l he tact of the matter is — 60C

he tact of the matter is — 60C of every dollar spent on food goes for marketing costs According to the Virginia Department of Agriculture, neai ly half of this goes to pay for labor Involved, transporta tion accounts for about 10 per cent, and packaging costs car be as high as 10 per cent. Assembly of foods from the farm, grading, processing, storage, distribution, and mes chandising take a cut out of your food dollar too.

And what about the farmer? This man, who twenty years ago fed himself and 14 other persons, now supplies food and fiber for himself and 30 others. He has decreased his acreage and increased his yield. His production is 5 to 6 times greater than his Rus sian counterpart's production. Yes, food is still the biggest bargain around these days. We spend less than 19 per cent of our take-home pay for food whereas we were spending 26 per cent in the late 1940’s. In Europe today, 30 to 50 per cent of disposable income goes for food, and in Russia it takes more than half a man’s pay to feed his family In less developed countries, food claims an even larger share of the family dollar. If food costs have risen in recent months, they have not risen enough to come in line with price changes on other items. During the last 15 years in this country, 1950-1965, the price of non-food items rose 35 per cent. Retail prices of American farm-grown food went up only 15 per cent, says VDA. If foods had risen proportionately with other items, your $20 bag of groceries would now cost you $27, instead of $23. A great deal has been made of the record high farm income expected for this year, even with expected reductions in farm prices on some commodi ties during the remainder of the year. Well, perhaps it’s about time, The farmer has long been "low man on the totem pole" when it came to yearly income. In 1964 the per capita disposable personal income from all sources for the farm DODulaion was $1,270, as compared to $2,317 for the non-farm