—Lancaster farming, Saturday, November 4,1978
22
Weiler named finalist
for National FFA award
EPHRATA - John Weiler,
Stevens Rl, has been named
the Eastern Region winner
of the FFA Agricultural
Sales and/or Service Pro
ficiency Award. He is one of
four FFA members in the
nation to receive this award.
One of the four will be named
the national winner in
Agricultural Sales and/or
Service at the Thursday
morning session, November
9, of the FFA’s Golden
Anniversary Celebration at
the 1978 National FFA Con
vention in Kansas City, Mo.
John, 19, is an artificial
insemination technician with
the Atlantic Breeders Co
operative. He transferred to
Ephrata High School so he
could be involved with vo
cational agriculture and
FFA in the ninth grade.
“The school I had been at
tending did not offer vo-ag;
my projects, interests and
activities centered around
dairy cattle and in the FFA I
had the opportunity to feed
my interests.”
"Through a program
operated by the vocational
agriculture department,
John attended school in the
morning and in the afternoon
he worked for Atlantic
Breeders, gained much
experience, and following
graduation became a full
time technician,” according
to his vocational agriculture
instructor Lewis Ayers. John
enjoys his work and plans to
make it his career.
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As a member of the
Cloister FFA Chapter, John
has served as treasurer and
president. He participated
on the Dairy Cattle Judging
Teem, placing sixth high
individual in the National
FFA Dairy Judging Contest.
His other activities include
soft ball, the State Young
Farmer’s Association, State
and National Holstein Asso
ciation, and Director of
Lancaster County Junior
Holstein Club.
The Agricultural Sales
and/or Service Proficiency
Award is one of 22
Agricultural Proficiency
Awards presented annually
by the Future Farmers of
America Foundation. Ap
plicants for the award must
show activities and ex
perience providing a
background for occupations
requiring technical
knowledge in marketing
farm produce or in providing
the consumable supplies and
services used in production
agriculture.
Chapters may recognize a
member for the Agricultural
Sales and/or Service Pro
ficiency Award by
presenting a medal and a
certificate. Chapter winners
may compete at the state
level where the winner is
presented a check for $lOO
from the National, FFA
RT 272
GLENWOOD
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Foundation, Inc. State
winners then compete for
recognition in each of the
four FFA administrative
regions. Each regional
winner earns a check for
$250 and a plaque plus a
travel award to the National
FFA Convention in Kansas
City, Mo. Here the student’s
application is judged against
winners from three other
regions. The top FFA
member in the nation in
Agricultural Sales and/or
Service is recognized at the
National FFA Convention
with a plaque and a check for
$5OO.
As sponsors of the Agri
cultural Sales and/orService
Awards, Allis-Chalmers
Corporation provides funds
for awards at the local,
state, and national levels as
well as travel awards to the
National FFA Convention
for regional winners.
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Breaking corn yield
or, how high is
barriers
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
How they must have
whistled when the national
average com yield shot up to
35.4 bushels per acre! That
was in 1942, and it set a
record. Eyebrows went up
again in 1948 when farmers
weighed in with a record
shattering 43 bushels per
acre.
Not in their wildest
dreams would U.S. fanners
believe that just 30 years
later they’d harvest an
average of 100.7 bushels of
com per acre. But that’s
exactly what they expect to
do, according to the crop
reporting board of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
The board released figures
this month which gave that
production estimate. While
the figures are only
estimates that could change,
there’s not likely to be much
difference this late in the
season between the
estimate and the final
harvest.
Most of the increase is due
to hybrid corn, which
became available in
quantity to U.S. farmers in
the 1930’s following suc
cessful experiments in com
crossbreeding. Com yields
didn’t change much from
1886 through the 1930’5,
running around 24 bushels
per acre. When the hybrids
hit the furrows, yields began
setting records.
The 1948 record held until
1956 when U.S. farmers grew
an average of 47.4 bushels
per acre. Since that year,
records have been rather
commonplace for U.S. com
farmers as they’ve climbed
through yield levels of 80.1 in
1967, and 97.1 in 1972.
What is the yield limit per
acre for com? No one, of
course, can be sure.
“Genetically, we don’t see a
ceiling,” said Paul H.
Harvey, coordinator for com
and sorghum research at the
U.S. Department of
Agriculture. “Com is a
variable crop. There’s
plenty to work with. Other
factors such as water and
temperature will limit com
yields before genetics do.
“The national breeding
programs for hybrid com
have given us a one per cent
increase each year over the
past about 50 years. We
expect that increase to
continue for some time,” he
said.
“Fertilizer and equipment
have been factors in in
creasing the yield, too. With
today’s equipment, a farmer
can plant his entire crop in a
week’s time. So a rainy
period doesn’t create the
same problems today as it
did when horses pulled the
plows and it took two or
three weeks to put the crop
m.”
The high yield per acre
means that planting and
growing conditions were
good over a large portion of
our 67.7 million acre com
plot. Farmers cut back
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Glenwoods are designed to
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SAVE ssss.
up
more than two million acres
from last year, incidentally.
We’ll still have bad years.
That 100.7 is an average
figure. One state
(California) Reported a high
of 120 bushels per acre and
another (Mississippi)
reported only 43 per acre.
Doubling and tripling our
com yield is important, of
course. It not only creates
jobs - in fertilizer, farm
equipment, transportation,
farming and in the hybrid
seed industry itself - but the
sale of com overseas puts
money in America’s pocket
another way. Com will grab
a big chunk of the $26.5
billion dollar export record
sale this country expects to f
make this year. The total'
com crop is expected to be
about 6.82 billion bushels - 7
per cent above last year’s
record.
Harvey noted that earlier
in his career when farmers
were still averaging 30 or so
bushels per acre he started a
100-bushel corn club. It had
five members - farmers
whose yields reached the
magic figure.
Would he be optimistic
enough in these days of
already high yields to start a
club for, say, 300 bushel
members? “Sure. After
all,” he said,. “several
farmers already get 300
bushels and just last year we
learned of a Michigan far
mer who produced 352
bushels of com an acre.”