PFA Annual Meeting
(Continued from Page Al)
cheap feed may trigger too much
expansion.
“We expect some trouble
ahead,” Manley said, concerning
the beef market. “If you get a
chance to contract cattle in the $6O
range, take advantage of it on at
least some of your production,” he
said.
American Farm Bureau’s Hollis
Hatfield had a mixed bag of good
and bad news for the dairy in
dustry. He said that increases in
per-cow production will continue to
offset any increase in sales. The
nation’s herd must continue to
shrink, said Hatfield.
Looking at the history of U.S.
milk production, Hatfield noted
that in 1944 it took 26 million cows
to produce 116 billion pounds of
milk. Last year milk output rose to
143 billion pounds, while cow
numbers dropped to 11 million.
Demand for whole milk will
continue to slide, he said, while the
low-fat market will help to com
pensate for these losses.
“The lifesaver of the dairy in
dustry is cheese,” Hatfield said,
noting that 60 percent of last year’s
increase in milk usage went into
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Keith Eckel
cheese. “It’s going to underwrite
the pricing of milk in the Nor
theast,” he predicted. Hatfield
said he expects the herd buy-out to
strengthen prices next year, but by
1988 surpluses will start to build.
All three segments of the poultry
industry are basking in their most
prosperous era since 1978, reported
the Pennsylvania Poultry
Federation’s executive director
John Hoffman. The PPF chief
looks for good returns on eggs until
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at least Easter, when the market
may level off.
Hoffman predicted that broiler
processing plants may be running
double and triple shifts by June of
next year, as demand continues to
increase. “Construction of new
breeder and grow-out houses is a
boom industry,’* he said. Calling
the broiler business “a solid
growth industry with stable
demand,” Hoffman attributed
much of the industry’s growth to
the further-processed food
segment.
The turkey business is following
a similar growth pattern, said
Hoffman. Production increased 13
percent from 1965 to last year, and
the industry has enjoyed 10 suc
cessive quarters of excellent
returns despite increased supply,
he said.
While turkey slaughter during
the first quarter of 1987 may ex
ceed slaughter during the same
period last year by 14 percent,
Hoffman aired one note of caution.
“The red meat industry is gearing
up to retake some of those markets
you took from them,” he said.
“We’re a big business and we’re
going to get bigger,” was Jack
Gardner’s prediction for the fruit
and vegetable industry. Gardner,
president of Jack Gardner
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Performance for tough
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 22,1956-A39
Dr. Lamartine Hood
Associates, told vegetable growers
to expect a continuing influx of
grain farmers into their ranks.
“Hopefully, you can welcome
them,” be said, adding that
demand is on the rise, especially
for vegetables in the cabbage
family.
Gardner said that the growth of
the food service industry and the
popularity of the salad bar have
done much to produce a favorable
economic climate.
Gardner encouraged growers to
pay more attention to marketing
7
and to cater to those markets
closest to them. “The short haul is
dollars in your pocket,” he con
cluded.
During his address at PFA’s
luncheon on Tuesday, PFA
president Keith Eckel told farmers
that they must embrace change if
they plan t 6 be part of production
agriculture in the future.
In particular, the PFA chief
noted his concern about resistance
to the use of bovine somatotropin,
a growth hormone known to
produce dramatic increases in
milk production. “We have a
temptation to resist change
because we have not fully
developed in our minds the ways in
which to use it,” he said. “We
should welcome change because
we can direct it," he added.
The evening banquet featured
keynote speaker Dr. Lamartine
Hood, dean of Penn State’s College
of Agriculture. Hood said that one'
of the college’s immediate con
cerns is the continued decrease in
federal funds for the institution. He
urged the agricultural community
to voice its support of a bill in
troduced into the state House of
Representatives that would
provide monies for ag research
and extension.
Hood said that the research-to
extension transfer of information
must be strengthened, and he
called for more multi-county and
across-state-line extension
programs. “We’re going to see
more sharing of extension
programs and specialists across
state lines,” he predicted. “We
have to view the cooperative ex
tension as serving aU 12 million
citizens of this commonwealth. ”
fr^
The evening banquet gives PFA
the opportunity to present its
Distinguished Service Award. This
year Paul J. Yahner of Cambria
County was the nineteenth
recipient of the association’s
highest honor.
Yahner is best known for his 16-
year tenure in the state House of
Representatives, during which he
worked hard in the areas of far
mland preservation and en
vironmental protection. He was a
delegate to the World Food Con
ference in Rome in 1974.
The recipient of the Master
Farmer award in 1961, Yahner
fanned fro 36 years, beginning
with 85 acres and expanding to
1,100. He started out in potato and
turkey production, changed to
broilers and began raising feeder
steers and hogs in 1961.
Yahner sold his farm to his two
oldest sons in 1968 and currently
resides with his wife Rosemarie in
Patton.
Also honored at the event were
six county farmers associations
that received PFA’s “All Star”
award for leadership and
achievement at the county level.
Presidents receiving the award
were Atlee Keefer, Adams Co.;
Charles Bupp, Butler Co.; Richard
Main, Cumberland Co.; Larry
Allison, Indiana Co.; David Moser,
Northumberland Co. and Harold
Shaulis, Jr., Somerset Co.
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