—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 27. 1977 14 Now is the time Continued from Page 10 collapse. A wide front end tractor is more stable because of the wide setting of the front wheels and together with a ROPS and seatbelt, gives you the best chance in case of an upset. Make sure the tractor is in top mechanical condition (brakes, clutch, etc.) and the farmer’s mentally alert. One mistake during packing may be all you are allowed. TO CHECK SOIL Keeping a soil fertile, with a “balanced” supply of each plant nutrient can be compared to using a self feeder for hogs. A soil “self feeder” supplies crops with the required fertilizer elements when they need them, just as self-feeders supply balanced rations to hogs at all times. Top crop yields demand adequate and constant supplies of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, plus about 10 other nutrients. And to make these nutrients available, lime is needed. But many crops suffer each year from a shortage of one or more of these nutrients. “Hidden hunger” in crops is costing fanners thousands of dollars each year. Corn is a good example of how a crop can run out of available nutrients at any time, but not show signs until its too late. For instance - com can run out of nitrogen, but often the yellow-tipped leaves don’t appear until the flush of growth at tasseling and earing time. Then, it’s too late to add nitrogen for top yields. Now would be a' good time to “check” your soil “self feeders” by having a soil test made. Adequate fertilizer can make yields go up and keep in mind, as yields go up, the cost of producing a bushel, a bale, or a pound comes down. TO PLAN HERBICIDE CHANGESFOR NEXT YEAR By this time of year, any weed problems in your fields are fairly evident and probably beyond control. But now is a good time to develop an effective program for next year. The easiest way to check for the effectiveness of different herbicides- is to leave a small part of your field untreated. This gives you a chance to tell what weeds were controlled and what ones were missed. However, if you’ve forgotten to leave a portion of your field unsprayed, you should be able to find spots where the sprayer missed. These will usually be areas near the ends of the fields and will serve your purpose quite well. If several types of weeds seem to have escaped control, you should check the herbicide container label as to whether the material was designed to eliminate those weeds. If it was not, be sure to include a herbicide to control them in your program for next year. If your entire weed control program was not effective, reread the label to see if you followed instructions. Just a few simple mistakes during application can result in a complete failure. Don’t be too quick to condemn the herbicide used on your fields. Either too much or too little rain soon after application can often cause a great loss of ef fectiveness in many her bicides. Farmers are shortchanged (Continued from Page 13] to sell their grain to the government under purchase agreements, or mortgage it for a price support loan, and it will be acquired by the government when price sup port loans mature. All of this government owned grain can then be dumped back into the market at $3.46 per bushel for wheat and $3.08 per bushel for com. That will prevent the prices farmers get from ever rising above that level. That’s the “ceil ing” that has been erected over farm prices, to keep them from rising any time that demand ever again should strengthen as it did in 1972 and 1973 and start prices upward from present low levels. These “ceiling prices” are barely at the cost of produc tion allowing only $2.67 per hour for the farmers work and less than the interest rate on farm debts as a return on investment. These price ceilings aren’t even high enough to be fair “floor prices”. The farm bill that Mr. Jantzen praises for what it does to protect the hungry against shortages will keep the farmers who feed them - and all the rest of us - in per manent poverty. Both tiie national political parties seem to have decided to make farmers the goats for everyone else’s inflation by applying price controls (under other names, of course) to farm com modities. The Nixon-Ford Ad ministration initiated export embargoes in 1973 to stop farm prices from rising when market demand came into balance with supplies. This had the effect of creating artificial surpluses in our market even when people in other countries needed grain and wanted to buy it. Similar export con trols were used again in 1974 and 1975. Then in 1976 a “standby embargo” was put into effect for five years, in the guise of an agreement with the Soviet Union. The Carter Administration has now substituted the use of grain surpluses, under the name of “reserves”, to do the same thing. As a fallback, however, the ex port embargo system is be ing kept oh the shelf. Presi dent Carter backed-down on his initial promise that he would never use export con trols to keep farm prices down. Farmers must concen trate now upon convincing the public, and the politi cians, that when the govern ment undertakes to regulate prices, it must be fair about it. The Farmers Union agrees that consumers - both rich and poor - need reserves of food to protect them against surpluses. But when the government takes it upon itself to control the prices or wages or electric utility rates or any one else’s opportunity to get paid for the goods or services which he provides to the communi ty, then the government has an obligation to set those controls where they will be fair. Fanners deserve as much for their work as any skilled craftsman, it seems to me. Farmers deserve as much return on their investment as any businessman, it seems to me. I hope Mr. Jantzen and all the rest of the moral leaders who are concerned about feeding the country will also pay attention to the moral rights of fanners to get a fair return and a decent living Meeting set LANCASTER - The Lancaster County Ayrshire, Jersey, Brown Swiss 4-H Dairy Club will meet Sep tember 12, 7:30 p.m. at the Safe Harbor Park. The Lancaster County Guernsey and Holstein Dairy Clubs are invited to attend this meeting. Baseball, tennis, volleyball, and croquet will .be played. Members are asked to bring their own equipment. After the games, a movie will be shown. The meeting will be held rain or shine. Directions to the park can be obtained by calling the Lancaster County Extension Office, 717-394- 6851. for their families for tbeir ef forts. ShKcrciy years, Hebert G. Lewis Chief BcmmbM and Secretary ef the Farmers Uahm
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