COM „booi»l 972 '"’ ° bou „ 5 11» P CTIO ° P ITTtV. " UNIVERSE »20» "I.IIIH lb»02 -I Ma»^^«Jlil^^llM.ifclggLL-—l’.l II IHB lilit II VOL. 30 No. 52 Gov. Dick Thornburgh announced plans to tap new overseas markets for the state's agricultural commodities during an address delivered at the State Grange Convention on Wednesday. Thornburgh launches new trade effort BY NANCY KUNICK Staff Correspondent WARREN A new effort to in crease overseas markets for all Pennsylvania products in cluding agricultural ones was unveiled here this week by State’s premiere livestock show opens Friday BY JACK HURLEY HARRISBURG - Dauphin County residents can expect to hear the thunder of hooves next week as nearly 3,500 head of beef, sheep, swine and horses pour into the Farm Show Complex for the Four Sections *fKSVIStt% ecMOantC development, we mean busmess in Pennsylvania, and when it comes to business, we mean the farm as well as the (Turn to Page A3O) 29th annual Keystohe International Livestock Exposition. Along with Massachusetts’ “Big E” and Maryland’s Eastern National Livestock Show, KILE ranks as one of the Northeast’s “Big Three” livestock shows, Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, November 2,1985 Farm Credit asks Congress for $6 billion line of credit BY JAMES H. EVERHART WASHINGTON - The management of the Farm Credit System formally asked the U.S. Congress this week to extend a line of credit to the nation’s beleaguered ag lending system. Officials in the Farm Credit Administration, the independent federal agency that oversees the system, asked for a $5 billion loan from the U.S. Treasury, while the Farm Credit System Itself asked for |6 billion. “Absent government financial assistance, the system cannot survive the radical transition underway in agriculture,” said Ray Moss Tucker, chairman of the Farm Credit Council, the system’s legislative affairs body. Added Donald Wilkinson, governor of the Farm Credit Administration, “Any prospects for near-term improvement or even cessation in the unrelenting economic decline in agriculture have disappeared. The most recent reports confirm further decreases in export markets and massive surplus production in 1985, prac tically ensuring low commodity prices for several years. drawing exhibitors from as far away as the midwest and Canada. According to show manager Charles Itle, three changes are on tap for this year’s event, scheduled Nov. 8 to 13. A new carcass steer show has replaced last year’s open Both groups pointed out that the system was asking for credit, not for an outright cash bailout to help the system out of its current financial crunch. They pointed out that if the Farm Credit system does not get help, it might have to take action on more of its problem loans than it or dinarily would, said House Agriculture Committee spokesman Bernard Brenner. Increased pressure on those loans, added Brenner, would probably increase the number of foreclosures and land sales, and cause land prices to deteriorate even further. Decreasing land prices were blamed for part of the problem, with Wilkinson pointing out that farm real estate values had dropped $l5l billion from 1961 to 1985. And the problem is ac celerating $lOO billion of the loss occurred in the last year. The decrease in land value has compounded the problems for many farm operators, whittling away their equity and removing the possibility of additional credit, officials noted. The Farm Credit System steer event. Whereas last year’s entries were judged both on-hoof and on-rail, this year’s carcass event will not include live judging. In the “Paint-O-Rama” Paint horse show, two judges will place each class simultaneously, giving currently holds about $7O billion in farm mortgages and operating loans, about $l3 billion of which are listed as “problem loans.” As the nation’s largest ag lender, the Farm Credit System holds about one third of the total U.S. farm debt. The 37-bank system suffered losses of $522 million in the third quarter of this year, and more losses are expected. The system is cooperatively owned by its farmer-borrowers, and currently operates without federal assistance. However, of ficials are concerned that the in creasing problems in the farm sector will cause investors who provide the loan capital to lose confidence in the system. The risk premium, or interest paid on farm credit system bonds, already has risen by one per centage point since the system’s probtemnitvebeen reported. 9^ the c ° m ‘ pnkmg industry also assPWPTongressional attention, urging the legislators to consider private lending institutions when they draft an aid package for the farm credit area. entrants the opportunity to ac cumulate twice as many points. “It’s just as if we’re holding two different Paint shows,” Itle points out. Because of an increase in the (Turn to Page A 24) Scenes from KILE 1984. (7.50 per Year
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