Indiana County Crops, Soils Day Held
BY RANDY WELLS
Indiana Co. Correspondent-
The winner in Indiana County’s
1988 Five Acre Com Club com
petition achieved a production
level more than 20 bushels per
acre better than the county aver
age. But that county average was
off 40 percent from 1987, and the
cost of raising com in the county
was more than doubled over the
previous year.
At the annual Crops and Soils
Day program at Rustic Lodge in
Indiana last week, David Elkin of
Marion Center was recognized as
the county’s Five Acre Com Club
champion, with a production of
102.1 bushels per acre. Clair
Braughler of Rochester Mills was
the Five Acre Com Silage winner,
with a yield on 16.23 tons per
acre.
William H. George of Shelocta
had the best alfalfa fields in the
Five Acre competition, with a pro
duction of 4.6 tons per acre.
According to statistics provided
by Gene Schurman, county
cooperative extension agent,
Indiana County’s average com
production in 1988 was 81.8
bushels per acre, compared to
138.3 bushels per acre the year
before. Further 1988 com analys- -
is, Mr. Schurman said, indicated
an average of 20,573 stalks per
acre, 99.5 percent of which were
standing and 8.1 percent of which
were barren when the count was
made.
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Despite the summer drought,
moisture content was actually
higher in 1988 com than 1987
com, and the number of barren
stalks decreased from ‘B7 to ‘BB,
he said. 1988 moisture content in
Indiana County corn averaged
29.9 percent, up from 24 percent
in ‘B7.
‘The plants sucked up moisture
in the late August rains, then
wouldn’t give it up,” Schurman
said.
The incidence of barren com
stalks declined from 8.7 percent in
1987 to 8.1 percent in ‘BB.
Perhaps the most significant
statistic revealed was the cost of
production figures. Schurman said
the average cost of producing a
bushel of com in Indiana County
in 1988 was $2.76, compared to
$1.29 in 1987.
The average com silage yield in
the county also declined dropping
from 24.26 tons per acre in 1987
to 12.75 tons per acre in *BB, he
said. However, the cost per acre
for silage also dropped from
$234.71 in 1987 to $2lB in ‘BB.
There was little significant
change in the county’s alfalfa
crops between the two years,
Schurman reported, with the high
yield being 4.6 tons per acre in
both ‘B7 and ‘BB.
The Crops and Soils Day prog
ram, attended by about 140 far
mers and 15 commercial exhibi
tors, also offered local farmers the
chance to pick up three credits
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Honored at the Indiana County Crops and Soils Day for their proficiency were, from
left, William H. George of Shelocta, a five-acre alfalfa club winner; David Elkin of
Marlon Center, a five-acre corn club winner; and Clair Braughler of Rochester Mills, a
five-acre corn silage club winner. With them at far right Is Stan Fabln, extension agro
nomy chairman.
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rent. Dennis Culley of the Pen
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ture updated the farmers on
changes in the pesticide licensing
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Lancaster Farming Saturday, February 11, 1989-Dl9
Cooperative Extension office, dis
cussed pesticide safety.
Penn Stale Extension agronom
ists Robert Hartzler and Lynn
Hoffman presented programs
entilted “Weed Control Update for
Com, Small Grains and Alfalfa,”
(Turn to Page D2O)
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