PtRIOOICAbS DIVISION
*209 PAITEE LIBRARY
Pennsylvania «»te uHivtKsm
UNIVERSITY park Pft
i VOL. 31 No. 4
State Secretary of Agriculture Richard E. Grubb talked
about his plans to market Pennsylvania products in the
comingyear. r
Grubb unveils plans
to boost ag products
BY JAMES H. EVERHART
STRASBURG State Secretary
of Agriculture Richard E. Grubb
has unveiled two new initiatives
the Thornburgh Administration is
planning for agriculture in its last
year.
New efforts to expand the
markets for Pennsylvania farm
products, will take a variety of
forms, Grubb said in his address to
the Ninth Annual Agriculture
Industry Banquet sponsored by the
Agriculture Committee of the
Lancaster Chamber of Commerce
and Industry.
“We’ll be increasing our efforts
in promoting the welfare and in
terests of Pennsylvania farmers,”
Grubb said.
In addition to previously an
nounced plans to increase exports
of Pennsylvania products over
seas, he said, the Thornburgh
Administration will be looking for
imports. Imports of food
processing industries, that is.
The PADA staff will take an
active role in encouraging new
food processing industries to locate
in Pennsylvania, working with
October milk production jumps IO percent
BY JAMES H. EVERHART
WASHINGTON - Milk
production in the United States
increased for the eighth con
secutive month in October,
although the surge in production
seemed to slow somewhat.
USDA officials said the nation’s
milk output was 12.05 billion
Pounds, an increase of 10.3 percent
over year-earlier levels, and
reportedly the highest October
production on record.
Cow numbers climbed about
Three Sections
corporate planners to establish
that both raw materials and
markets are available.
The department, he added, will
also work to find financing to help
those firms locate in Penn
sylvania, and will use a variety of
resources to help.
“We need to sell Pennsylvania
agriculture,” he said. And finding
new companies to process farm
products in the state, he said, will
be an important part of that
strategy
In addition to commenting on the
state scene, Grubb talked about
the nationwide crisis in
agriculture. And though many
farmers are impatient with the
lack of progress in Washington on
the Farm Bill, he said the battle
over the federal deficit could be
even more important.
“A balanced federal budget is
just about the best Farm Bill we
could have,” he concluded.
The state’s new ag secretary
presented four families with
Century Farm Awards as part of
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three percent over 1984 levels, co
11.16 million, while production per
cow was up about seven percent to
1,079 pounds.
In Pennsylvania, production was
up 11 percent to 858 million pounds.
Cow numbers averaged 746,000,
1.000 more than in September and
8.000 more than year-earlier totals.
Production per cow was up 100
pounds, to 1,150.
Meanwhile, in New York,
production was up six percent, and
abound the country, Wisconsin and
California were up 12 percent and
Uncaster Farming, Saturday, November 30,1985
Farm Bill passes Senate,
heads for conferences
BY JAMES H. EVERHART
WASHINGTON - The U.S.
Senate has passed its version of the
1985 Farm Bill, setting the stage
for a series of conferences with
House officials next week to shape
agricultural policy for the next
four years.
Working in an unusual Saturday
night session last week, the Senate
approved the package by a 61-28
vote.
Even the most ardent supporters
of the proposal admit that the
Senate’s Farm Bill package ex
ceeds the Congressional budget
resolution. Senate Agricultural
Committee Chairman Jesse Helms
voted against the final package
because of those budgetary con
siderations.
The Senate considered more
than 140 amendments to the
legislation before approving the
final package. Because of the
compPSStity of the matter and the
holid|y thls week, staffers were
not in a position to release a
detailed analysis of the package.
However, in the key dairy
provisions, the Senate essentially
approved the Senate Agriculture
Committee’s proposals, with two
exceptions;
• A requirement disallowing any
legislative changes in Class 1
One staffer termed
the measure, “a real loss for
everyone except the Midwest,”
and noted that differentials had not
been adjusted in 10 years.
• A “sense of the Senate’’
resolution that there would be “no
milk tax,” an apparent reference
to the assessments that have been
proposed to fund a diversion
program as advanced by the
House.
The Senate’s opposition to a
diversion program, staffers in
dicated, may leave the door open
to a “whole-herd buyout plan,” like
the one included in the House
version.
The Reagan Administration is
opposed to both diversion and herd
buyout plans, but reportedly would
be much more receptive to a herd
buyout plan than to a diversion
proposal.
According to one plan currently
being circulated, the herd buyout
plan would be funded with savings
Minnesota was up 10 percent
among the leading dairy states.
Whereas the monthly trend riMR
February has shown contimMi
growth in monthly production,
when compared to year-earlier
figures, the October figures for the
first time moderate that
progression. Specifically, since
October’s output is actually less
than the 11-percent increase
recorded in September, it is the
first month in which the increase
has slowed down.
in CCC purchases resulting from a
50-cent cut in support prices.
The Senate dairy title also
would;
• Set the support price at $11.60 a
hundredweight when the bill goes
into effect.
• Authorize the Secretary of
Agriculture to reduce support
prices 50 cents a year, beginning
Jan. 1, 1987, if purchases are ex
Delaware Valley hosts
Annual Forage Conference
BY JACK HURLEY
DOYLESTOWN - No-till
systems were in the spotlight at
this year’s Annual Forage Con
ference sponsored by the Penn
sylvania Forage and Grassland
I^vQDCuL
. *Md m 4he Delaware Valley
College campus on Tuesday, the
conference attracted more than
150 growers, who listened to
presentations on forage
establishment on marginal soils,
weed management, no-till, fluid
seeding, forage species selection
and hay preservation.
Leading off the morning session
was Dr. Harlin White, a forage
specialist . from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute, who noted
that VPl’s experience with no-till
forage establishment has been
gratifying.
“We’re really enthused about no
till.and we feel it’s the way to go,”
said White, who tempered his
statement by pointing out that not
all fields are well suited to no
tillage systems.
Using slides of university test
plots to illustrate his points, White
showed that, in most cases, no-till
alfalfa germinated much faster
than conventionally planted
alfalfa. This additional growth is
Dr Richard Hill. Jr., (left) was this year’s recipient of the
Pennsylvania Forage and Grassland Council’s Special Award.
Making the presentation is John Baylor of Beachley-Hardy.
$7.50 per Year
pected to exceed five billion
pounds of milk a year.
• Require a $l.OO a hun
dredweight price reduction, if
purchases are expected to exceed
10 billion pounds.
• Give the Secretary authority to
increase support payments 50
cents a hundredweight, if surplus
purchases drop to two billion
pounds or less.
especially important for new fields
going into the winter months, he
said.
White emphasized that the
moisture conserved when using no
till systems was “tremendously
importtht” in establishing forage
.craps. Other advantages he un
derscored were soil conservation
and the ability to plant steep,
marginal land unsuited to con
ventional tillage.
The agronomist included the
following guidelines in what he
referred to as VPl’s “no-till
recipe.”
1. and fertilizer application
2. control utilizing 2,4-D or
Banvel
3. Two applications of Paraquat
14 days apart, or one application of
Roundup. The second Paraquat
application is crucial, and should
be done about two weeks after the
first, or whenever green-up begins
to appear.
4.Seed is applied at the rate of 15
pounds per acre with 7.5 pounds
per acre of Granular Furadan.
Although Furadan isn’t needed
when forages are planted after
grains or summer annuals,
the additional insect control is
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