OCR Text |
Show Blitz On Food Prices Coming so soon after optimistic op-timistic predictions that the huge 1975 grain crop would produce lower food prices, Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz's latest forecast of slightly higher food prices this year is disappointing. THE conclusion is inevitable ine-vitable that large grain sales to Russia have once more changed the picture in this country and once again prevent a drop in food prices. Obviously, the Secretary, his department and the Ford Administration knew what the result of large sales to Russia would be. So ths must be accepted as the deliberate policy of the administration-a administration-a policy to keep farm prices high. THAT WILL disappoint millions of Americans, though not the farmer. It will also add to the value of U.S. exports, and help in the fight to keep the balance of payments, the international trade balance, in the black. The official prediction now is that food prices will rise one or two percent only, while beef prices decline twice that much, in 1975. This is not an especially grim forecast. |