A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 20,1985
STRONGSVILLE, OH - A
renewed sense of optimism and a
brighter outlook for the dairy
producer members of Milk
Marketing Inc. (MMI) set the pace
at MMl’s mid-year delegate
meeting, at the Fawcett Center,
Columbus, OH.
Opening, the meeting, MMI
President Herman Brubaker, West
Alexandria, OH told more than 200
delegates that their Association
was on the move in the support of
continued advertising funding,
upcoming dairy legislation for the
1985 Farm Bill, and the develop
ment of new marketing
techniques. The pending
acquisition of a cheese
manufacturing facility was also
announced.
“We have selected the theme ‘On
the Move’ because we are working
hard on a path that will continue to
provide innovative, progressive
marketing ideas for our
Association. But no matter where
we look for solutions, the answer is
still found in the cooperative
philosophy of strength in unity,”
emphasized Brubaker.
The strength of the nation’s
dairy producers who are pooling
advertising funds for the
promotion, research, and
development of dairy products is,
according to Brubaker, one of the
best examples of dairy unity
throughout the country.
Presently the $2OO million annual
fund is generated by dairy
producers nationwide who pay a
portion of the milk income to
maintain this program. The fund
was created by the Dairy Com
promise Bill in 1983, and that same
legislation calls for a nationwide
dairy farmer referendum, now
scheduled Aug. 1 through Aug. 20,
ADA-DC plans
promos for
Ice Cream
Month
SYRACUSE, NY - The
American Dairy Association and
Dairy Council will promote
through a series of promotions
taking place throughout New York
State.
The mam promotion involves
supermarket chains and con
venience stores. Point of purchase
materials promoting ice cream
will appear in the frozen food aisles
of stores all over the state. The
materials encourage consumers to
bring home ice cream.
The theme for the promotion is
“Ice Cream the Beautiful.” It will
be backed by $4.5 million in
national /television advertising
purchased by the National Dairy
Board. Two commercials have
been developed for the program
showing people singing about their
favorite ways to eat ice cream.
In addition to the generic
campaign, brand manufacturers
are planning to promote their
products as well, with over |8
million in projected advertising
expenditures. This unified effort on
the part of generic and brand
promotion is the first of its kind in
the dairy industry.
AD A/DC will also promote ice
cream locally in several food
service outlets. Restaurants at all
New York State Thruway stops
have been provided with ice cream
promotional materials. In ad
dition, several Perkins restaurants
will feature an ice cream float
throughout the month of July.
to determine if farmers are willing
to continue the support of this
program.
Brubaker reported that MMI will
bloc vote in favor of the referen
dum on behalf of MMl’s 8,500
members. The bill permits
cooperatives to bloc vote for its
membership.
Brubaker then charged the
delegates with the responsibility of
encouraging other dairy producers
who are not members of
cooperatives to vote ‘yes’ for the
program’s continuation.
Dairy unity was once again the
central theme for the current
write-up of the 1985 Farm Bill’s
dairy provisions. Dubbed the
“Dairy Unity Plan” because it was
co-sponsored by leaders of both
major political parties and
because it resolved some of the
regional marketing problems
within the industry, the plan was
passed by the U.S. House
Agriculture Committee.
The five-point plan supported by
MMI is based on a proposal by the
National Milk Producers
Federation, a Washington, D.C.
dairy lobbying organization. It
calls for the continuation of a price
support program that will allow a
fair return on investments for
dairy producers, while providing
an adequate supply of dairy
products for consumers.
But Brubaker warned the dairy
producers that the bill is a long
way from becoming law. “It is a
proposal that offers a viable
method to correct the current
dairy overproduction and a
method to decrease government
costs. But much work needs to be
done to convince all of Congress
and the administration of its
merits. We must not assume,
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MMI is ‘on the move’
because we have strong industry
support, that this plan will become
law.” Brubaker asked for help
from all dairy producers to contact
their congressional represen
tatives and urge support for this
bill.
Merle Koppenhafer, MMI
director of finance and Paul
Ramsey, MMI board treasurer,
reported that the Association,
because of its strong finanrifii
position, was able to redeem $2.2
million in member equity for the
year ended June 30, 1985. MMTs
equity redemption program is a
return of patrons’ previous in
vestments that members pay into
the capital retains program.
Because MMI is a cooperative, all
members pay into its capital
retains program and their money
to revolved back to them on a ten
year basis or when a dairy farmer
retires at or after age 70. The
money paid into the cooperative by
its members is used for capital
expenditures.
Since MMI was formed by a
merger of five other dairy
cooperatives in 1978, equities
earned in predecessor
cooperatives are now being
returned to eligible members. “We
are right on schedule in the return
of our member’s equity, following
the ten year plan developed at the
time of the merger,” said Kop
penhafer. It is anticipated that all
equities from predecessor
cooperatives will be redeemed by
1988.
MMI General Manager Gordon
Riehl in his message to the
delegates discussed the
Association’s new Quality
Premium Pricing Program. The
program’s development,
requested at last December’s
annual delegate meeting, will be
implemented on September 1,1985.
This new program could offer
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Dairy Marketing
members the opportunity to
receive an extra 10 cents for each
one hundred pounds of milk they
produce. Eiehl indicated that in
formation about this program will
be made available to members as
soon as possible.
Riehl also reported that the
Association has agreed in principle
to purchase the ‘Farmer’s Cheese’
plant in New Wilmington, PA.
Order 4 milk
$12.57 for June
ALEXANDRIA, Va. Middle
Atlantic Order Market Ad
ministrator Joseph D. Shine has
announced a June 1985 base milk
price of $12.57 per hundredweight
and an excess milk price of $ll.Ol.
The weighted average June price
was $12.47 and the butterfat dif
ferential for the month was 16.3
cents.
The base milk price was down 42
cents from May and was 80 cents
below last June. The weighted
average price dropped 35 cents
from May and was 89 cents lower
than a year ago.
Shine said that the June volume
of producer milk pooled under the
order, 509.2 million pounds, was 35
million pounds or 7.3 percent more
than last June, but up only 0.1
percent over June 1983. The
average daily delivery per
producer of 2,506 pounds in June
was up 209 pounds or 9.1 percent
from a year earlier and was up
almost 4 percent over June 1983. A
total of 6,774 prodnpprc cimnlied
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At LANCASTER FARMING, we think we
do a good job of keeping you in
formed... and we have over 40,000 paid
subscribers who think so too!
Riehl stated that this facility,
located in a large dairy-producing
area, has the capability of
processing nearly 80 million
pounds of milk per month. Its
product marketing territory
stretches from the midwest to the
east coast and it specializes in the
production of Italian cheeses, the
fastest growing segment in the
cheese market.
Order 4 pool handlers during the
month, 111 fewer than last June.
Class I producer milk totaled
208.0 million pounds and accounted
for only 40.85 percent of total
producer milk receipts in June, the
lowest Order 4 Class I utilization
percentage on record. The June
1984 Class I utilization was 46.78
percent from last year.
The volume of Class II milk was
up 48.7> million pounds from a year
earlier. Base milk accounted for
87.45 percent of total June
producer milk deliveries, down
sharply from 93.09 percent last
June. The average butterfat test of
producer milk was 3.53 percent in
June compared with 3.55 percent a
year ago.
Order 4 pool handlers reported
Class I in-area milk sales of 187.8
million pounds during June, an
increase of almost 4 percent from
a year earlier, after adjustment to
eliminate variation due to
calendar consumption.
veattt reS '
P.o. Box 366, Lititz, PA 17543
Phone
717-626-1164 or 394-3047