just don’t
let anything detour you,
How Can You Stay
(Continued from Page A2O)
land.
STEP 3; Do not break out highly credi
ble land without an approved conservation
system in place. Highly credible land not
planted to an agricultural commodity dur
ing the time period 1981-1985 can be used
to produce crops only if the land is to be
farmed in accordance with a conservation
system approved by your local Soil and
Water Conservation District.
According to the language in the Food
Security Act of 1985, the term “agricultur
al commodity” applies to any crop planted
and produced by annual tilling of the soil,
including one-trip planters, and sugarcane.
Hay crops and pasture are NOT defined as
an agricultural commodity. This is of great
importance in states such as Pennsylvania,
in which many farmers have hay as part of
their crop rotations. If a farm has fields that
are predominantly highly credible that
were in hay or pasture from 1981-1985, the
use of such fields for crop production with
out an approved conservation system in
place constitutes a violation and can lead to
the loss of eligibility. Even if the land was
plowed down and planted in the spring of
1986, the farmer is in violation.
Because hay and pasture were not
defined as agricultural commodities in the
Food Security Act, SCS and ASCS admi
nistrators cannot simply make a change in
the regulations. It will take an act of Con
gress to do that Until such a time, you
should exercise caution if any such land is
to be planted to a crop.
STEP 4: Have a conservation plan that
meets the specifications of the Final Rule
developed for your highly credible land by
January 1,1990. Failure to do so will con
stitute a violation. SCS estimates that in
Pennsylvania, 12,000-14,000 conserva
tion plans need to be developed or at least
updated by January 1, 1990. A conserva
tion plan developed for your farm several
years ago may not be good enough for the
purpose of meeting the specifications in
Given the size of this workload, the
smart farmer will seek assistance today in
putting together an approved conservation
plan. Waiting until 1989 could prove dis
astrous. If this prevents SCS from assisting
you in time, you will still be in violation.
You, the landowner or land user, are
responsible for getting an approved con
servation plan developed. Blaming SCS
after-the-fact will be a cop-out that no one
will be likely to listen to. Get started now!
STEP 5: Carry the plan out by January 1,
1995. Failure to do so will constitute a vio
lation. You not only need to pursue the
conservation work outlined in your conser
vation plan by 1990, but you also need to
have the conservation system specified in
the plan fully implemented on your highly
credible land by 1995. The plan can be
flexible, allowing for change over time as
long as the erosion control standards are
met.
There you have it In a nutshell. Society,
through the U.S. Congress, is asking you to
farm your land in a reasonable and respon
sible way if you wish to remain eligible for
various publicly provided support prog
rams. You can assure yoursel of being in
compliance by following the five steps
described above. If you have questions,
contact your local Cooperative Extension
Service, Soil Conservation Service, and
Agricultural Stabilization and Conserva
tion Service. Watch for announcements of
educational meetings your area concern
ing these issues.
MAD
LANCASTER
FARMING
FOR COMPLETE
AND
UP-TO-DATE
MARKET
REPORTS
Effort Underway To Repeal
(ContlniMd from P«a* A 20) with this financial fiasco. Although they
vary in wording, each deals with the effect
that collection of the excise tax at the
wholesale level has on farmers and would
remedy the problem created by the Recon
ciliation law.
Dairy farmers must contact their legisla
tors. Urge them to support this legislation.
Farmers should not have to pay a tax they
do not owe in the first place. Your rep
resentatives in Washington need to hear
that message.
tion point for the diesel excise tax from the
retail level to the wholesale level. While
fanners retain tax-free status for off
highway use, they must now pay the diesel
excise tax at the time of purchase and then
file for a refund.
This change requires farmers, although
exempt from the tax for off-road use, to
incur the expense of the tax up front,
increasing initial production costs.
Increasing up front costs will cause cash
flow problems for many, which may lead
to increasing interest costs as farmers
require more money to handle farm fuel
requirements.
To date at least four bills have been
introduced in the House and Senate to deal
Guernsey
Come Out
For the thud, consecutive summary,
Guernsey first-evaluation Al-sampled
sires excelled in relation to the other major
dairy breeds. The 20 first-proof Al
sampled bulls have a Predicted Difference
(PD) average of +S2BM +23F +s6B +I3P
+S62CY.
The fust-evaluation AI bull information
provided by the United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) shows the average
Guernsey young sire outdistancing the
nearest breeds by +lB PD$ or 36 percent.
Table 1. First-evaluation Predicted Difference
average* of AI bulla for each bread.
No. of
Breed Bulla POM PDF PD$ PDP CY$
Guernsey 20 528 23 68 13 62
Holstein 600 483 13 SO 9 39
Jersey 38 409 16 50 6 36
Brown Swiss 10 397 16 49 4 30
Ayrshire 3 21 2 4 -4 -3
Commenting on the success of genetic
advancement in the breed, American
Guernsey Association (AGA) Executive
from saving
6% at Pioneer Days.
At Pioneer, we’re going out of our way to make this year’s
Pioneer Days the best ever.
For starters, you can save 6% on Pioneer®brand products
just by paying for your order during Pioneer Days.
In addition, you could also qualify for a free gift.
Plus there are additional programs that can save you even
more on Pioneer products. And we’ll even have free coffee
and donuts.
So whatever it takes, make sure you make it to Pioneer Days
And don’t let anything come between you and substan
tial savings.
Pioneer Days, February 22-27
PIONEER HI-BRED INTERNATIONAL INC
PIONEER s brand products are sold sublet to the terms and conditions of sale which are part of the labelmgand sale documents
Pioneer is a brand name numbers identify products "Registered trademark of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 6, 1988-A2l
IRS Issues Free
Tax Guide For
Farmers
A free publication, designed to explain
how tax laws apply to fanning, is available
by writing or calling the Internal Revenue
Service.
Young Sires
On top Again
Secretary-Treasurer Erick Metzger stated,
“These bulls were sampled when the aver
age PD$ value for active-AI sires was
below $6O. This means that breeders using
young sires were introducing better gene
tics into their herds than if they just used
average proven AI sires.”
Twelve of these bulls were proven
through AGA-administered young-sire
proving groups, including Flambeau
Admiral Crusader who ranks 15th on the
Guernsey Active-AI list Organizations
such as Mid-Atlantic Guernsey Sires
(MAGS), Dairybelt Guernsey Sires
(DCS), Lake Central Guernsey Sires
(LCGS) and Western Guernsey Sires
(WGS) work with the major Al organiza
tions as regional young-sire proving
groups.
The American Guernsey Association is
the national organization for the registra
tion and promotion of Guernsey cattle and
is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
PIONEER.
BRAND • PRODUCTS
Des Moines lowa USA ©1987