H l’. ■'■ ■
Vol. 19 No. 14
FARM
TRENDS
How Short Is Fertilizer?
A recent Wall Street Journal report on the fertilizer
situation has very little to comfort any farmer who
hasn’t already locked m his supply for the coming
year. Some producers, according to the report, say the
U S. will be short about five percent of its total needs.
The Fertilizer Institute in Washington, the
producer’s trade group, says the shortage will be
more like 15 percent, or three million tons. Corn
yields, alone, it says, will fall 20 million to 25 million
tons short of requirements as a result. On the other
hand the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief
economist, Don A. Paarlberg, while agreeing that
production of nitrogen fertilizer “is running full out,"
accuses the fertilizer industry and farmers of
“magnifying their estimates of need.” He says, “Crop
production won’t be crippled this year.”
The reason for the fertilizer problem is twofold.
First, there was an oversupply of fertilizer until a year
ago, as a result construction of new fertilizer plants
virtually halted. Second, now that it has become
apparent that new fertilizer production is needed, the
industry says it can’t build new plants because it isn’t
able to get long-term guarantees -of supplies of
natural gas, a raw material essential for the
production of nitrogen fertilizer.
Because of the fertilizer situation, crop forecasts for
1974 may be far off, the fertilizer industry warns. The
Agriculture Department predicts corn production this
year of 6.7 billion bushels, up from 5.6 billion bushels
last year. It predicts wheat production of 2.1 billion
bushels, up from 1.7 billion. Edwin Wheeler, president
of the Fertilizer Institute, says there is simply no way
to meet the corn-production estimates (corn uses 55
percent of U.S. nitrogen-fertilizer production). He
says the wheat and cotton estimates are also doubt
ful.
The corn outlook is worse than the wheat outlook,
Mr. Wheeler says. One reason is that when farmers
planted their winter wheat last fall "they got the first
lick at our nitrogen-fertilizer supplies and have almost
preempted the corn farmer,” Mr. Wheeler says,
“Wheat has already soaked up a lot of our mtrogen-
(Continued On Page 21)
Monroe Good, left, was named the
outstanding farmer of the year by the
Garden Spot Young Farmers
Association at their annual meeting
by Dick
Wanner
last Friday night at the Blue Ball Fire
Hall. Donald Robinson, the group's
advisor, presented the award.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 23, 1974
Agricultural Fuel
Outlook is Cloudy
Will you be able to get enough fuel to plant and harvest
your 1974 crops? The best answer we could get to this
question after two days on the phone this week is a qualified
“Probably.”
The Federal Energy Office has decreed that farmers and
related agribusiness pursuits are to get all the fuel they need.
Dealers locally say they’re only too aware of the regulations,
and will be happy to comply - if they have the fuel available.
Most farmers we talked to reported they were having no
trouble yet in getting fuel. There were some indications of
trouble, though, particularly in operations which were ex
panded recently.
A farmer in the southern end of the County said he had just
added more than 200 acres of cropland to his operation. “I’m
not quite out of gas. We’ve got some storage capacity on the
home farm, but we’re going to be working that pretty hard
after we start planting. We’ve been trying to get another
storage tank, but that hasn’t come yet.
Double-Crop
For Higher
“Lancaster County far
mers could double or triple
returns from their small
grain fields by double
cropping soybeans,” John
Yocum told a Crops and Soils
Day audience on Tuesday at
the Farm and Home Center.
“This is a livestock county,”
Yocum explained, “so you
need straw for bedding and
you’ve got to grow a small
grain to get it. But you don’t
have to let the field idle after
you cut the the grain.”
Yocum is director of Penn
State’s Southeast Research
Center at Landisville.
Many small grain fields in
the area lie idle from the
Beans
Profit
time the crop is harvested in
June until the following
spring, when they are
usually planted to alfalfa.
“Instead of leaving the land
idle, why not put it to work?”
Yocum asked. “We figure
that a break even point in
soybean production is a 12-
bushel-per-acre yield, or 16
bushels if you have to buy
fertilizer. Average yield is 25
bushels,' and at $5 a bushel,
you can see why double
cropping makes good
sense.”
Yocum recommends
planting as early as possible,
preferably before June 10,
(Continued On Page 22)
In This Issue
FARM CALENDAR 10
Markets 2-4
Sale Register 36
Farmers Almanac 6
Classified Ads 44
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 24
Home on the Range 29
Thoughts in Passing 9
Tobacco Referendum 19
Organic Living 16
Garden Spot Young
Farmer Group Meets
Monroe Good, East Earl
RDI, was given the Out
standing Farmer of the Year
award by the Garden Spot
Young Farmers Association
at their annual banquet last
Friday evening at the Blue
Ball Fire Hall. Donald
Robinson, the group’s ad
visor, presented the award to
“Our problem is that we’re down to about a two-day supply
once we start plowing. Other years, that might not be a
problem, because we could call up our dealer and he’d be out
here in anywhere from one to 12 hours. They’re not delivering
that fast anymore.” And, he says he’s running out of gas.”
In trying to contact this man’s dealer, we discovered that
his phone had been disconnected. We were able to reach a
number of dealers, and we were unable to reach others.
There is a lot of pressure on oil dealers, from farmers and
others who buy fuel, which is just about everybody. Oil
dealers, these days, are a harried lot and some aren’t an
swering their phones.
“The Federal Energy Office is telling farmers they’re
supposed to be able to buy fuel through their regular chan
nels,” one dealer told us. “Well, we’re a regular channel, and
we don’t know where we’re going to get the gas. So how’s the
farmer supposed to get it from us?”
t Continued On Page 4)'
Organic Living Column Begins
A new weekly column dealing with organic gar
dening, natural foods and pollution control begins this
week on page 16. “Organic Living” is written by
Robert Rodale, editor of Organic Gardening and
Farming magazine, and publisher of Prevention, a
I ealth magazine, and Environment Action Bulletin.
Wentink Named
NCEN Chairman
Hendrink “Henk” Wen
tink, assistant to the
president of Lancaster’s
Pennfield Corp., was named
chairman of the National
Commission on Egg
Nutrition at a meeting of that
group last Monday in Park
Ridge, Illinois.
Wentink is a new member
of the commission, and
represents the Northeastern
Poultry Producers Council.
He succeeds Blanton Smith,
Nashville, Tenn., as
chairman.
Other members of the
commission are Smith, who
represents the American
Egg Board; Gerald Bookey,
Seattle, Wash., representing
the Pacific Egg and Poultry
Association; Maurice
Pickier, New London, N. C.,
representing Southeastern
Poultry and Egg
Good.
The Outstanding Dairy
Achievement award went to
Robert Book, 11 Hershey
Road, Leola. The Book herd
scored a production record
of 15,874 pounds of milk and
610 pounds of fat.
First place corn silage
award went to Earl S.
$2.00 Per Year
Henk Wentink
Association, and Norman
Hecht, Walden, N. Y.,
representing United Egg
Producers.
Weaver, New Holland RDI,
for his production record of
14,725 pounds of TDN per
acre. Andrew Stoltzfus,
Morgantown RDI, placed
second with 13,244 pounds of
TDN, Carl Sauder, East Earl
RDI, was third with 13,200
pounds and Glenn C. Her
(Continued on Page 18)