Milk Price Outlook
(Continued from Pago Al)
increase will not be automatic
throughout MACMMA’s bargain
ing area because of existing con
tracts and competitive pressures
from outside the region.
Another hopeful sign was pro
vided by Bush administration offi
cials. Speaking at the recent
American Farm Bureau Conven
tion in Kansas City, Secretary of
Agriculture Edward Madigan dis
cussed the possibility of once
again taking administrative
actions to soften the bottom part of
the yearly milk pricing cycle. In
response to the disastrously low
prices of last winter and spring, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
took several actions to bolster
prices at the farm level, including a
temporary moratorium on the sale
of government-dwned surplus
stocks back to the market and
advance purchases under the
school lunch program.
Ed Coughlin of the National
Milk Producers Federation said the
department already has moved this
year to strengthen its export
enhancement program for nonfat
dry milk powder, announcing its
intention to facilitate the export of
300 million pounds of powder.
These and other measures have the
potential to improve farm milk
Feeding for high production has always
been a delicate balancing act. But today,
based on the results of breakthrough
research into the effects of Rumen
Available Protein* and Rumen Available
Carbohydrate»on milk
production, Agway has
pinpointed the critical
impact of synchronized
nutrients on milk pro
duction. So you can
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predictably, more
profitably than ever.
WHO SHOWS YOU HOW
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An Agway Fann Entcrpnie salespcnon computes the impact of RAP*/RAC® regulated rations on Aaron Donnan'i high-production
herd as they enter their double 16 milking parlor in Pifford, NY
Rumen Available Protein. Rumen Available Cubohydnie, RAP and RAC ait itfiMered tndemaifa of Cooperative Reman* Pami
prices this spring significantly,
Coughlin added.
“If we have a market where
there are substantial inventories of
nonfat milk that are dedicated to
export, then we can strengthen the
market considerably," he said.
Finally, local dairy cooperatives
are lining up behind a proposal that
would put a cap on the extent to
which Class I milk prices can drop
this spring, although many
observers doubt if it has much
chance of actual enactment
The proposal which would
temporarily establish $11.50 a
hundredweight (for 3.5-percent
fat milk) as the “minimum basic
formula price” in the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture’s federal order
system would automatically
cushion the impact of low farm
milk prices this spring, according
to Boyd Cook, manager of the
Middle Atlantic Division of Dairy
men Inc.
Currently, USDA uses the
Minnesota-Wisconsin price series,
a measure of farm milk prices paid
by processing plants in the upper
Midwest as the basis for setting
Class I prices for fluid milk. The
Class I price in Order 4 each month
is $3.03 higher than the M-W price
of two months ago.
Thus the proposal would estab-
And only Agway puts the power of this
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anced feed and dairy ration software—
Synchro-Max 2000—at your fingertips.
Field studies at working dairy farms just
like yours have shown average increased
milk production of over three pounds
per day per cow using Synchro-Max 2000,
With the push of a button, your Agway
Farm Enterprise salesperson can
custom-design a feeding program to
maximize your production and dramat
ically increase income over feed costs
AGWAY, THAT’S WHO.
lish $14.53 ($11.50 plus $3.03) as
the lowest level to which the fluid
milk price could decline in the
Mid-Atlantic region and other
similar minimum? would be set in
other orders that have somewhat
different Class I differentials.
Cook said the plan would not
affect the pricing of either Class II
or Class 111 milk used to make
cheese and other products, which
accounts for about half of die milk
pooled in Order 4.
The December M-W was
$12.10 a hundredweight, but pro
jections call for it to drop to some
where between $10.50 and $ll
before rebounding in the fall. The
forecast of Dairymen Inc. sees the
M-W falling below the $11.30
minimum for five months in early
1992, Cook said.
The Dairymen official said local
farmers can expect to realize as
much as 40 cents a hundredweight
extra if the M-W bottoms out at
$10.70 in May, traditionally its
low point in the year. By compari
son, last spring, when farmers
faced the lowest prices they had
seen in a decade, the M-W hit
$10.04.
“Farmers need to take the bot
tom dip out of their prices and
that’s what this is designed to do,“
Cook said.
Bob Vaughn, general manager
of Maryland and Virginia Milk
(anwav)
using RAPo/RACa regulated rations.
But that’s not all he can do. From dairy
feed firsts like NutriTcch® and Pro:Right
to innovative top-dresses like Ultra:Lac 22
to this latest development in RAPa/RACa
rations—Synchro-Max 2000—nobody
knows more about getting the most out
of your cows than your Agway Farm
Enterprise salesperson.
Call him today. He’ll give you a hand
lifting production levels to new heights.
Uncwter Fanning, Saturday, January 25, IM2-A27
Producers Cooperative Associa
tion. said many local producers
cannot stay in business at the
prices paid last spring. He said the
cooperative would endorse the
proposal and continues to seek
other ways to stabilize roller
coaster prices as well.
This latest initiative was
launched last month by Southern
Dairymen Inc., a federation of
Southeast cooperatives. The feder
ation petitioned USDA Dec. 9 for
emergency action to amend 13 fed
eral orders in the Southeast,
including Federal Order 4, the
Middle Atlantic Order, according
to Cook.
The department must move
quickly if die minimum is to have
any impact. Cook said. The formal
petition requests that the minimum
formula price stay in effect for one
year. Cook noted, but as a practical
matter it will have no impact after
July.
In recent weeks, a number of
other cooperatives have requested
the same action for other federal
orders. The board of directors of
Atlantic Dairy Cooperative
endorsed the request for both
Order 4 and Order 2, the New
York-New Jersey Order, at a meet
ing last week, according to spokes
man Laura England. The directors
of the Regional Cooperative Mark-
AD ADC To Hold
32nd Meeting
SYRACUSE, N.Y. The American Dairy
Association and Dairy Council Inc. (ADADC) will
hold its 32nd annual meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at
the Sheraton Inn in Liverpool. N.Y.
Dairy producers from New York, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania are invited to attend this event to
review their current milk advertising and promotion
programs.
The theme for the meeting is "Dairy Promotion:
On Target." A panel of ADADC staff members will
present a simulation of a "live" television broadcast
to highlight ADADC's innovative advertising and
milk promotion programs.
A presentation by ADADC's advertising agency,
D'Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles, will focus on
the competitiveness of beverage advertising.
Some areas that will be covered in the presenta
tion are the cost of making a television commercial,
what beverage companies spend on advertising, and
how dairy fanner promotion dollars are spent on
advertising to get the greatest return on investment
The meeting will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a busi
ness meeting of the board of directors. During the
noon luncheon, special recognition will be given to
retiring board directors and a service to dairying
plaque will be awarded.
The afternoon program will begin at 1:30 p.m.,
with the broadcast panel and milk advertising
review. A joint presentation by Cindy Carson,
National Dairy Board, and Tom Gallagher, chief
executive officer of United Dairy Industry Associa
tion, will also be presented. The afternoon session
will conclude at 4:30 p.m.
The 29th Annual New York State Dairy Princess
Pageant will again be included as part of the annual
meeting agenda. A milk punch reception will begin
the festivities at 5:30 p.m.
Local dairy producers will invest approximately
$11.2 million into ADADC's programs during
1992.
This money will be used to purchase television
and radio advertising, and to fund local dairy prom
otion and nutrition education programs.
All dairy producers as well as industry represen
tatives ate invited to attend. Luncheon and banquet
reservations are necessary and can be made by call
ing AD ADC at (315) 472-9143.
Banquet tickets for the princess pageant ($l5 per
person) must be prepaid. The Sheraton Inn is
located off exit 37 of the New York State Thruway.
©1991 Apway Inc
cling Agency (RCMA), the New
York-based over-order bargaining
agency, recently endorsed the
plan, according to Art Little, a
RCMA official. Reportedly, other
cooperatives have petitioned
USDA for the inclusion of other
federal orders as well.
The need of cooperative offi
cials to be seen as doing something
to aid dairymen’s ailing fortunes
may explain much of this bandwa
gon, according to industry
observers. They note a similar
proposal made as part of the
lengthy national hearing on the
federal orders held in late 1990
was rebuffed then by USDA.
Bob Yonkers, a dairy economist
at Penn State University, said the
department was most likely to
dump the proposal into its ongoing
comment period on federal order
issues. National Milk’s Coughlin
concurs.
“I think the most likely course of
action is that the issue is a matter
that’s pending in the national hear
ing,” Coughlin said. ‘Therefore, it
would be premature to address it
before that earlier proposal is
answered.”
However, supporters counter
that the proposal has one thing
going for it that it didn’t have in
1990. It’s a presidential election
year.
■BAD
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FARMING
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AND
UP-TO-DATE
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