Inventory Call Now: totaled about $537 million. This is about 90 percent of the payments USDA expects to make for the first 9 months of the 15-month program. Payments have been made on about 92 percent of the contracts under the program. USDA projects that dairy price support purchases by the Com modity Credit Corporation will be 7.3 billion pounds, milk equivalent fat basis, for this marketing year (FY-1985), a decline from the 10.4 billion pounds last year and 16.6 billion in FY-1983. The Dairy and Tobacco Ad justment Act of 1983 authorizes price support reductions of 50 cents per hundredweight on April 1 and July 1, 1985, if CCC purchases for the following 12 months are projected to exceed 6 billion and 5 billion pounds, respectively. Deductions from producers for milk marketings beginning December 1, 1983, totaled about $650 million through December Plan now to correct wet spots , drainage problems Late winter is the time of year to make your plans for Spring. Remember last year when you were working in those fields and found all the wet spots where you couldn’t plant. Now is the time to plan to correct them. Maybe what you need is sub surface drainage, or a diversion or waterway constructed. Harry Barnett, Conservation Technician with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service says to do your planning early. Someone from the Soil Conservation Service will visit your farm and give you recom mendations on how to correct the nrnhlomc Rv drtinp this early • Can Pay For Itself 1984. At this time, deductions exceed payments, but USDA estimates that over ther life of the program, deductions and payments will be nearly equal. While the $lO.OO per hundredweight diversion payments are funded almost entirely from the 50-cent deductions from the industry, the cost of the dairy price support program to the Government is still averaging near $1.5 billion per year. USDA said that the drop in CCC purchases has resulted more from increased commercial use and increased farm use than from a drop in production. Production on a daily average basis during January-December was down 3 percent from a year earlier. However, dairy cow numbers were 6,000 above the July 1984 level in December of 1984. Pennsylvania is 11th nationwide in diversion payments received, with receipts of $15,274,000. planning you are ready to start construction as soon as weather permits. If you wait until Spring to make your plans, it may be too late for this year. Contractors get overloaded with work and just can’t get there. Also, by having someone from the Soil Con servation Service visit your farm, they may point out other con servation practices needed that you just didn’t realize would help. Don’t put off till Spring what you can do this Winter. To help with your planning, contact your local SCS office. F/RMTRONIX
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