Editor’s Note; Nelvin B. Empet,
General Manager, New York DHI
Cooperative, gave some timely
remarks to the Northeastern
Agricultural Communicators last
week in Ithaca. Here’s an excerpt
of those remarks:
I appreciate this opportunity to
visit with you about science and
fanning in the future. I don’t
believe my crystal ball is any
better than yours, but I’ll tell you
what I see from my perspective in
the dairy business. For our pur
poses today I’ll break farm science
into 6 areas;
Farm Mechanization; Farm
Computing; Farm Management;
Genetics; Production Enhances -
Bio Tech; and Marketing.
Farm Mechanization:
We’ve seen: new materials
handling, for feeds, fertilizers
manure and produce. I expect such
Potato Referendum Vote Set
HARRISBURG Pennsylvania
potato growers producing 25 or
more acres of potatoes for sale will
vote June 2-13 on whether to
support an assessment plan
designed to provide funds for
potato research.
State Agriculture Secretary
Richard E. Grubb announced the
referendum following a public
hearing on the proposed program
in Harrisburg. Testimony was
received from five individual
growers and the Pennsylvania
Cooperative Potato Growers
Association, representing more
than 100 potato growers in the
state.
“All testified in favor of the
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Science And
equipment to become smarter, and
more trouble-free. As we rely more
on mechanization, down time can
be a real catastrophe. Imagine
your computer or word processor
down.
I expect we will find more ef
ficient ways to move milk longer
distances, maybe even from the
farm.
Farm Computing:
This farm science is still in its
infancy. Compare the first Mc-
Cormick Reaper to today’s high
volume combines and you get
some idea of how far farm com
puting has to go. However, the
going will be slow. I see computers
performing specific tasks such as
feeding, accounting and produc
tion records independently. Full
integration is very, very complex
and will take a generation for
implementation. Look how long it
For June 2 to 13
program, which calls for an
assessment of 2 cents per hun
dredweight on all potatoes sold by
eligible growers. The Department
is conducting this new referendum
in view of the support shown at the
hearing,” said Grubb, noting that
passage of the program could
mean more than $45,000 annually
for research.
“There’s no question about the
need for continued research to
make Pennsylvania producers
more competitive in the
marketplace,” he added.
The fund would be administered
by a 10-member advisory board
comprised of participating
growers.
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Farming In The Future
took for the bulk tank and pipeline
to be adopted and they were simple
to use compared to the computer.
DHl’s delivery system is
changing and will continue to
change as we apply computing
power to dairy herd management.
Currently, the RMS tele
communications access permits
farmers or farm consultants to
access the herd records. The AIM
program allows sorting and for
matting of this data to provide
management tools. We are now
testing our Day One concept that
will eliminate turnaround time for
management records by equipping
the DHI supervisor with a micro
computer.
DHI has competition. For that
reason I’d ask you to use the DHI
record plan prefix when reporting
herd averages. For example, DHI
AP record of 19,700# milk, or DHI-
Referendum ballots were mailed
to 175 eligible growers on May 22.
Returned ballots will be tallied by
a teller committee comprised of
affected growers. Passage of the
program requires a majority of
those voting accounting for a
majority of acreage production.
Ballots must be received at the
Department of Agriculture,
Bureau of Marketing Develop
ment, 2301 N. Cameron Street,
Harrisburg, PA 17110-9408 by 4
p.m. Friday, June 13.
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OS-AP record of 21,000# milk.
The role of DHI will continue to
be one of providing dairy cow
production information that will
increase the dairy farmers net
profit.
Management:
The farmer is becoming a
business manager first and a
production worker second. The
new generation of farmers will
manage resources to maximize the
business profit. The resources of
dollars, people and facilities will
be fully utilized. I expect most
farm businesses will be family run,
so in one sense the family farm will
remain. It will be larger, more
mechanized, computerized and
will likely have hired production
workers.
Farm computing will play a
major role in the management of
the farm as a decision aid. The
biggest change for most farmers
wil be to make the time for
management. A few years ago I
heard a comment that I believe
sums up the future in farm
management. If you don’t like to
push the pencil, that is do
management work, you can go to
work for someone who does.
Genetics:
Animal breeding and selection
will respond to the market. As
emphasis on milk solids increases,
more emphasis will be given to
that area. Somatrophin may
reduce the emphasis on genetic
selection for mUk production, but
there will be other challenges for
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dairy genetics: production; milk
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disease resistance, reproduction;
longevity; and disposition.
Production Enhances -
Somatrophin and Iso-Plus:
There are many questions to be
answered in the cold light of
reality. How will they work in the
real world. Can farmers manage
the increased production ability?
Somatrophin is a great bio-tech
break through and will help us
learn about milk production and
will improve production. I doubt if
we’ll see a 40% improvement. I
think 15% is more realistic.
Marketing:
The science/art of marketing
must be better applied to farming.
We need to do a better job of:
- determining the market - what
does the customer want, not what
can we produce;
- producing for the markets;
- monitoring customer needs,
innovating and responding
quickly.
The co-ops should be in an ex
cellent position to perform this
task of being market driven, but
unfortunately, I don’t see it hap
pening. The fiscal conservatism of
agriculture is preventing many co
ops from aggressively moving into
the market.
I optimistic
about the long term viability of
dairy fanning in the Northeast. We
have a couple more rough years
ahead of us and then the situation
should improve.
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