WASHINGTON: Shrinking Dairy Surpluses

Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson last week gave a progress report on his program to shrink the mountain of surplus U.S. dairy products by lower price supports and a huge giveaway program. Lower price supports so spurred consumption that Benson was able to cut new purchases of butter by 45%, of cheese by 66%, of dried milk by 21%. Under the giveaway program, the U.S. in 1954 distributed a total 1.7 billion Ibs. of excess butter, cheese and dried milk, much of it free to welfare agencies at home and abroad, treble the amount disposed of in 1953. Together, the two projects reduced overall U.S. dairy surpluses by 54%; butter stocks went down by 35% (to 236,600,000 Ibs.), cheese stocks by 30% (to 328,600,000 Ibs.), and dried milk by 85% (to 86.3 million Ibs.).