government report
Farmers are known to complain
about the census reports and other
governmental forms they are
asked to complete. Filling out
forms takes up a lot of time. But
•me of it is important to both
rmers and consumers.
Consider the fact that there are
2.5 million farms in this country
and they produce an incredibly
large and varied supply of food
liber and forest products. So how,
does each farmer know: what to
produce?; will there be a market?;
when and where to sell?
The answers to those questions
and many more depend on a wide
range of economic information
that is available to farmers. In this
country there’s no such thing as an
economic dictator that tells con
sumers what to consume and
producers what to produce. That’s
determined in the market and it
works when information is
available at all levels. The more
information available, the better it
functions. Inaccurate information
or no information at all distorts the
market system and causes gluts or
.
Since fanners operate in a tree
■■■■■■■■■■■■■
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Just another
market system, more or less, price
pretty well determines what they
will produce. And while this may
be hard for some people to un
derstand, let emphasize that
farmers don’t decide their prices.
This point has been made over
and over again, but still 1 find a lot
of consumers don't have the
slightest idea about this. Their only
contact with the farmer may be a
visit to a roadside stand where the
farmer is, in fact, setting a price.
But the bulk of what farmers
produce is sold through a market
system where the price is dictated
to the farmer.
Price determines the
availability of supplies among the
buyers and in turn prices are
transmitted through the system to
the producer. High or very
profitable prices encourages more
production. On the other hand, low
prices cause cutbacks in
production.
Farmers need a wide range of
up-to-date information if they are
going to make intelligent decision
and come at all cost to meeting
consumer needs. Among other
things, they need to know the
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production intentions ut other
farmers. They need information on
supply and demand for various
commodities, the price outlook,
and they need to know quite a bit
about conditions in the world
market.
' Firms that sell supplies to or buy
commodities from farmers also
need information on agricultural
production and marketing in
tentions. Without it, they may not
be able to meet demands tor seed,
fertilizer, chemicals and other
production supplies. Or, they may
not be prepared to pruchase what
the fanners have to sell.
The government also has an
interest in farm production. These
days, the State Department is
probably more interested in the
crop report than anyone else.
Farm exports play such a vital role
in world trade and the U.S. balance
of payment position is dependent
on farm exports. In fact, the
strength of the dollar and the whole
U.S. foreign policy depends in
large measure on farm exports. So
what farmers produce, what they
have to sell to other countries, and
what is m short supply is very
important to our government.
Congress also needs information
about agriculture because it must
act from time to tune on farm
legislation. And, unless it has a
score sheet, it can’t act very in
telligently.
In planning their operations and
developing market strategies to
maximize their profits, farmers
need information both on what has
happened and what is like to
happen both the history and the
future. Such information tends to
stabhze production, marketing,
and distribution, and thus it
benefits consumers, farm related
businesses and farmers.
Farmers get information from a
lot of sources. Of course, they read
all kinds of publications available
from private industry and
government agencies. They read
farm magazines and forecasts
from a wide range of experts. Out
of all this, they must make some
decisions. So they keep a close eye
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on the general agriculture
situation, farm costs and income,
commodity data, the market news,
and any other information they
think will help.
Out of all the questions that
government agencies ask farmers,
much of the information is com
piled and fed back to farmers
through the Department of
Agriculture. Agencies within
USDA provide valuable date and
analysis of various situations.
Also, the federal Census of
Agriculture, taken every five
years, provides useful in
formation.
Leases can mean
Third in a series
of 4 silo & gas
lease articles
HONESDALE - Bonus
payments for signing an oil and
gas lease and annual delay rental
fees provide some income to
landowners for a few years.
However, the royalty payment is
the stuff dreams are made of
according to Joseph Macialek,
Community Development Agent.
The royalty payment is based on
the value of the product at the well
bead and the size of the share
assigned to the landowners.
A common practice has been to
grant a one-eighth share or (12
percent) to the landowner, in some
instances, Macialek said, lan
downers have been able to
negotiate a greater share. In other
cases, the one-eighth was
established for the first gas
produced and a greater share for
gas produced at a later date.
This royalty payment does not
necessarily all go to the owner of
the land where the well is located.
Since oil and gas is not confined to
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nursery and finishing,
double or single trough.
LEBANON
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ROTO-EZE FEEDERS
6 bu. with or without
trough guard.
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While fanners may grumble
about filling out forms, and some
'even question the value of such
items as crop reports and in
tentions to plant, it’s safe to say the
marketing system would be chaos
without them. If farmers didn’t
have any idea how much of a
commodity was going to be grown
and based all of their fanning
decisions on what happened to
them last year, they could be in
really serious trouble wheii they
sell their crops. 1 think most far
mers would agree, the more in
formation they have, the better
decisions they’d able to make.
property lines, pool areas are
established for each well site.
In Pennsylvania, the size of the
pool area is normally about 320
Acres. Each landowner shares in
the royalty payment according to
his or her share of land in the pool.
If oil or gas is discovered and there
is no pipeline to transport the
product, the well may be tem
porarily capped. In that case a
“shut-in” royalty is paid to keep
the lease in force.
Another benefit for the lan
downer according to Macialek is
the provision of free gas. Leases
may contain provisions for the
landowner to use some gas for
heating the home or for other uses
providing the landowner installs
the pipes from the home to the
well.
Natural gas contains about 1000
BTU per cubic foot and furnace oil
contains 138,500 BTU/gallon. It
will, therefore, take 138.5 cubic
feet of gas to replace a gallon of oil.
If the home uses 1000 gallons of oil
per year, it will take 138,500 cubic
feet of gas to replace the oil.
BULK BINS both
center and side draw.