DIO-Lincaster Fanning Saturday, September 3, 1988 Milk Market News BY TOM JURCHAK County Ext. Agent SCRANTON (Lackawanna) While the weatherman provided some relief from drought condi tions, Congress did somewhat bet ter, although all farmers were not entirely pleased with either perfor mance. The rain finally came but for some crops it was too late and for others it was too much. No one, however, was getting much relief from the heat that seems to have become a permanent part of the environment for another month. More weather related problems or blessings are still possible while we’re only half way through the growing season so total damage assessments are still a long way off. However, because disaster struck early in the season legisla tion had to be enacted with the information available to set the bureaucratic machinery in motion. As usual it will require a lot of interpretation and regulation writ ing to implement the intent of Con gress. This will take some time for USDA and a lot of patience for far mers but you can bet that, admini stratively, there will be a lot of pressure to get the program work ing as fast as possible. One of the problems for dairy men may be that the new legisla tion calls for replacement of the current Emergency Feed Problem and the Emergency Feed Assis tance Program. This would' mean that new programs and procedures would need to be developed rather than building on existing prog rams. It is in this area that many are concerned that the new legislation doesn’t provide equitable relief for producers who produce much of their feed compared to those who Dissatisfied With The Perfermanee Of Your Livestock or Poultry Have You Tested Yew Water Supply? _i fi/ii Ihinr^mom It’s a fact 1 Contaminated water can have a costly effect on your livestock and poultry performance. Our years of exper ience plus hundreds of farm related treatment systems has proven the validity and practicality of correcting contaminat ed water - Call us today for treatment of ■ * Nitrates * Bacteria * Iron * Sulfates * pH-Acidity/Alkalinity fag) Martin Water Conditioning Co. SPECIALISTS IN FARM WATER TREATMENT 648 New Holland Ave Lancaster PA 17602 (717) 393 3612 Along Rte 23 Early Morning or Evening Call 717-345-8795 We Serve PA & Surrounding States $ Contact our Representatives in $ So Chester Co.. PA W. Lancaster Co., PA Dick 215-932-3307 Richard 717-665-7405 Mt. Bethel, PA Belleville, Pa. Kevin 717-897-5141 Trennis 717-935-2786 Bradford Co.. PA Joel 717-274-2174 New Milford, PA Joe 717-465-7506 Virginia . Ron 703-879-9958 produce all of it. Only time will tell but there seems to be enough dis cretionary leeway in the bill for USDA to accommodate both types of producers. It may even happen that the new programs will resem ble the old ones but under new names and hopefully with improvements that will make it fair to most producers. Crop Losses It’s in the area covering crop losses that the new legislation devotes most of its efforts. Besides giving special consideration to los ses in the price supported crops, the legislation covers all non program crops including losses of tree seedling planted in the last two years. This means that there will be disaster payments available to pro ducers of nearly all annual com mercial crops when they suffered at least a 35 percent loss this year because of the drought. Thirty-five percent of what may still be a ques tion but at least all crops are covered. Some crops such as hay and com still have a long way to go before you can determine total los ses because it is more likely to be an average for the farm rather than losses on individual fields. How ever, if there are losses you’ve already had you should document them with as much evidence and information you can get. This is especially important if you choose to “abandon” a field because it was a near total loss and perhaps replant it to another crop. This may include soil conserving crops to prevent erosion over winter. It’s also important to document the yields of crops that you got in the past over as many years as possible in terms of pounds, tons, bushels or eL **/h WATER SYSTEMS 740 E Lincoln Ave Myerstown PA 17067 (717)866 7555 Along Rte 422 Union County. PA Martin, Jr. 717-966-1191 Hagerstown, Md. Allen 301-733-0458 any other significant measure. Some yield appraisals may be needed where com, planted for grain, is now going into com sil age. Some crops such as small grains have already been harvested and this information can be com piled now. Even for dairy farmers growing fruits and vegetables commercially the harvest season may be over and losses must be documented. County ASCS offices are already gathering this kind of information from produc ers so call if you have questions about harvested crops or crop fail ure fields. They may want you to leave a representative strip of the original crop for evaluation but if you can take pictures of the entire field it would be helpful. However, don’tassume losses without ASCS confirmation. Support Price To many producers and some organizations the changes in milk price supports were disappointing. Everything from $2 increases to starting another diversion program were among the proposals. How ever, Congress felt they had to keep total relief costs low to avoid triggering the Gramm-Rudman law and the resulting assessments on milk. The bill maintains the pre sent $10.60 support price through March of next year when it will be increased 50 cents during the spring flush from April through June. The question is will we have market prices for manufacturing grade milk above the $10.60 from declining production brought on by the heat, the drought and increasing feed prices? The Minnesota-Wisconsin Price Series already has increased to $10.53 for THE THE ■ Poured Solid Concrete Steel Reinforced Wa ■ The Wall is 0 as the Matari. * Hog House Walls * Chicken House Wal • Concrete Decks • House Foundation • Cistern Walls • Barnyard Walls • Concrete Pit Tops • Silage Pit Walls • Retaining Walls All sizes available Round or rectangular Take the questions out of your new construction * Call: Balmer Bros, for quality engineered walls. Invest in Quality - It will last a lifetime. 3.S milk in July and the heat wave is still on. Milk Marketing Board The Pennsylvania Milk Market ing Board provided more immedi ate milk price increases for both the farmers and the consumers. Increases ranged from six cents a gallon in eastern areas to 12 cents in the west on the retail price. This meant 69 cents to $1.39 a hundred on Class I milk at the farm to go from September through February. There’s no question about the retail price increase but getting the money back to the farmers may be more complicated. This is espe cially true hoe in the northeastern counties where most of the milk is priced at the farm under the New York-New Jersey Federal milk marketing order. The PMMB increases are essen tially over order premiums of the same kind that RCMA has been trying to provide through producer membership and negotiations. In other federal order markets in Pennsylvania the cooperatives may have enough supply control to get additional premiums from handlers. In Order 2 only RCMA is in a position to do this but produc ers have not joined in sufficient numbers to make it work as effec tively as it could. Pennsylvania farmers ship only 25 percent of the STRENGTH IS IN CONSTRUCTION • Manure Pit Walls CONCRETE WORK, INC. 243 Miller Road. Akron, PA 17501 1(717) 733-0353.6:30 AM - 3:30 PM, (717) 859-2074, After 6:00 PM I THINKING f BUILDI - READ LANCASTER FARMING'S ! I ADVERTISING TO FIND ALL I j YOUR NEEDS! j milk in Order 2 and only about 12 percent of all the Pennsylvania milk is priced at the farm by PMMB. In addition many Order 2 handlers are already paying pre miums at the farm higher than those stipulated by the PMMB but there have not been uniform pre miums from all handlers in Order 2. The supply-demand situation in the northeast warrants higher over order premiums as long as hand lers can’t move between markets to get milk at lower prices but Order 2 producers will need enough membership in RCMA to keep pace with Order 1 and Order 4 in over order premiums. Order 2 Prices That increase of 18 cents in the M - W and no take out for the Louisville Plan will make your July check 35 cents a hundred bet ter than June. That’s still 65 cents less than last year and that’s where your over order premiums are important to cover increasing costs. The blend price of $11.31 in Order 2 and the $10.52 on the M - W started the seasonal price increases that come with produc tion cuts this time of the year. How high prices will rise or how far pro duction will drop will have to wait for a better fix on the weather and the crops.
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