Simply Delicious Goes Roadside
More than 68 billboards advance the “Simply Delicious”
logo across Pennsylvania. The campaign is an effort to
connect local producers and supermarkets in a business
relationship. This billboard is located outside of Ephrata
on Route 322.
MICHELLE RANCK
Lancaster Farming Staff
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) The “Pennsylvania Pro
duce, Simply Delicious’’ logo
will be increasingly familiar to
residents with the help of bill
boards in metropolitan areas
across the commonwealth.
According to Mike Varner,
chief of commodity promotion
division at the Pennsylvania De
partment of Apiculture, 68
boards went up in June with
more scheduled to go up over
the course of the summer.
“We have them in every
comer of the state,” said
Varner. The boards are concen
trated in the heavily-populated
area.
“Where the consumers are
the primary focus,” said Varner.
In total, the billboards will
have 300 placements. Each
month is considered to be a
placement, so a board in the
same place for several months
will have several placements.
The billboards are a coopera
tive effort with the Pennsylvania
Vegetable Marketing and Re
search Program. While most of
the boards will come down in
late August, Varner plans on
several boards remaining where
the space is not used.
The focus of the “Simply Del
icious” campaign, said Varner,
is to foster communication be
tween the local producer and
supermarkets. The program was
initiated two years ago.
“We’re doing whatever we’re
able to do to help stores find a
local market,” said Varner.
“We’re trying to help foster the
relationship both ways, to en
courage the stores to call the
local farmer.”
To help make business con
tacts, the Bureau of Market De-
Northeast Order Uniform Price
BOSTON, Mass. Erik F.
Rasmussen, Market Adminis
trator for the Northeast Market
ing Area, has announced that
the statistical uniform price for
June 2000 is $13.25 per hun
dredweight or $1.14 per gallon
for milk delivered to plants lo
cated in Suffolk County, Mass.
(Boston). The statistical uniform
price is the benchmark mini
mum producer blend price paid
to dairy farmers, prior to allow
able deductions, for milk con
taining 3.5 percent butterfat,
2.99 percent protein, and 5.69
percent other solids. The price
received by an individual dairy
farmer will vary as the compo
nent composition of a farm’s
milk differs from the established
benchmarks.
Mr. Rasmussen also stated
that the producer price differen
tial (PPD) for June is $3.79 per
hundredweight for milk deliv
ered to plants located in Suffolk
County. The PPD represents
each producer’s share of the
value generated by the market
wide poo] on a hundredweight
basis. The PPD, which is added
to the payment producers
velopment sent 300 point-of
purchase kits to approximately
300 retailers in Pennsylvania.
These kits included samples of
“bin wrap,” which is a roll of
vinyl with the “Simply Deli
cious” logo on it to wrap around
a crate, plus price cards and
posters bearing the logo. The
billboards and in-store promo
tions will combine to increase
both producer and consumer
recognition of the program.
For June 2000
receive for their milk’s compo
nents, is adjusted for the loca
tion of the receiving plant. The
statistical uniform price and
PPD decrease by scheduled
amounts the more distant the
plant is from Suffolk County.
The June PPD is $3.69 in New
York, NY, and $3.59 in Phila
delphia.
The Class prices for milk
pooled in June are as follows:
Class I, $14.95 (Suffolk County);
Class 11, $13.08; Class 111, $9.46;
and Class IV, $12.38. Had the
Northeast Order been in effect
in 1999, comparable class prices
for June 1999 would have been:
Class I, $14.41, Class 11, $13.84,
Class 111, $11.04, and Class IV
price, $13.14. The component
values for June are protein,
$1.4278 per pound; butterfat,
$1.4128 per pound; other solids,
$0.0438 per pound; and nonfat
Comments Received
WASHINGTON, D.C. The
USDA announced recently that
40,774 public comments were
submitted on its revised Na
tional Organic Program pro
posed rule.
The comment period for the
proposed rule, which would es
tablish national standards for
the production and handling of
organically produced products,
closed on June 12. A final rule is
expected by the end of 2000.
“We are pleased that so many
people have taken the time to
share their views on organic
standards with us,” said Kath
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday. July 29, 2000-A3l
solids, $0.8556 per pound.
Milk receipts from producers
totaled 1.949 billion pounds.
Class I utilization, milk pro
cessed as beverage milk, was
42.1 percent of producer milk
receipts. The average Class I
utilization, for the three prede
cessor orders that were com
bined to form the Northeast
Order, was 37.8 percent in June
1999.
The manufacture of Class II
products such as cream, ice
cream, yogurt, and cottage
cheese utilized 17.9 percent of
producer milk. Milk used to
manufacture Class 111 products
such as cheese (American and
Italian) and evaporated and
condensed products utilized
30.1 percent of total milk re
ceipts. Class IV usage (butter,
nonfat and whole milk powder)
equaled 9.9 percent of the total.
leen A. Merrigan, administrator
of USDA’s Agricultural Market
ing Service.
“Although the majority of the
comments are positive, some
have raised important issues
that we are looking at closely, as
we move toward issuing the
final standards.”
The proposal was published
in the March 13 Federal Regis
ter, and also can be found on the
National Organic Program
home page: www.ams.usda.gov
/nop. All comments can be
viewed at this same site.