HAMPSHIRE: COUNTY 



iral 



FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



Published by the Hampshire County Farm Bureau 



PRICES 50 CENTS PER YEAR; $1.00 PER YEAR INCLUDING MEMBERSHIP IN FARM BUREAU 



Vol. 1 



Northampton, Mass., November, 1916 



No. 15 



MARKETING MILK. 



During the past few months tne 

 farmers all over New England, New 

 York state and the Middle W.«t, 

 J»ve laken more concerted action in 

 regard to marketing wholesale milk 

 than they have ever been able to do 

 before. More satisfactory termj 

 have been reached and the price re- 

 ceived comes nearer at least to re- 

 turning a profit for the farmer. 



in Hampshire County a small ara- 

 ouat of milk is shipped to Bost jn, 

 Ludlow and Chicopee. SpringileH 

 and Holyoke receive the product 

 from about nine towns. Northamp- 

 ton, Ware and Easthampton con- 

 sume a large part of the local sup- 

 ply and the cream produced in tlii 

 hill towns in the western part of 

 lliL' county goes to the Cummington 

 and Easthampton Creameries. TU" 

 j^mlierst Creamery and Belchertown 

 Creamery also receive some of their 

 cream from the county. 



The farmers shipping milk to 

 Holyoke have organized what is 

 known as the Holyoke Milk Pro- 

 ducers' Association, with headquar- 

 ters in South Hadley. This asso- 

 ciation has made an agreement with 

 the dealers whereby the farmers in 

 Soutli Hadley and Granby get 6c a 

 <iuart at the door (in some cases a- 

 a main cross road) and the f armors 

 in Southampton, South Amherst 

 iind Belchertown 6c for their milk 

 delivered in Holyoke. The retail 

 price in Holyoke was raised by the 

 dealers from Sc to 9c and at the 

 liresent time several of the dealers 

 are getting 10c. 



In the town of Wiare, the Milk 

 Producers and Dealers organized, 

 and set the wholesale price at 5',2C 

 and the retail price at 8c poured, 

 and 9c bottled. The farmers in 

 Easthampton met and voted to 

 raise a cent per quart but with one 

 «xception, they did not hold to their 

 agreement and sold to the dealers 

 for 5Vzc. The farmers producing 

 milk for Northampton did not at- 

 tempt to organize and they are 

 selling their milk for from 4%c to 

 5c a quart at the door. Milk re- 

 tails in Northampton for 9c a quart. 



While the increase in price to the 

 producer is fairly satisfac'ory for 

 he present, it is still doubtful if 

 he is receiving enough to make the 

 dairy business profitable - and at 

 tractive enough to induce him to 

 stay in the business and produce as 

 clean and wholesome a product as 

 the public should, and is. demand- 

 ing. The high prices paid for labor, 

 stock, grain and dairy utensils, in- 

 creases amazingly the cost of milk 

 production. In a recent bulletin, 

 published by the Massachusetts Ag- 

 ricultural College on "The Cost of 

 Milk Production," Dr. Lindsey 

 states that it cost 5.23 cents to pro- 

 duce a quart of 4 % milk from a 

 1000 lb. cow producing yearly 

 6000 lbs milk. This would have to 

 be increased to fit present market 

 conditions. 



The producers should not be sa'- 

 isfied witli the present temporary so- 

 lution of the situation. No result 

 is whoUv satisfactory that is not 

 reaonably permanent. If producers 

 hope for permanently satisfactory 

 tern.s. they must organize on a 

 ''ound basis. As stated in the Mew 

 York State Paim Bureau News, 

 "Farmers are and will continue to 

 be handicapped in their efforts to 

 get a just share of the cost or piac- 

 irg milk in consumer's hands until 

 they are so organized as to enable 

 'hem to deal collectively with the 

 handlers and distributers of milk." 



An effort is being made in Massa- 

 chusetts to have every community or 

 shipping point organized with a 

 local organization, these represeniea 

 by directors in a County Associa- 

 tion and the County Organization 

 in turn represented in a State Union. 

 This would do away, for the most 

 part with one group of farmers un- 

 derselling another. 



In order to meet the dealer or 

 consumer justly in raising the price 

 of milk the producer must be ready 

 to practice more efficient methods of 

 farm management, keep records on 

 the cost of production and eliminate 

 the low producing cows; produce a 

 clean wholesome article, standard- 

 ize it and then do his share of ad- 

 vertising the value of milk as a food 

 and thus increase the consumption. 



APPLE GRADING 



The apple crop in the county this 

 fall has been rather light, with the 

 quality rather poor and the price 

 correspondingly low. Many lots of 

 fruit were sold for $1.00 a barrel iu 

 bulk on the farm, while the pre- 

 vailing price for barreled fruit was 

 $2.00, delivered at the station. Buy- 

 ers were rather scarce and for the 

 most part, offers were rather low. 

 Many farmers preferred to sell a: a 

 low price and let the buyer direct 

 the packing so that lie would not 

 be liable under the new State Law. 

 There was absolutely no necessity 

 for this as the average farmer could 

 pack correctly under the law, if he 

 tried to become acquainted with it 

 and pack according to his best judg- 

 ment. In some cases after the buy- 

 er packed the fruit, he put the 

 farmer's name on the barrel, as the 

 packer. No farmer should ever al- 

 low this but should require the 

 buyer to stencil his own name on 

 the barrel as the packer. Fruit 

 packed by some buyers is no credit 

 to any farmer. 



In some sections, farmers have 

 stated that the law was a detriment 

 to the small grower and that he 

 could not market his fruit at a 

 profit. A statement of this kind 

 shows ignorance of the law and lack 

 of interest in his own welfare. The 

 farmers who have acquainted them- 

 selves with the law and have graded 

 their fruit accordingly, are more 

 than pleased with it and agree that 

 for the farmer who attempts to grow 

 marketable apples, it Is of tmuch 

 value and profit to him. 



The main lessons taught by the 

 first year of the apple grading law 

 seem to be: 1. That it is unprofit- 

 able to grade unsprayed fruit and 

 that all fruit that runs largely to 

 worm holes and fungus should he 

 left on the farm or sold to a elder 

 mill. 2. That higher prices and 

 consequently more profit can be ob- 

 tained by grading high quality ap- 

 ples into two or more grades. By 

 complying with the State Law and 

 standardizing his product, the farm- 

 er now receives his returns in pro- 

 portion to the quality of his fruit. 

 Continued On Page Ttvo. 



