A36—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 28,1984
Panel members on ag’s future at York include, from the
left, David Wolf, Sperry New Holland; Bill Fleet, Pioneer Hi-
Bred International; and Gene Swackhamer, Farm Credit
Banks of Baltimore.
York Agri-Business
seminar looks
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
YORK Some of January’s
worst, weatherwise, may have cut
attendance at this year’s annual
York Agri-Business seminar, but
enthusiasm from a trio of forward
looking speakers warmed the ag
imaginations of those attending the
meeting at Avalong’s Restaurant.
Focusing on the theme
“Agriculture in the Future,” York
Extension Service and the
Chamber of Commerce co
sponsored the 21st annual session
that brings together farmers and
ag-business industry represen
tatives.
Speakers looking to the future of
the food production industry were
Gene Swackhamer, president of
the Farm Credit Banks of
Baltimore, Dave Wolf, market
research manager for Sperry New
Holland, a d William Fleet,
eastern reg lal agronomist for
Pioneer Hi-B d International.
Swackham offered a bit of the
classic bad aews, good news
commentary, with the speculation
that, while interest rates are ex
pected to climb over the next year,
the increase is likely to be limited
to one or perhaps one and one-half
percent by 1985.
“We have probably experienced
the floor, or near floor, of interest
rates, and will see upward
pressure in the future,” he
projected. “Politicians are not
likely to create lower interest
rates, even in his election year.”
With interest considered the
third highest input in farmers’
budgets, the Farm Credit ad
ministrator suggested that
producers get in touch im
mediately with their lenders to
establish lines of working credit.
The government’s $l9O billion
deficit continues to play a major
role of influence over the nation’s
interest rates. Whle approximately
30 percent of that national debt is
currently financed by foreign
money, Swackhamer believes that
the continuing strength of the U.S.
Dollar will likely cause the volume
of that investment to diminish.
If - or when - that foreign in
vestment is withdrawn, govern
ment debt will need other sources
of financing, putting the squeeze on
market interest rates as the
government competes for funds
with domestic borrowers.
According to the Baltimore
district bank president, Paul
Volker of the Federal Reserve has
warned that there will be no more
credit crunches, just higher in
terest rates, since a tight rein on
the volume of the nation’s money
supply means keener demand for
the limited amounts of capital
available.
David Wolf, Sperry .New
to future
Holland’s manager for market
research, noted that computers
will undoubtedly be a tool of the
future including the use of these
microchip aids to “tape” har
vesting at various speeds and
conditions to determine the most
efficient machine techniques.
Ridge tillage equipment will aid
in conserving and utilizing every
last drop of moisture available to a
crop, likely moved through fields
powered by a fuel of the future,
gasohol.
Alfalfa croppers could anticipate
the day when they no longer have
to keep one ear to the weather
station and one eye on the sky, if
crop passing machines described
by Wolf become commonplace.
Such equipment could harvest
hay crops in all weather con
ditions, even rain, wringing out the
dry matter for high quality forages
with less spoilage, while making
available “green juice” for protein
additives, and “brown juice” that
could be recycled into fields.
But such futuristic cropping and
harvest methods will still have
their roots in some of agriculture’s
proven basics, according (0
Pioneer regional agronomist Bill
Fleet.
Fleet sees science going back to
such basic conservation practices
as crop rotation, but with a better
understanding of just why these
methods work as well as they do.
Geneticists are expected to
continue improving plant systems
efficiency, through breeding
nitrogen-fixing capabilities into
such species as wheat and barley,
and developing greater water
usage efficiency in alfalfa strains.
Seeds will commonly be treated
with systemic materials, using
time release fertilizers, pesticides,
and herbicides for long-term plant
protection and growth stimulation.
Electrode equipped sprayers
may someday utilize positive or
negative electric charges that
would cause spray solutions to
better adhere to plant foliages.
In a science known as
“allelopathy,” natural chemical
toxins, produced by the roots or
foliage of certain plants known to
limit other species from growing
around them, may be incorporated
in food crops and fiber to prohibit
undesirable plants from springing
up. Plants would, in effect, be self
weeding.
Following their individual
presentations, the trio of speakers
was teamed with moderator John
Smith for a question-answer panel
discussion.
Also featured on the program
was a film, “Agn-America 2003
A.D.,” produced by the Production
Credit Associations of the Farm
Credit system.
LANCASTER
FORD
TRACTOR
LOCATED IN THE
c?
OF LANCASTER COUNTY
EASY TO REACH
(OFF FLORY MILL EXIT OFF RT. 283)
SELLS DEPENDABLE FORD
TRACTORS and EQUIPMENT
OFFERS RELIABLE, DEPENDABLE,
FRIENDLY SERVICE
FAST PARTS SERVICE
OPEN: 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM Mon.-Fri.
7:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Sat.
FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE
OFFERING CURRENT FORD
TRACTOR PROGRAMS
I!
AB
or