Farming. Saturday. Jan. 11, 1975
Corn Growers Group
Seeks New Members
Two dollars doesn't buy
lu'ch these days. But if
ou'rc a corn grower, you
an still get a bargain by
lunking down two bucks for
membership in the Penn
ylvama Master Corn
irowers Association ac
ording to Dr. Joseph
JcGahen, a Penn State
xtension agronomist and
xecutive secretary of the
>MCGA.
“We’re just a fledgeling
organization, but we grew
ut of the Pennsylvania Five
.ere Com Club, which has
een around since the late
’orties,” McGahen told
.ancaster Farming on
fonday at the Farm Show.
Conference Room C in the
'arm Show Building was
ever so full as it was this
-cpr for the announcement
ff the Five Acre Com Club
yjnners. And this year, for
h(e first time, the state’s
•T - "
5 • De Laval MILKERS sales & service
; • Topline Transfer System
• Full Line Cleaning Detergents
• Installation Pipelines & Parlors
CALL FOR FREE ESTIMATE
J. B. ZIMMERMAN & SONS
R 1 23-West of Blue Ball Phone |7l7| 354 4955
ORDER VOUR SPRING
FARM SEEDS NOW
Cert Iroquois Alfalfa
Cert Saranacar Alfalfa
Cert Cayuga Alfalfa
W-L305 Alfalfa
W-L3II Alfalfa
Cert Vernal Alfalfa
Cert Buffalo Alfalfa
Thor Alfalfa
Cert. Pennscott Red Clover
Pa Grown Red Clover
Cert. Udmo Clover
Cert. Garry Oats
, Cert. Pennfield Oats
Cert Clmtland Oats
Cert. Clmtford Oats
Erie Spring Barley
GRASSES
Maine Grown Certified Seed Potatoes
You are cordially invited to
John Deere
Farming Frontiers
a film'program devoted to the latest
developments and research in .agriculture.
A presentation by your
John Deere Dealer
A. B. C. GROFF, INC.
10:30 a.m., Thursday. January 16, 1975
Dealer's Store
New Holland, Pa.
Lunch Will Be Served
highest agriculture official,
Secretary of Agriculture
James McHale, presented
the awards to the winners.
McGahen attributed much of
the added interest in this
year’s contest to the fact that
the com growers are now
organized into the Com
monwealth’s only producer
group seeking an active role
m com production research
and legislation.
According to McGahen,
the association has four
major objectives. These are
to:
1. Sponsor an annual
Pennsylvania Com Growers
Conference.
2. Keep members in
formed about new
developments in corn
production, storage,
utilization and marketing
with newsletters and special
reports.
3. Encourage com grower
meetings and other ac
tivities.
4. Encourage the
correlation of Penn State
corn research and the
research efforts of private
companies engaged in corn
production research.
The association’s main
activity will continue to be
the Five Acre Corn Club,
McGahen pointed out. “But
we also want to get farmer
input into corn production
education and research. If
the organization ever
became strong enough, we
could even fund our own
research.
“This would be cultural
research, rather than
looking for new hybrids.
We’d want to look for better
ways of planting. We’d
promote more efficient use
of fertilizer and herbicides.
We’d explore some of the
trends we see from the
records of the Five Acre
Com Club contestants.”
Notable among those
trends have been the in
creased population densities
of com planting and the use
of herbicides. “When we first
started the contest,”
McGahen said, “farmers
were planting maybe 12,000
plants to the acre. The
Students Make
Wreaths
The 7th grade Junior
Agriculture Club of Garden
Spot High School recently
took part in a wreath making
contest. One hundred and
twenty-five students under
the direction of Cheryl
Rousseau, instructor;
constructed Christmas
wreaths with material
-donated by Stauffer's of
Kissel Hill and Dean’s Tree
Farm in Lititz.
Those students who won
prizes for their creations
included: Ist - Walter Jones
and Lon Peters; 2nd-
Sharon Liezert and Dean
Horst and 3rd - Bryan
Knepper.
The students were allowed
to keep the wreaths as part
of their Christmas
decorations at home.
WHS
DEERE J / / (~» J
average this year was
almost 21,000 plants.
“In 1958, there was a big
jump in the yields. That’s the
year farmers began using
herbicides to control weeds
in their corn crops. That’s
one of the most important
things we’ve seen in corn
production, and every year,
we see that the farmers with
the best weed control are the
ones with the best corn
production.”
Another trend the records
show, McGahen pointed out,
is a shift to more continuous
com, and a change from ear
com to shelled com. Along
with population increases
has come a move to
narrower rows. Every year
there are fewer and fewer 40-
inch rows, and the category
that’s been growing fastest
in the Com Club records has
been the 30-inch row.
While com production has
come a long way since
McGahen first taught vo-ag
at Lancaster County’s
Manheim Central High
School in 1951, many growers
still have a long way to go. “I
get called out on 30 or 40 field
problems every year,” he
said, “and 80 or 90 percent of
the problems I see wouldn’t
have developed if the soil
had been tested. The biggest
problem I find is acidity,
which just doesn’t make
sense to me, because
limestone now is just about
the cheapest input you can
buy.
“The other big problem is
improper planting. Seeds are
put in too deep or to shallow.
Sometimes the fertilizer is to
close to the seed, or maybe
it’s the herbicide. These are
the kinds of problems we
help we can help farmers
solve. These are the kinds of
things we hope to keep from
YOU CAN COUNT ON US
AGRI-EQUIP. CARI L. SHIRK
Ephra,a> Pa 5 Colebrook Lebanon Pa
717-354-4271 717^274-1436
M. E. SNAVELY DEPENDABLE MOTOR CO
717 Bi^ dar Street Lltltz Pa East Mam Street Honey Brook Pa ’
717-626 8144 215-273-3131
M. S. YEARSLEY & SONS GRUMELLI FARM CFRVIfF
215-696-2990 Pa "5™ “5 Sff Pa
717-786-7318
HENRY S. LAPP LANDIS BROTHERS
nIS-SIS? Penna 17527 1305 Manheim PikeP 0 Box 484
Lancaster Pa 717-393 3906
ERB & HENRY EQUIP., INC.
22 26 Henry Avenue New Berlmnlle Pa
215-367 2169
becoming problems. I think
it’s an effort corn growers
need, and I hope they sup
port it.”
More information about
the Pennsylvania Master
Com Growers Association
can be had.by writing to the
group’s secretary treasurer,
Walter C. Johnson, RDI,
Julian, Pa., 16844. Or,
growers can become
members by simply sending
their $2 to Johnson.