V *. w ' ■ VOL. 37 No. 40 Ag Progress Days To Open August 18 ROCKSPRING (Centre Co.) A wide range of programs—from equine education to food process mg to wood products manufacturing—will be featured at the 24th annual Ag Progress Days sponsored by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, August 18-20. “Ag Progress Days is a fun fillcd, educational event for the enure family,” says Dr. Lamartine F. Hood, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences. “Through numerous exhibits, farm machin ery demonstrations and tours of Penn State’s research areas, visi tors will have the chance to see the important role agricultural sci ences play in our society.” Held at the university’s 1,500-acre Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs near Stale College, the three-day event attracts lens of thousands of people each year. This year’s theme, “Exploring the New World of Agricultural Sciences,” will highlight many of the new ways that agricultural sci entists help producers and manu facturers to offer better food and fiber products to the public. GAO Calls For No Sale Of BST Milk, VSDA Allows Ground Beef VERNON ACHENBACH JR. Lancaster Farming Staff EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.) The Food and Drug Administration is being pressured to stop the sale of milk and meat derived from cattle treated with bovine somatotropin (BST), despite the acknowledgement that there is no danger to humans from eating foods containing BST, according to a report in the Tues day Wall Street Journal. At the Lancaster County Poultry Queen Pageant, Melissa Dawn Yoder, center, was crowned Pennsylvania Poultry Queen; Mary Sauder, left, was appointed Lancaster County Poultry Queen; and Melissa Darlene Yoder, right, serves as alternate. Turn to page 826 for pageant details. Six Sections Ag Progress Days is one of the largest outdoor showcases of agri cultural research and technology in the East. More than 250 com mercial exhibitors will display and AG PRO6HESS DAYS jumT ts>20 r iitt2 / MtsntNies, n In contrast, a Wednesday Asso ciated Press story reported that, for the first time since 1922, the USDA is going to openly allow U.S. companies to import ground meat, because the USDA now has the “sophisticated” technology to check the quality of the meat. The connection to a proposed free trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada was not ascertained by presstime. For some time, U.S. meat and Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 15, 1992 demonstrate approximately S2O million worth of agricultural equipment. Machinery demonstrations scheduled throughout the day will highlight no-lill planters, primary and secondary ullage, mowing, dry hay baling and bale handling and wrapping equipment. Beginning at 10 a.m. every morning, Penn State faculty and extension agents will present programs on aspects of production agriculture, including poultry composting, manure marketing, nutrient management and on-farm composting. Other programs will provide information on nutrition and health. Wednesday evening’s presenta tions will focus on urban youth education and theater arts, back yard composting and pesticide handling for homeowners. The College Exhibits Building will feature demonstrations and displays of value-added agricul tural products. One exhibit will show how wood harvested from Pennsylvania forests is converted into kitchen cabinets and will explain the importance of the wood products industry to the milk producers have expressed frustration over the fact that the same safety and inspection regula tions to which U.S. producers are held are not imposed on foreign country meat producers, yet pro ducts from those meats are allowed to be imported, competing with domestic production. Foreign-produced ground meat was restricted from import since 1922. In 1970, the laws were changed, but not to the point of Water Study Impacts Farmers ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Fanning Staff LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.) Unless efforts are made by far mers who maintain land in the Conestoga Headwaters to stop the degradation of tributaries, within 20 years the silt and sludge that has been building on dams in the Sus quehanna could brim over, dump ing millions of pounds of pollut ants into the Chesapeake Bay. Efforts undertaken by the USDA, through the results of fieldwork conducted on hundreds JACK VAN ALMELO NeDHIA Director of Marketing ITHACA, NY When dairy herds expand there are many things they outgrow. An obvious one is the bam. Then you might think of feed storage, milking facilities and heifer housing. If you were listing components that would be outgrown in an expan- Animal ID System Important state and national economy. Other exhibits will show how raw food products are transformed into processed foods with improved nutritional value, added convenience and longer shelf life. Faculty members and food indus try representatives will be on hand to talk about future food trends and the importance of food manu facturing to the Pennsylvania economy. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the artificial inse mination industry in Pennsylvam a, a special exhibit will show making it profitable to import non domestic ground meat The USDA claims its testing is now so good That, despite the fine ness of the grind, federal inspec tors can catch efforts to mix in or substitute ground meat from ani mals other than those domestic species. Meanwhile, the call for the ban on meat and milk derived from BST cattle results from investiga tors with the General Accounting of Susquehanna Valley farms by the Rural Clean Water Project, were revealed last week. About 180 conservationists, USDA, USGS, and DER person nel, in addition to farmers and agri business representatives, listened to reports provided by those parti cipating in the project. The Conestoga River, a major tributary of the Susquehanna, stands in “a class by itself,” according to Lloyd Reed, hydrolo gist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who spoke at the meeting. sion you might even get down to manure spreader. There are plenty of technical books, magazine arti cles and relatives with suggestions to help plan the physical aspects of an expansion. One of the last components of the farm modified to handle the increasing herd size is the animal identification system. You won’t find any tables in technical books. 604 Per Copy memorabilia from the early days of ibis important breeding tech nique. Visitors can leam about ihe status of the industry today and see how applied reproductive biol ogy will be conducted in the future. Those who want to maintain their state pesticide applicator license can earn up to three update credits by attending special pre sentations on weed life cycles, choosing and using spray nozzles for pesticide application and methods of testing for pesticide residues. Sessions will begin at 10 a.m. each morning in the College Exhibits Building theater. On Wednesday at 6 p.m., a ses sion on pesticide handling for homeowners will provide two Office (GAO), which is an agency of the U.S. Congress. The GAO has asked the FDA to stop the sale of meat and milk from BST-treated animals, and also to “withhold commercial approval of bovine growth hormone, or BGH, because of increasing concern about indirect health effects on humans,” according to the pub lished report. The Conestoga contributes a lot of the sediment, clay, nitrogen, and other materials deposited to near overflowing-limits at the Susque hanna dams. During a wet year, said Reed, more sediment is transported than during dry years. In addition, the Conestoga dumps about 10 million pounds of nitrogen per year, or about 33.40 pounds/acre/year. Phosphorus dumping equals about 2.4 pounds/acre/year, according to There are not many articles in magazines. You may have some relatives with opinions. It just isn’t an exciting subject - unless you have found yourself with a doubled herd size and an out grown ID system. Then you just might get excited about ID. Animal ID is the anchor to which you tie your animal infor- $19.00 Per Year (Turn to Page A4O) (Turn to Page A5l) Near limits (Turn to Page A4B) (Turn to Page A5O)