The Sauk Centre herald., 1927-01-13
State Butter Crop Is
Over 100000 900
Patrons Of 81 Stearns County
Creameries Received $5,342,-
791 In 1925

| MinneSota'S butter crop Tor
1925, the latest year for which
figures have been compiled, rep
resented an income of more than
$1O0,0O0,0O, according to the
Minnesota Dairy & Food Commits
sion, and of this amount farmers
of Stearns county received 3d.
342,791 for their butterfat.
The farmer patrons of the 81
creameries in the county received
an average of A. 2 cents pound
for their butterfat last year. Those
creameries manufactured total
of 13,459,861 pounds of butter,
which sold, at wholesale prices,
for an average of 37.6 cents a
pound.
Stearns county was the largest
producer in the state with 49,
459,O00 pounds. Ramsey with
II, $4,000 pounds and Hennepin
with 10,779,OO0 pounds ranked
second and third, respectively.
However Stearns' output repre-
sented butterfat which, for the
most part, was produced within
it's own borders, while the large
centralizers of st. Paul and Min
neapolis, utilizing butterfat pro-
duced mainly in other sections Of
the state, are responsible for the
large production of the next two
counties.
Minnesota's output of 260, 38,
627 pounds last year was nearly
80, 100000 pounds more than the
production of Iowa, the second
largest butter state. Minnesota's
butter was produced in S25 cream
cries, the co-operatives ranking
first both in numbers and in pro-
duction.
The year 1926 has been a hard
one for dealers to gauge. Early
in the year, the big production
alarmed the industry and it was
generally feared that a surplus
would result. However, the dry
weather at the time of the season
of normal heavy production cur
tailed the output to such an ex-
tent that on December 1, the gov
ernment figures showed a short
age of 10000 pounds over last
year.
This shortage of butter has re-
suited in high prices for butter,
with the result that thoughtful
farmers are beginning to feel al
armed at the strong tendency
toward the use of oleomargarine
being manifested by the city con-
sumner.
While figures showing the con-
sumption of oleomargarine are not
yet available, city stores report
marked decline in the demand for
butter. The dangerous condition
in this trend, as far as the dairy
farmer is concerned, is that the
consumer who turns to oleomar-
garine because he thinks butter is
too high-priced always waits un-
til it falls "good and low" be-
fore he buys it again. 1t has
been found, for example, that
consumer who will turn to oleo-
margarine when butter reached
price of SO cents pound, retail,
will not again start using butter
when the price comes back to that
point but waits until it drops to
as low as so cents a pound before
he stops buying substitutes, and
nearly ten per cent never do come
back to butter.
This constitutes serious con-
dition for the farmers of Mime
sofa for it means an increasingly
diminished demand for butter.
Oleomargarine manufacturers,
quick to sense their opportunity,
are spending huge sums for ad-
vertising each year, and to coun-
teract this publicity the creamery
industry is doing very little. The
cooperative >creameriesof Min
nesota are not spending one cent
to protect their business against
the encroachment of manufactur-
ers of substitutes.
Realizing the increasing gravity
of the situation, however, Mime
sofa dairy farmers are finally tax
ing steps to protect their industry
by carrying on campaign to tell
the consumer something of the su-
perior merits of butter as food.
To this end Minnesota Dairy
Council is being organized to en-
able the local creameries of the
state to ioin with Other. dairy