Austin American-Statesman from Austin, Texas • 35

By the six-pack Perrier moves to supermarkets (The AttstiRArapricon-Statesmon business Austin, Texas Page C5 By MARGARET A. KILGORE Los Angeles Times Service LOS ANGELES Perrier, the gas-laden mineral water that has long been considered the favorite drink of discriminating Europeans who believe it helps alleviate ills from dyspepsia to a hangover is now being offered to the U.S. supermarket masses at reduced prices. The bubbly water is being sold in three-packs and six-packs on market shelves this fall at 20 to 30 cent less than the present gourmet shop price of more than $1 for a 23-ounce bottle. The French firm that bottles the water, Source Perrier, believes that it must lower the price to compete in the crowded U.S.

soft drink market. Whether the French can capture a significant share of the $10 billion Americans spend annually on soft drinks remains to be seen, but Bruce Nevins, president of Great Waters of France, which is marketing the product here, believes that the time is ripe to grab the shelf space that may be vacated if the government's ban on saccharin in diet drinks goes into effect. "If we only gain a 1 per cent share of the market, it represents a $100 million business at the wholesale level," he said in an interview. An estimated 2 million bottles of Perrier, which comes in green glass containers shaped like Indian Clubs, are sold in the U.S. market now to Americans who have traveled abroad and apparently consider themselves "Perrier freaks." Perrier water has been bubbling up from an underground volcanic spring in the south of France for nearly 2,000 years at a rate of 21,000 gallons per hour.

For more than a century, Perrier and a slice of lime or lemon has been the choice drink of Frenchmen passing the hours in sidewalk cafes at posh restaurants. Perrier also is considered to be a good mixer with bourbon or scotch. Perrier believes that the drink has more to offer than bottled water or club soda. "It has a distinctive taste, no calories, no sugar and it is thirst-quenching," the spokesman said. Because the U.S.

government is strict about food and beverage claims, advertising will be based on the water's natural attributes. The company will emphasize that the sparkle in the water comes from natural carbon dioxide, is high in calcium and almost salt free. But the company and apparently many Frenchmen believe that the water is good for digestion and the heart, keeps a woman's makeup fresh and soothes a hangover. Sunday, September 4, 1977 Pages C5-14 Senior citizens activity center near completion By DAVID FRINK Business Writer Construction and parking lot improvements on the new senior citizens activity center at the corner of 29th and Lamar should be completed by February, according to the project superintendent. Being built with Capital Improvement Project and Housing and Community Development federal funds, the center's total cost will be $619,000.

General contractor for the project is Lawless Alford, Inc. of Austin. Built primarily with stone, the center will have meeting rooms, a dancing area and other recreational areas within its walls. Senior citizens in the area are currently meeting in local churches Another shopping center is on the way in Northwest Austin. Shoal Creek Square, a facility 1 If you're "into" blue jeans at all and who isn't nowadays you've probably noticed the "price war" being waged by retailers.

Prices for Levi's, one of the most popular brands produced in the United States (a bootleg pair goes for upwards of $100 in Europe and in the Soviet Union), have dropped as much as $6 recently to around $11 here. Other brands are even lower. Seems a chain of about 200 Minneapolis, Minn, stores started the battle (which is a nationwide phenomeon) in response to their competitors who don't have Levi accounts, but get the jeans from third parties and reduce their price to attract customers: Meanwhile, jeans-wearing consumers from Washington, D.C. to Austin are benefiting. One store in a D.C.

suburb was advertising Levi's for $9.50 a pair a 1968 price two weeks ago Among the tenants of a small four-story office complex going up on Town Lake's south shore just west of Christie's Seafood restaurant will be Night Hawk restaurant administrative personnel Final disposition of the proposed Loop 1 (MoPac) extension southward to Loop 360 is reportedly the only remaining stumbling block delaying construction of a planned regional-sized shopping mall near where the two roads would intersect. Tentatively named Barton Creek Square by its Indianapolis, Ind. developer, the mall could have as many as five major department store chains On a smaller scale, a new Whataburger fast-food outlet in the 2400 block of East Oltorf is about ready to open. on the northeast corner of Anderson Lane and Shoal Creek Blvd. is being developed by Ken Carr, John Lewis andR.T.Mayfield.

The center was designed by Bob Peerman and is being built by Mayfield Construction Co. Among the center's tenants will be Oshman's, one of the nation's largest sporting goods retailers. The store, opening late this year, will be the second Austin outlet for Oshman's. Their first local store has been at Capital Plaza since 1961, after moving from the University of Texas area. Other tenants in the center will include Kobe House, a Japanese restaurant, Inner Sanctum Records, Your Graphics Are Showing Gallery and Fantastic Sam's family hair care center.

Austin Savings and Loan is also putting a branch office in the complex commodities vl jfefT iv 5 't A Your Best Buy SOLAR HEATER Call: Warren Cole Professional Solar Engineer Established ftustin Businessman COLE SOLAR SYSTEMS, IN. AAt-L Fntt St Elmo Rd. 444-2565 iaMnnmnii'nUirt niiii in-mi iiiiiriwiiini iinmi i nirniitfiiii tmi li'in-i mi nimiriiininiiriiBrwKfcaiTMr piliiliiip iliilftliili ll 'it; 'Ik'' USDA reveals wheat crop plan ByJOHNJ.RUZICKA Commodity Manager E.F.Hutton&Co. The USDA announced the proposed set-aside program for the 1977-78 wheat crop. This will become official once the Farm BUI is signed into law, which is expected sometime in September.

There has been some confusion over meaning of the program and several matters still appear up in the air, but this should clarify what the basic program means. USDA announced a 20 per cent set-aside for wheat. This requires the producer reduce by 20 per cent his current year acreage in order to be eligible for wheat program benefits such as the loan program and deficiency payments or for benefits on any other commodity. This set-aside acreage, or conserving base acreage, designated as set-aside, must be devoted to an approved vegetative cover crop such as annual or perennial grasses or small grains not allowed to mature. The question has been raised whether wheat planted for grazing would have to be included in plans to set-aside and whether wheat for grazing could be an approved vegetative cover.

As of this writing there has been no clarification from the department but ASCS sources indicate a lot of wheat has been planted in the past for cover crop purposes in certain parts of the U.S. It is our belief the department will allow wheat for grazing as an approved vegetative crop cover. They will try to have a decision next week and even if grazing is allowed, it would likely be prohibited after May, when the wheat could mature for harvest. Another point of confusion appears to be fallow acres in dryland wheat areas. The department's position on this is not to count fallow acres into the base so farmers who have fallow land will have to cut back on actual planted acreage for harvest.

The Secretary of Agriculture has outlined the national wheat allotment for 1977-78, which is a 20 per cent reduction from last year's planted acreage. The Secretary recommends an allotment by determining the number of harvested acres needed to produce the quantity of wheat he estimates will be used domestically and for export in the marketing year. tp! APWirephoto A worker surveys a pile of 250,000 bushels of surplus wheat dumped outside the Reid elevator in Goodland, Kansas. Fertilizing pays too well farm roundup "The All-in-One Monthly Statement from Capital National Bank. It shows all your checking transactions and balances for savings, personal loans and even CD's.

Capital's All-in-One Statement. It's simple. It's convenient. It makes sense." All you need is Capital MmberfDIC It simply shows again that farmers have only one way to make expenses: produce as much per acre as they can. And in so doing they are producing so much that their price goes down the drain.

Production worldwide is also on the increase, which is also bad news for U.S. farmers who need foreign markets. With all the production, the problems of a threatened food shortage that were predicted just a couple of years ago have vanished. Recently, C.W. (Tex) Cook, chairman of the executive committee of the board of directors of General Foods said in Austin: the earth has the capacity to produce adequate amounts of food for two, three or even four times the number of people now on the globe.

Yet one-third of the world's population goes to bed hungry every night. In times of surplus production as we now have, Cook suggests the establishment of world grain reserves. He admits this is a simple solution, but a difficult one to make work. Such questions as who is to pay for the food, where would it be stored and how would it be distributed must be answered. Grain reserves throughout the world may now seem to be the solution to the fanner's price problems.

By CLARK BOLT Farm Editor Abundant supplies of material with which to produce fertilizer as well as capacity to produce it will be available for some time to come, 3,000 years in at least one case. But it's going to cost you more money, as you might expect. A survey and outlook for fertilizer shows the following: There is enough potash available to last 3,000 years. Phosphate fertilizer reserves can last for at least 100 years. There is now more capacity to produce nitrogen than there is demand.

All this, of course, is good news for those of us who like to eat. It means there will be plenty of fertilizer so that farmers can continue full production. Generally, the experts figure that on crops fertilizer will increase yields about 35 to 40 per cent. These same experts figure that fertilizer cost represents about 15 to 20 per cent of the total production costs to the farmer. All in all, it means that fertilizer does pay.

In fact, it may pay too well in terms of production. Farmers have produced so much during the past few years that they are producing themselves into bankruptcy. They're locked in a vicious cycle. They know they have to produce to make anything at all. They strive to get as much per acre as possible.

The wheat story is just one example. Despite what started out as a bad crop year for wheat, farmers are producing the third consecutive 2 billion bushel crop this year. Farm prices are about half the cost of production. Suppose, just suppose, that farmers had not fertilized their wheat. Production would have been cut on the average 30 to 40 per cent, or say a third as an example.

Had they not fertilized their wheat during the past three years, that would have meant there would be no surplus of wheat on hand, now. This is not to suggest that farmers should quit fertilizing their crops in hopes of a better price. Taking into account the increased production of 35 to 40 per cent and the input cost to make that and you can see that not fertilizing would be a bad economic move. YOUR QUESTIONS answered in the Close Calls column.