Kf D P "nVf o "i|fC,« t <snv _ I:,K VOL 31 No. 52 Dairy Promotion Program Elects New Officers HARRISBURG Paul Cor bin, a lifelong dairy farmer from Jefferson County, has been elected the new chairman of the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program. Corbin, who milks 60 cows on his 230-acre, 91-year-old family farm in Reynoldsville, is begin ning his fourth year on the PDPP Commodity Marketing Board. He says his goal for the organization in the coming year is to work cooperatively with MAMMA, Mid-East UDIA and ADADC in advertising and promotional efforts that will increase the sale of milk and other real dairy products. (Turn to Pag* Al 9) Wolff To Address RCMA Annual Meeting BATAVIA, N.Y. — Pennsylva nia Secretary of Agriculture Boyd E. Wolff will address the annual Meeting of the Regional Coopera tive Marketing Agency on Dec. 9, 1988. He will address over 250 RCMA delegates and directors who will gather to conduct the annual business of the organiza tion and to elect officers for the coming year. “We are very pleased to have Secretary Wolff address our group,” said RCMA President Bill Zuber. “Wolff has been suppor tive of RCMA efforts both in Pennsylvania and throughout the Northeast,” said Zuber. Wolff has been the Secretary of Dairy Farmers Need To Stretch Feed Supplies BY PAT PURCELL EPHRATA (Lancaster) Far mers don’t need to read the market prices for soybeans and distiller’s grains to know these prices have jumped drastically from just a year ago. They’ve been seeing it in their feed bill. “My total feed bill has increased by $2,000 per month over this time last year,” said Rodney Smyser of York County. And for the first time in many, many years, a high number of far mers will be buying com. Average prices for ear com are nearly dou ble what they were last year at this time. According to the PA grain market, old ear com averaged $56.46 per ton in southeastern Pennsylvania during the last week of (October, 1987. In the last week of October, 1988, old ear com averaged 97.67 per ton in the same location. Com can be bought at lower prices. These are averaged prices. Rve Sections Governor Casey accepts an award from William Sturges, executive director of the Pennsylvania Farmers Union. The award was presented In recognition of Casey’s environ mental efforts. the Pennsylvania Department of RpcfilttWf since February 1987, andtdevoted the past 33 years to full-time farming and active parti cipation in many state and local farm organizations. He received a B.S. degree in dairy husbandry from the Pennsylvania State Uni versity in 1953 and earned many distinguished awards since then, including the Pennsylvania Mas ter Farmer Award in 1970. The RCMA Annual Meeting will be held at the Sheraton Inn in Liverpool, N.Y. For more infor mation about the meeting or RCMA, please contact the organi zation’s Batavia office at 1-800-634-3723. Are farmers feeling the pinch? You bet. When it takes every acre a far mer has to feed his own livestock in a normal year, that pinch becomes a crunch in a year when crop loss is as high as 30 percent (Turn to Pago A 23) Agway Reports Revenues Of 2.9 Billion, Sells Oil Refinery SYRACUSE. NY William A. Hiller, Agway president and chief executive officer, reported to members at the farm cooperative’s annual meeting here last week that Agway had sales and revenues of $2.9 billion, up $2ll million over the previous year. He reported strong sales performances from the Agri-Services and Energy Groups and solid growth is leasing food businesses. Hiller explained that during the past year, Agway Petroleum Cor- Lincistor Farming, Saturday, November 5, 1988 Dr. Gabrlella Varga, assistant professor of animal science, works with the equip ment that simulates the rumen in lactatlng dairy cows to test fiber composition Influ ence on dairy cattle nutrition. PSD Researchers On Cutting Edge Of New Technology BY EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor Note: At a member of the Pen nsylvania State University Agricultural Advisory Council, potation and Southern States Cooperative successfully com pleted the sale of an oil refinery and two product terminals they had jointly owned and operated since the 19405. As a result of the sale, Agway reported a consoli dated, after-tax one-lime loss of $91.6 million for the year. Hiller pointed out that despite the one-time loss, Agway’s remaining consolidated operations are strong and during the year showed after-tax operating profits 508 Per Copy Casey Urges Farmers To Support Tax Reform Program BY USA RISSER GRANTVILLE (Dauphin) “We have an opportunity to make tax reform a reality,” Governor Robert P. Casey told diners at the Pennsylvania Farmers Union’s annual banquet this week. “Help me make it happen. Contact indivi dual legislators and let them know how you feel.” The tax reform program will be among the top items on the legisla ture’s agenda when they return from recess. The program prop oses to allow local governments the freedom to determine the tax structure within their own com munity. The reform program was initiated in order to ease the tax burden on farmers. “The current tax structure this editor visited several research projects in the animal science departments as part of the coun cil’s day on campus and business meeting headquartered at the Nit tony lion Inn. of 19.7 million. “Our continuing operations are projecting profitable growth in the coming years,” Hiller stated, “and we are pleased to be out of the refining business.” Hiller announced that, based on the success of Agway’s continu ing operations during the year, the cooperative declared a cash refund to members of $2.5 million. !n addition, over $22 million in inter est and dividends was paid to hol (Turn to Pag* A3l) $lO.OO Per Year encourages an ovcr-reliancee on real estate,” stated Casey. 'Thus the tax burden is higher for far mers.” The value at which their land is taxed is higher than the income that it produces, Casey added. ‘The program will give agricultural and rural communities an opportunity to change the way agricultural acreage is accessed.” If the program passes, the state will make the transition easier for local governments through $l4O million in state funding. The tax reform program is one of the campaign promises made by Casey. During the banquet Casey was honored by the union for his envir onmental and agricultural preser vation efforts. In the following report, Dr. Herbert Siegel outlines poultry science research projects, Dr. Guy Barbato studies relation ships between bio-chemestry and genetics, Dr. Robert Wideman studies urolithiasis in poultry and Dr. Gabriella Varga has a work ing model of a cow’s rumen in her classroom laboratory. UNIVERSITY PARK-“When you consider nutrition, you must ask how a given breed or genetic group responds to nutrition,” Dr. Siegel said. “Not every genetic group, in this case breed of chick en, responds to the same feed. So wc talk in terms of interface interface between physio logy, nutrition, genetics and management. For example, researchers at PSU have found that two very popular strains of laying hens have (Turn to Pago A 24)
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