Space age technology comes to agriculture
(Continued from Page 120)
They inspect crops in the fields and send the results
through an automated reporting system that com
bines the information and computes the production
forecasts. The USDA does have a good working re
lationship many foreign departments of
nculture; however, from some countries, reliable
crop producing information is difficult to obtain;
in other areas, the crop data are completely unavail
able. Not many other countries have adequate re
porting systems, and the quality of information on ■
crops varies widely from one country to another.
In the United States, and the few other
countries with good reporting networks, accurate
and timely crop production forecasts are available.
In some other countries, however, crop information
MAKE ME A BULK
MILK COOLER THAT
HAS EVERYTHING!
CONTACT QUEEN ROAD REFRIGERATION TO SEE A
QUEEN ROAD REFRIGERATION
BOX 67, INTERCOURSE, PA. 17534 ★ 24 HOUR SERVICE
Phone: John D. Weaver 717-768-9006 or 768-7111 Or Answering Service 717-354-4374
is either not known or is not made available to
others.' Lack of crop forecasts leads to planting,
buying, selling, import, or export, decisions being
made on the basis of incomplete information.
Consequently, uninformed decisions result in hard
to-manage shortages for some and surpluses for
others, less than maximum food production, and
unrealistic food prices.
The techniques being tested by LACIE have
the potential to provide worldwide crop forecasts.
The LACIE activities were briefly described by
former U.S, Secretary of State Dr. Henry F.
Kissinger in an announcement at the 1974 World
Food Conference. “Our space, agriculture, and
weather agencies will test advanced satellite tech
niques for surveying and forecasting important
food crops. We will begin m North ''America and
then broaden the project to other parts of the
world. To supplement the World Meteorological
Organization climate, we have begun
our own analysis of the relationship between cli
mate patterns and crop yields over a statistically
significant period. This is a promising and poten
tially vital contribution to rational planning of
global production.” ~
375 gal. DeLaval 350ga!.Esco 600 gal. Mojonnier 500 gal. Wilson
400 gal. DeLaval 425gal.Esco 400 gal. Dari-Kool 2-400 gal. Jamesway
lj(2)r6oogal. Milkeeper 625gal.Esco D-2 600 gal. Glrton 400 gal. Sunset
500 gal. Milkeeper 500 gal. Mojonnier D-2 400 gal. Girton 735 gal. Sunset
LACIE STUDY AREAS
SPECIAL OF THE WEEK:
D-2 600 GAL. GIRTON
The "MW" is one of the Lowest pouring
Height Bulk tanks. Check with us all the new
features of the “MW" bulk tank.
in the market for a bulk milk cooler and you don’t check all the
of the Mueller “OH” “MHL”, and “MW” you may be buying an
tier.
FRB HSATBR
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 14,1978—12:
ESSi WHEAT
LACIE is a developmental project for the USDA.
The LACIE investigators are trying to determine
how much information can be obtained about
crops from Earth-observing satellites and from
weather observations. For purposes of the experi
ment, LACIE is restricted to the study of a single
crop—wheat.
The use of Earth-observing satelhtes to gather
data on agricultural and other resources is an eco
nomically important application of the branch of
space technology called remote sensing. In simple
terms, remote sensing is the nse of instruments to
get information about an object without the instru
ments being in close contact with the object. Aerial
photography is a well-known type of remote
sensing.
Each of the three agencies of the U.S. government
(USDA, NOAA, and NASA), that are jointly con
ducting LACIE, brings particular expertise to the
experiment.'
USDA
The USDA has responsibility for the agricultural
programs of the U.S. government, arid requires
THE MUELLER MODELS
OH, MHL, AND MW WITH
HiPERFORM MAKE ALL OTHER
BULK MILK COOLERS OBSOLETE
SEE THE MUELLER NEW MODELS
★ 500 MW ★ 600 MW
IN OPERATION. RIGHT ON THE FARM.
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