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Show August, 1966 UTAH FARM BUREAU NEWS Pqge 4 RUSSIA yu&O-5- 0 SlAyiA 46 45 WEST EERfcW 56 36 Administration in recent has been trying to convince farmers that they are really better off than they think they are. Dipping time and again into a script that is worn threadbare, spokesmen for the Administration are pointing out that farm income rose from $11.7 billion in 1960 to and is headed $14.1 billion in 1965 for more than $15 billion this year. The weeks JAPAN FRANCE 30 U.S.A 18 00 til&STlAStyo&FjplS POS ABL Ejl NCOM What is not pointed out, however, is that most of the increase in farm income is due to government payan extremely shaky basis; ments a strong farm economy. Nor does one hear of the exodus on whicK to build of some 600,000 farmers from the land during the very periodfor which such great agricultural prosperity is claimed. OUR FOOD COSTS ARE TOO HIGH ? The Capitol Hill publicists are also placing a great deal of sis on the fact that new farm income Are food prices too high7 No. Food prices are ridiculously low when compared with increased incomes and increased prices for other goods and services in this country and when compared to the food situation in ocher countries. If farm prices for food products had increased to die same extent as all other products since 1952, American housewives would be spending $7 billion more annually for the same amount of food to feed their families. Food costs have risen less since 1947 than for most other consumer items in die cost of living index. The average for all items was an increase of 35 but die increase for food was just 28 compared with a rent increase of 50 and medical care increase of 77. American families spend 18 of their after tax income for food. Around the world Italians spend 38 of the income on food and Russians spend 56 of their income on food. The current flurry of investigations into the price of food are nothing but election year activities designed not to do anything about the cost of food but rather to win the political support of consumers who are finding it increasingly difficult to make their fixed-incomadequate in this period of inflation brought about by increased federal spending. It appears that the investigators will do everything in their power to shift die blame away from the farmer and onto the back of the middlemen, and it is doubtful that the blame will be placed where it really belongs right back on the 89th Congress which will be remembered only as the Congress that squandered the nations financial resources. has increased since I960. But the bulk of this increase resulted from a decline in the number of farms and an increase in government pay- ments. W.E. Hamilton, Director of Research for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says that while net realized income per farm has increased substantially since 1960, some 90.5 per cent of the boost is accounted for by these two factors. Statistics compiled by Hamilton show that there are 3,279,500 farms at present 669,500 fewer than the of 1960. Estimated netreal-ize- d farm income in 1966 is $15.1 billion. In 1960, the figure was 3,-949,- 000 $11.6 billion. In 1960, government payments amounted to $693 million. This year they will total an estimated $3.5 bil- lion. Net realized income per farm was $2,956 in 1960 while estimates place the figure at $4,604 for this year. If the number of farms had re- mained constant from 1960 to 1966, the 1966 net income per farm would be $3,823 ($15.1 billion divided by 3,949,000). If the number of farms had remained constant and there had been no increase in government payments, net income per farm would be $3,113 ($15.1 billion netfarm income minus the $2.8 billion increase in government payments, or $12.3 billion, divided by 3,949,000). Thus the whole truth of the matter is that the combined efforts of the decline in the number of farms and the increase in government payments boosted net farm income from $3,113 to $4,604. This means that these factors account for $1,491 (90.5 per cent) of the $1,648 increase in net farm income. The remaining $157 of the total increase per. farm is due to . other factors. es FARES BUREAU TOURS Jtha. $miL in. ihaouL GENTLEMEN: Please send me complete information on tours I have checked below. Hawaii 13 Q Q Days Sept. 7 Iberian Cruise 31 Days Sept 19 South America 31 Days Sept 19 Around the World 38 Days Sept. 22 11 Fall Foliage 24 Days Q Oct 2 Holy Land 22 Days New Sept 25 Oct 12 Zealand-Austral- ia 42 Days Pre-AF- BF 12 Days . Oct 25 Tour Nov. 18 Name: Address: . City: State: Phone: MAIL TO: Zip Code: Area Code: UTAH FARM BUREAU 629 East Fourth South Salt Lake City. Utah Utah cheese will be served some of the nation's leading businessmen and government dignitaries at a Waldorf-Astori- a Hotel reception. A. W. Chambers, Smithfield, Cache county, president of the American Dairy Association of Utah, said that the Utah cheese, which will be provided for the reception by the ADA of Utah, will be prepared for serving by Waldorf-AstoriHotel chefs. The reception, which will also feature other Utah foods served buffet style in the hotel's popular Serf Room, will precede the concert of the Utah Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on Friday, September 9. The concert will be in the form of a sendoff for the orchestra's tour of Europe which will follow. The symphony, under the guidance of Maestro Maurice Abravanel, will present concerts at the well known Athens Music Festival in Greece, the Berlin Festival in Germany, Vienna, Belgrade, London and in other European cities. "Serving Utah cheese in the Waldorf-AstoriHotel is not new," Mr. Chambers said. "Our Utah Swiss cheese in previous years has been a favorite at the famed New York hotel." a a |