Seed and Fertilizer Supply Seen Short
Short supplies of fertilizer,
grass and forage seed will
present a dilemma to farmers in
1974, a team of agricultural
specialists pointed out at the
recent Forage and Seed Con
ference held at The Pennsylvania
State University.
“We have a 5 million pound
shortage of alfalfa seed and this
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Wenger's Feed Mill Inc.
Ph; 367-1195
Rheems
James High & Sons John j Hess, 11, Inc,
Ph: 354-0301 ph 442-4632
GordonviUe Paradise
West Willow Farmers . . B .
Assn., Inc, John B. Hurts
ph . ' Ph: 354-9251
W«tW»» BJ).3,Ephrate
actually is a worse situation than
it appears,” said W. Alan Hick, of
Northrup, King, and Company, of
Albany, Oregon. *
These figures, he noted,
represent all alfalfa seed. The
farmer in the Southwest does not
want seed that isn’t adaptable to
his area. The only way we are
going to be able to correct this
Ira B. Landis
Ph; 665-3248
Box 276, Manheim RD3
situation is to pay growers a price
for alfalfa seed which will return
an equal or better price than the
crops they are now growing in
dollars per acre, or we will have
to find new areas of production.
“I do not see any relief from
short seed supplies of alfalfa, red
clover, western-produced forage
and turf grasses until at least
after the 1975 crop,” Hick em
phasized. “This relief will come if
we are prepared to pay the
price.”
James A. Wells, an official of
the Tennessee Valley Authority,
pointed out that United States
inventories at the end of the 1973
fertilizer year are at an all-time
low. Nitrogen product inventory
is at 40 percent of the % average
monthly production rate. Stocks
of ammonia are at 50 percent of
the same production index.
Supply levels for phosphates are
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 8,1973
not as critical as those for
nitrogen.
Wells predicted that the U.S.
fertilizer industry will likely
respond by making at least an
additional 350,000 tons of the
major fertilizer materials
available to the domestic market
during this year and 1.1 million
tons during the remainder of the
fertilizer year.
“Fertilizer firms will probably
start construction of new
facilities and speed up current
building programs,” he said
“With industry and agriculture
asking the federal government to
raise priorities on natural gas
feedstocks, an increase in
operating rates of ammonia
plants can be expected, adding to
nitrogen supplies.”
Feed grain production is likely
to be a record 211 million tons and
the livestock industry can
“breathe a little easier” than a
year ago, H. Louis Moore, Penn
State Extension agricultural
economist, told those attending
the conference.
“The combined winter and
spring wheat crops exceeded last
year’s record, corn production is
up 4 percent from a year ago, and
soybean production is the largest
ever,” Moore said.
He added that the elimination
of the set-aside program
promises to increase grain
production in 1974 which will be
good news for the livestock in
dustry. Wheat farmers increased
their fall acreage by 7 7 percent.
If farmers plant more corn, as
currently planned, the 1974 corn
crop should reach 6.3 billion
bushels, up nearly 9 percent over
last year.
Moore said that crops of this
size would tend to make livestock
feeding more profitable than
selling grain.
Garden Spot High School
Plans Welding Course
An evening arc welding school
for farmers and other interested
persons will begin Wednesday,
January 16, at 7:00 at the Garden
Spot High School Vocational
Agriculture Department. The
School will be conducted one
night a week for five consecutive
Wednesday nights. It is designed
for beginners and others in
terested in improving their
welding skills.
Robert Woods, Vo-Ag teacher
at the high school, will teach
welding in the various positions,
on different kinds of metal,
welding cast iron, hard sur
facing, cutting, and brazing with
an arc welder.
Everyone who attends will
receive a certified diploma if
they attend all five sessions. A
fee of $5.00 will be charged for the
course and all materials needed
will be provided free of charge.
The course is based on
instruction developed by the
Lincoln Electric Company who
makes arc welding equipment
and has been conducting welding
schools since 1917. The Far
mersville Equipment Company
will sponsor the course.
The welding school will be
limited to 20 persons. Anyone
interested in the course should
contact the Agriculture
Department of the Garden Spot
High School by Friday,
December 2i. Persons interested
in taking the course should call
the high school between 8:00 and
3:00. 4
Low Meat Prices
Offset High Milk
The November 15 Index of
Prices Received by Pennsylvania
Farmers was one-half percent
less than mid-October according
to the Crop Reporting Service.
Lower prices for meat animals
and feed grains more than offset
higher prices for milk, milk cows,
turkeys, potatoes, apples and
hay. The index was 33 percent
above a year ago.
Nationally, the Index of Prices
Received by Farmers decreased
one and one-half percent. Con
tributing most to the decrease
since mid-October were lower
prices for cattle, calves, upland
cotton, broilers and soybeans.
Higher prices for milk, rice,
potatoes and tomatoes were only
partially offsetting. The index
was 38 percent above a year
earlier.
XXX
Last year about 60 percent of
the national nursing home bills
were paid by public sources
(Medicaid, Medicare, and the
like) according to the American
Nursing Home Association. Of
the total $3.5 billion expenditure
for quality care, only $1.37 billion
came from private funds.
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