Imperial Valley press., 1932-05-19
VALLEY GROWER
GIVES SURVEY OF
HAY SITUATION

The Press has received the fol-
lowing communication from H. A.
Hastain, Of BraWley, one of the
leaders in formation of the copper
ative hay growing association:
"Will you kindly give space to
the following observations from
trip through Antelope valley and
the dairy sections of Los Angeles
in the interests of the hay situa-
ton?
"I' find that the people in the
Antelope valley are confronted with
about the same problems that we
! ourselves are, which is trying TO
produce hay to sell for three or
/ four dollars less than the cost OF
production, and keep it up. There
appears to be many low producing
fields not being farmed this season.
/ I would estimate their production
to be 60 to 10 per cent of last
seasons production. They too are
making all grades Of hay and they
are getting SO to $40 for hay that
is selling here at ST to SO per ton,
with about one dollars difference
in the freight. I am of the opin-
ion that hay is selling here at least
one dollar below the price that
they are getting there, on grades
of equal value.
"The situation in the dairy dis
trict is far from being good. Cream
cries, dairymen and dealers are
trying hard to find a practical So
luton to the milk problem, but the
end is not yet. Dairymen are SUI
fering greatly from the low price
of milk which reduces their buy
ing power to almost nothing. All
hay producing sections are sending
hay to the Los Angeles market and
with the purchasing power OF the
consumer as low as it is, there can
be nothing but depression and con-
gestion in the market for some
days to come.
Regarding the cooperative mar
keting association would say that
there is not too much encourage
ment to adding any extra carry
ing charge to our hay; however l
believe that there are possibilities
in handling a large tonnage.
"It appears that we can get a
lower freight rate as we'll as some
other considerations, as coopera-
tive organization, that should more
than take care of yards and extra
storage charges. I also believe that
it is possible to strengthen the
market by borrowing enough money
to enable us to go into storage
with a portion of our production,
and by selling ha ythrough CEN
trail sales agency. Our articles of
incorporation should be back from
Sacramento the last of this week.
Whether we shall have an associa-
ton will depend upon the tonnage
we can get signed up in short
time, as time is getting away from
us rapidly. We will have the mar
keting agreement ready, and If
enough people will go to the trou-
BILE of informing themselves, and
assist in informing others, it will
not require long to determine
whether we want an association or
| not.
"If there is a need for an asso-
citation, no few men should be eX-
pected to put the deal over. If
there are benefits to be lad from
an association, each grower will
participate in those benefits, and
if all are willing to devote little
time in perfecting the organization,
I believe it will result in consider
able saving of time in the future to
the grower, as well as return of
something above the cost of pro-
duction.
I'VE will inform the growers
through the press as soon as the
articles of incorporation arrive, and
arrange to have the bylaws and
marketing agreement available for
all growers to become familiar
with"