Fresh Out of Butter

The U.S. uses about 1.1 billion pounds of butter a year. Because the dairy industry has been producing a lot more than that, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has had to buy 900 million pounds since 1952 under the dairy price support program. By mid-1954 surplus butter had reached the staggering weight of 467 million pounds, more than enough to supply the country's needs for four months. It began to look as if there was no hope of melting the butter surplus.

But Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson kept selling what he could sell, and giving away the rest. In three years more than 600 million pounds were donated for welfare use (e.g., school lunches) at home and abroad, and some 300 million pounds were sold, some at reduced prices for export. Last week Benson announced the startling results of his efforts: the U.S. Government is fresh out of surplus butter, will go into the peak milk-producing season beginning April 1 without an unsold pound on its shelves.

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