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Show Increase bread costs not due to Wheat Price In order for the cost of wheat in a one and one-half pound loaf to be responsible for bread rising to one dollar per loaf, wheat prices would have to climb to 33 dollars per bushel. "Such a rise is preposterous," Secretary of Agriculture, Earl L. Butz, stated in refuting a dire prediction made recently by the chairman of the American Bakers Association. The Bakers Association 1 chairman predicted a " wheat shortage in the spring of 1974 with bread selling for "as much as a dollar per loaf" if the government govern-ment doesn't immediately put export controls on wheat. The Secretary of Agriculture urged bakers and others to present a true picture to consumers con-sumers about the cost of bread. He said, "The farm value of the wheat in a one and one-half pound loaf of bread selling for 47 cents is slightly over seven cents. Other costs and profits account for 40 cents, and they may go up some more. In the past five years the farm value of wheat in that size loaf of bread has gone up about 3.4 cents while other costs and profits have gone up 10.3 cents, three times as much. It is unrealistic to lay all the blame on the price of wheat for increased baking costs." Secretary Butz added, "The public should be told that the United States produces nearly four times the wheat we use for food in this country. The expected ex-pected 1974 production is over two billion bushels compared to 1.7 billion bushels in 1972. Our normal use of wheat in this country is a little over 500 million bushels a year. "Most of the wheat that we don't use ourselves is exported for cash. This strengthens our balance of trade, strengthens the dollar and makes it possible for us to import fuel and other vitally important items from other countries which help dampen the fires of inflation. |