A2O-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, March 16, 1991
Atlantic Dairy Co-op Members Get Strength In Unity
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming StaFT
BIRD-IN-HAND (Lancaster
Co.) Leaders of the Atlantic
Dairy Cooperative locals of Dis
trict No. 5 met last week to review
the 1990 business year, present
awards and elect officers for 1991.
Atlantic Dairy Cooperative is a
relatively new organization in that
it was formed several years ago
with the merger of Lehigh and
Interstate cooperatives.
District No. 5 locals consist of
Millersville, West Lampeter, Para
dise and Wilmcr locals. District
No. 5 officers are Melvin Eby,
president; Rodney Dcnlinger, vice
president; and Nelson Habcckcr,
secretary-treasurer.
In the West Lampeter local:
Rodger Mills was elected presi
dent; J. Martin Hamish, vice presi
dent; John Howard’, secretary
treasurer, and delegates are Robert
Gochenaur 111 and Darrell Martin.
Alternate delegates are J. Nelson
Hamish and Andrew Mellinger.
In the Millersville local: Joe
Hess, president; Richard Rohrer,
vice president; David Garber,
secretary-treasurer; and delegates
are Glenn Burkholder and Elvin
Hess. Alternates are David Charles
and Glenn Rohrer. On the hauling
committee is Glenn Binkley.
In the Witmer local: Mervin H.
Bare, president; Raleigh Rhodes,
vice president; Harvey Heller,
secretary-treasurer; delegates are
John Landis and Harvey Heller.
Alternates are Mervin Bare and
Raleigh Rhodes.
In the Paradise local: Melvin
Eby, president; Daniel Stoltzfus,
vice president; Robert Bowman,
secretary-treasurer; delegates are
Melvin Bcilcr and Rodney Dcnlin
ger. Alternates are Eugene Lapp
and David Stoltzfus.
Key speaker was James Fraher,
economist for ADC. Fraher said
that the outlook for the dairy pro
ducer may be negative for the short
term, but it’s “Not all gloom and
doom.”
Fraher said he could see good
things coming out of the current
depressed milk price situation.
He said that with Atlantic being
in business for as long as it has
including the years before the
smaller cooperatives joined
together to form Atlantic —it
proves that being a member of a
cooperative works and will con
tinue to provide strength for the
individual through the power of
the group.
From an analytical viewpoint,
however, Fraher said that with
dairy producers becoming more
and more subject to market influ
ences it will up to the dairyman to
leant how to adjust to flucuating
prices, which can be expected to be
normal in coming years.
He said because of the depen
dency on the market, it will not
take much of a change in the
balance of supply and demand to
make a big difference in price.
“Last spring, sales were 7 per
cent above sales the year before
that,” Fraher said. “Some of that
was inventory building by cheese
companies and others, but see long
term strength a lot of people
bought cheese and powder.”
Then suddenly, with reserve
stocks by private industry built up,
sales of product started to not quite
meet the expected rate.
And meanwhile, California
milk production came on strong
and was mostly used in powder,
thus collapsing the price of milk,
he said.
“We got a bigger changem price
that change in supply and
demand,” Fraher said. “But it’s not
as out of balance as it was in the
mid-1980s.”
For his predictions, Fraher said
he can see milk prices slipping
more; about 30- to 40-cents more
before hitting rock bottom.
However, Fraher said that the
dread of $lO milk is not going to
happen for several reasons, but
basically because of premiums and
over order prices, it will not go
below $l3 for Class I and $lO for
Class 11. The resulting blend price
he predicted will not go below
$12.50.
Furthermore, because of normal
seasonal supply-demand swings,
he said he expects to sec an increas
of $1 to $1.50 per hundredweight
by fall.
He said the average for the year
in Federal Order 4 will be about
$12.50 and blend price in Federal
Order 2 will be close to that.
Furthermore, while Fraher said
it is to 100 early to predict trends in
the price, he expects that by June to
see a decrease in production,
because cow numbers are down.
And even though the production
decrease should be relatively
small, “I think we’re going to sec
more response to price.”
Raising corn was never an easy
task. But raising it with the side
effects caused by some herbi
cides makes it tougher than ever.
Fortunately, there’s Laddok® herbicide. Laddok
controls 28 different broadleaves, including vel
vatleaf, cocklebur and pigweed.
Laddok even helps you avoid problems other
Laddok is a registered trademark of BASF AG Ladder herbicide is
a Restricted Use Pesticide © 1991 BASF Corporation Always read and follow label directions
From the recei' g.. -year awards lor membership in Atlantic Dairy Coopera
tive are John M. Harnish and Joe Hess, of Singing Maple Farms. Presenting the
awards and holding up a quality award to be given to Glenn E. Burkholder, is retiring
field representative Andrew Marvin.
He said that with dairy products, or demand. lie Dairy Co-op is a mirror of the
being in an elastic supply and It will be mid-1992 before any economic position for the indivi
demand, big prices changes will real recovery, he said. dual dairyman,
occur with little change in supply The economic position of Allan- (turn to Page A 22)
herbicides cause, like stalk brittleness, damage to
brace roots and vapor drift injury to beans.
So if you’re looking for a way to control broadleaves
while managing atrazine and preventing unwanted
side effects, try Laddok
And make growing a
bumper crop your only
real concern
I k.
Agricultural Chemicals
BASF