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Show ; j "farm Conservation Report Price Support Programs Ms p , Driee support programs ? Dlyected toward stabilizing, if .: d rinorting farm prices for ld ?aPctSg milk and butter-' butter-' "ian farm-separated cream, ac-i ac-i fat i a!0 the chairman of the crtduction and Marketing t State. 'tration committee. H e ;dmin"lrtdthat the effectiveness Pints nrotsram is indicated by 'h tfJ that farm prices for v 'e irv products from the ol 1948 to early 1949 n,it f the sharpest drop on rec-f rec-f r any comparable period. ' since early 1949 have . Jectivelv stabilized at "Vt;' ,,DDort level. V. vipwing current operations, M haTman explains that man-- tmr ngmilk prices are being IrtPd at a national yearly pffi support price of $3.41 . ffundredweight for 1949 r.'1 tprfat in farm-separated i?n is being supported at a B- ' ' il vearly average support ' no 5y8 cents a pound. Farm-4 Farm-4 p ! on the average have been ' flivdng these prices since the ; wppwt Programs began t . 'icesuPPort action for these irtucts is being carried out in 'G- f f rrm of purchase programs , butfer nonfat dry milk sol-K sol-K ' and cheese. These products t theing purchased by the gov-F gov-F at Prices which, on the S would enable proces- l: Ls to P dairy farme.rs not than the support price for 'support purchases of ve , JI products, as of October K: ftotaled more than 92 mi 1-, 1-, n pounds of butter, 253 mil-L:-J n pounds of nonfat dry milk "-1 Ss and 16 million pounds of Serican cheddar cheese. These fres represent about 8 per 3L rent of the year's production of butter up to October 15, 33 45 ner cent of total production of Tonfat dry milk solids and 2 per 1 cent of American cheddar cheese nroduction for the same period. m- Biggest problems accompany- inj the programs involve satis-! j factory means of disposing of i the s u p p 1 i e s in government J hands. Present indications are that a large share of the but-' but-' ter and cheese may be sold ' back into the market during the i coming fall and winter months j of seasonally short supplies. The I government will sell its salable p stocks 'at not less than the pre-p pre-p vailing government purchase price plus storage costs. Five million pounds of the government's butter holdings al- Tadv has been allocated for use (i in k National School Lunch 'I piogtamand additional supplies l ol bans and cheese may be t put to this use at a later date. ! I About one-fifth of ' the govern meat's supplies of nonfat dry milk solids have been allocated for use in the school lunch program pro-gram and for foreign relief feed-D! feed-D! tag. but plans have not been ; announced for disposing of the balance of the solids. The effect of the program on ( consumers has been largely that B j of stabilizing prices throughout J the year by preventing an extended ex-tended decline in prices during j the spring and summer and a b. j subsequent sharp rise in prices during the fall and winter months of short supply. Consumers Con-sumers are assured that butter and cheese prices will not rise ; much above present levels be- cause of the Department's readiness readi-ness to sell its supplies back into in-to the market. Are We Using Up Our Farms? "How long before we are' down to our last half inch of topsoil? asks Douglas Bertoch chairman of the Duchesne County Coun-ty Production and Marketing Administration committee H e points out that too much of our farmland already has been used U.P he topsoil gone and onlv the hard sterile subsoil left and too much is becoming less and less productive. The question is important to the farmer, but even more important im-portant to the nation, says the chairman. It is because of the national interest in keeping the land productive that Congress has provided the Agricultural Conservation program, he explains. ex-plains. The purpose is to help farmers financially to build up their farms so that the people of the country can continue to have the needed food and fiber. "The financial assistance," he explains, " is an incentive to encourage farmers to carry out needed conservation practices. It is the needed spark to get the job done. Not infrequently the immediate returns from conservation conser-vation practices and the farming system that go with them are not as great as when the land is exploited, and the conservation payments help to make up the difference. The consequences of exploitation, of course are inevitable in-evitable as soil structure breaks down, erosion takes its toll, and fertility declines. In the end the acres may be there but the farm is gone." To illustrate how the program operates, the chairman points out that the conservation prac-ices prac-ices in the program are adapted to local needs. Here in Duchesne county one of the main conservation conser-vation needs is land leveling. Farmers who have carried out this practice have demonstrated conclusively its value in check-! check-! ing erosion and building up productivity. |