AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 21, 1987
OPINION
Taking The Pulse
Of Agriculture
Larry Beard of USDA’s Nation
al Agricultural Statistics Service
calls it, “Taking the pulse of
agriculture.”
Like a regular physical exami
nation by a doctor, he says, it’s
something that needs to be done,
regardless of the apparent condi
tion of the agricultural sector.
He is talking about the annual
Earn? Costs and Returns Survey,
which is conducted by the statistics
service and its state offices.
Jim Johnson and Mitch More
hart, two USDA economists who
analyze the survey results, explain
the need for the survey by referring
back to the time before the first one
was taken for 1984.
There were many questions then
about what was happening in
agricullure-and within different
subsectors of farming-from law
makers, farm organizations, exten
sion and university people, and the
public. The data to answer those
questions just wasn’t available.
What difference does the survey
make?
“It’s the difference between
everybody speculating and argu
ing about what’s going on in agri
culture, versus everyone having a
detailed set of reliable data col
lected from farmers themselves,”
says Morehart. “The data may not
tell us the best direction to go.
That’s still a political matter. But
good, hard information helps us
separate fact from fiction and may
prevent some serious mistakes
from being made.” Next February
and March, interviewers will be
back out in the field asking about
25,000 farmers and ranchers to
participate in the fourth annual
Farm Costs and Returns Survey.
This one will collect data covering
1987.
Analysts and enumerators (as
the interviewers are called) have
already talked to a small sample of
producers, testing the survey to
make sure the questions are clear
and can be easily answered from
the records most farmers keep.
Morehart was one of those con
ducting the tests. “Yes, this survey
tries to get everything.” he says,
“but I found that farmers generally
aren’t reluctant to provide the
information.”
Morehart and Beard have a
simple message for farmers; “Wc
ask these questions because the
information is needed. Wc depend
on your cooperation.”
Here are some of the facts they
want farmers to know about the
survey:
• It’s a detailed survey, requir
ing at least an hour to conduct. The
enumerators are instructed to set
up a time convenient for you, so
they don’t interrupt your work.
• The survey is voluntary. You
arc nqt required to participate, but
your participation is critical. Each
participant was selected by a statis
tical sampling procedure to repre
sent many other farmers with simi
lar operations. No one else can
take your place.
• The enumerators were hired
and trained to conduct the survey
by your state agricultural statistics
service. They live and work in
your local area.
• Your answers are completely
confidential. Your state office will
feed the data into a computer, and
will then destroy the original ques
tionnaires so that no one can trace
any answers back to you or your
operation.
• If you’re a participant in the
survey, your state office will auto
matically send you a summary of
the results. Other information will
be released by USDA in various
reports as results are compiled.
This information is available
directly from USDA and is also
reported by many farm newspap
ers and magazines.
• The information serves many
needs. The survey provides cost of
production data which help policy
makers understand the costs of
farming. Other data help research
ers track how inputs arc being used
and analyze the financial situation
in the farm sector, how it’s chang
ing, and where problems are
located. The survey also provides
information helping lenders evalu
ate their credit policies and helping
farmers understand: what’s hap
pening within their region and
their subsector of agriculture.
“Our job as USDA analysts is to
be objective and to derive conclu
sions that are supported by the
data,” says Morehart. Researchers
in government and universities,
extension people, lawmakers, and
analysts for farm organizations
then find that disagreements over
facts arc fewer, and policy debates
can concentrate on what needs to
be done.”
He concludes: “The data arc
going to tell the same story no mai
ler who docs the analysis, but dif
ferent groups may be interested in
different parts of that story.”
NOW IS
THE TIME
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
To Appreciate
Harvest Completion
Once again we have come to the
end of another growing season and
the end of the harvest.
The 1987 year was a mixed
year, with some areas having a
favorable year while other areas
suffered from lack of rainfall and
excessive heat. In some neighbor
ing counties it was much drier than
Lancaster County.
Farm
Calendar ««■>
Saturday, November 21
Montgomery Co. DHIA Banquet,
4-H center. Creamery, 7:15
p.m.
York Co. 4-H Dairy Achievement
Banquet, Airville Fire Hall, 7
p.m.
Lancaster Farmers’ Association
Farm Tour, 21 thru 22
Monday, November 23
Sectional Stockholders Meeting,
Farm Credit, Oxford Fireball, 7
p.m.
District 4-H Horse Meeting, Bed
ford, 7:30 p.m.
Lebanon Co. 4-H Dairy Banquet
Ono Fireball, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, November 24
Farm Credit Sectional Stockhol
ders Meeting, Christopher
Dock High School, Kulpsvillc,
7 p.m.
PA Annual Forage Conference,
Mcrccrsburg Academy, 9 a.m.
Jefferson Co. Holstein Meeting,
Country Hearth Restaurant,
Brookville, 7:30 p.m.
Dairy Nutrition School/Manhcim-
MlJoy Area, Sponsored by
Lane. Co. Ext. Service, Coun
try Table, Rl. 230 Ml. Joy, 9:30
a.m.
Lebanon Co. DHIA Meeting Pre
scott Fire Hall, 7 p.m.
Del. Alfalfa Management Meet
ing, State Fairgrounds,
Harrington.
Forage Conference, Franklin
County, 9 a.m.
Ag Commodity Forecasting, Brad
ford Extension Office, 7:30
p.m.
Wednesday, November 25
Dairy Nutrition School, Berks Co,
Ag Center, Lccsport, 9 a.m.
Friday, November 27
4-H County Council at Exten
sion Office, Bradford Co., 7 p.m.
(Turn lo Page A3B)
,LL OF US AT LANCASTER FARMIN6
(ANT TO WISH YOO A HAPPY, AND
EALTHY T
The harvest is now 95 percent
plus completed. There now comes
a good feeling of satisfaction when
we’ve done our best and all is safe
ly gathered in.
Rewards from crop production
come as a result of a choice selec
tion of seeds and plants; of careful
preparation of the seedbed; of app
lying soil nutrients, tilling the soil
and weed control; of cooperation
from weather’s rain or sunshine
and of the owner of manager
inputs. Harvest lime follows. A
time of joy and thanksgiving
should now prevail.
To Consider Attending
No-Till Conference
“No-Tillage: Making It Profit
able,” is the theme of the 1987
Mid-Atlantic No-Till Conference
scheduled for Wednesday,
December 16 at the Maryland
Stale Fairgrounds, Timonium,
Maryland.
The program committee has
arranged for prominent speakers to
cover such timely topics as: Cut
No-Till Production Costs With
Fall-Seeded Annual Legumes;
Residue and Tillage Programs For
Reduced Tillage Crops; Grain
Marketing - Beyond The Elusive
Dream; Weed Control Strategies
in No-Till Soybeans; Marketing
Perspectives For Alternative
Crops and Optimizing Equipment
Costs with No-Till. The keynote
speaker is Alan R. Tank, Assistant
Vice-President of the National
Com Growers Association. He is
responsible for helping to formu
late policies affecting the nation’s
com industry.
There are a great many commer
cial exhibitors with representatives
eager to greet and help you. The
program starts at 9:00 a.m. and
ends at 4:00 p.m.
Program details are now avail-
Background Scripture: Genesis
41:38-44, 4-52.
Dr. Joan Boysenko, in her book.
Minding the Body, Mending the
Mind (Addison Wesley, 1987),
tells of watching two children ft
play on the seashore. A little boy,
about four, was building a sand
castle. As the tide moved in, how
ever, he became frustrated in try
ing to maintain his creation against
the relentless force of the tide.
Frantically, he struggled, but it was
hopeless.
Nearby was a little girl of about
the same age. She 100 was building
a sand castle, but she soon realized
the inevitability ofelhc tide and,
instead of becoming frustrated,
began a new game of digging holes
and watching the tide fill them. Dr.
Boysenko concludes: “The first
RANSIAT/ON •
m 4
SPEAKS
'—l
GOING WITH
THE FLOW
November 22,1987
able from County Extension
Offices.
To Be Careful
Around Flowing Grain
Many farms move grain from
one bin to another, onto trucks or
the feed grinder. One of the major
hazards of moving stored grain is
to become covered up and
smothered by it. It is very danger
ous to be standing in a grain bin
when it begins to flow. It takes
only a few seconds for an unload
ing auger to remove enough grain
for a person to start sinking into the
grain. Never enter a grain bin with
out first “locking out” all the pow
er sources; also, never enter the bin
alone without another person
being present. Children should be
warned about entering grain bins
because of the danger of “bridg
ing” of the grain or the shifting of
large areas. All employees should
be alerted to the hazards of flowing
grain.
To Check
Standby Generators
Your standby generator may be
needed at any lime. Is it ready?
With all the uses of electricity on
the farm today, we need this type
of emergency equipment. We are
in the weather season now when
we can expect both snow and ice
storms that can give us power out
ages. this means that activities on
many farms will stop when the
electricity fails. To have a standby
generator is very good manage
ment; however, you need to run
this generator at least once every
two weeks to be sure it is in good
running order when needed.
This kind of emergency equip
ment can be a life saver for both
animal and poultry, as well as eli
minate possible financial losses.
The Cooperative Extension Service is an
affirmative action, equal opportunity educa
tional institution
child ended up angry and frus
trated - his castle had been
destroyed in spite of every effort to
control the tides. The second child
had instead discovered a new game
and spent a doubly pleasant after
noon. She had both literally and
figuratively learned to let go - “to
go with the flow.”
JUSTIFIABLY BITTER
The little girl has learned as a
child what Joseph learned as a
young man. In light of everything
that had happened to him, he
would have been justified in stay
ing biller for the rest of his life.
Sold into slavery by his own
brothers, unjustly accused by Poti
phar’s wife, thrown into a dungeon
in a strange, alien land, who could
have blamed him if he had spent
the rest of his cynical life of both
man and God? Someone else
might have said, “Let Egypt starve
to death - serves them right!”
Joseph could have chosen that
course, but he didn’t. There was
nothing he could do to change
what evil had befallen him at the
hands of others, so he chose to
make the best of the situation in
which he found himself. Thus,
instead of being closed to God’s
guidance, he was ready to follow
wherever he might lead.
SPECIAL NAMES
Wc can detect his attitude in the
names he gave his two children:
MANASSEH, meaning “God has
made me forget all my hardship
and all my father’s house,” and
EPHRAIM, “For God has made
me fruitful in the land of my afflic
tion” (41:51,52). Joseph would
have been justified in eating the
fruits of bitterness for the rest of
his life. Instead, he responded to
the voice of God, letting go of the
past and making the most of the
present.
(Based on copyrighted Outlines produced by
the Committee on the Uniform Series and
used by permission Released by Community
I SubMtae ftsss) —. .