D6-LancMtar Farming, Saturday, March 26, 1994
Champion Texas
ARDMORE, Okla. Harri
sonburg, Virginia has been select
ed as the site for the 1994 Annual
Texas Longhorn International
Championship Cattle Show and
Convention.
This event will be the first show
of its kind held east of the Missis
sippi River. More than 200 regis
tered Texas Longhorn cattle of all
ages are expected at the two-day
competition at the Rockingham
County Fairgrounds on October
21-22.
International grand champions
of the breed will be selected by
'New Technology ,
Regulations Harder
On Small Farms
NEWARK, Del. Technolog
ical change and increasing gov
ernment regulation are likely to
have a profound impact on Ameri
can agriculture through the rest of
the decade. And small-scale fami
ly farms will have the hardest time
surviving these pressures, particu
larly in the global marketplace,
according to Dr. Gerald Cole,
University of Delaware resource
economist.
“New technology is presumed
to enhance productivity and
increase output,’’ said Cole, a
member of the department of food
and resource economics in the
College of Agricultural Sciences.
“While some technologies are
scale neutral, others are likely to
be adopted only by larger
producers.”
Thus he foresees a continued
trend toward fewer but larger
farms.
New or expanded government
regulations particularly the
1999 implementation of the Coas
tal Zone Act also are likely to
make it harder for smaller farm
operations to survive in Delaware
and other states.
“Nutrient management plans,
pesticide application records, and
labor regulations are all examples
of changes that increase record
keeping requirements,” the eco
nomist said, these changes tend to
create a greater disadvantage for
smaller producers who lack com
puter skills and/or the latest finan
cial and production management
technology.
“We often hear politicians
speak with great fondness about
preserving smaller family farms,”
Cole said. “But many times new
laws that are passed with the intent
to help agriculture actually don’t,
because many small producers
can’t keep up with the additional
cost of meeting the regulations.
United Farm Tools
Introduces UFT
Financial Services
GLASGOW, Ky. In Febru
ary, United Farm Tools announc
ed the formation of UFT Financial
Services.
This new division will coordin
ate all financing activities of the
company, including invoicing,
dealer floorplanning, and cus
tomer retail financing. UFT has
named Richard Pook to head up
this new division.
In making the announcement,
Sam Lawson, president and CEO,
said, “This is the next logical step
three prominent cattle judges. The
Sheraton Inn, 1400 East Market
Street, has been appointed show
and convention headquarters, ac
cording to Ben Gravett of Catlett,
Va., regional director of the Inter
national Texas Longhorn Associa
tion, show sponsor.
The International Texas Long
horn Association (ITLA) is the re
gistry for this historic breed of cat
tle. ITLA world headquarters are
in Ardmore, Okla., and it boasts of
member-producers in 46 slates
and six foreign countries. Thou
sands of newly bom cattle are en-
‘These regulations are likely to
hasten the demise of farm busines
ses that are already marginal,” the
economist said. “It’s like when
dairy farmers had to switch from
milk cans to bulk tanks back in the
19705. Faced with the added
expense of installing the tanks,
many producers opted to go out of
the dairy business. I see this as a
similar turning point."
At the same time, Cole expects
farm program support to gradually
erode, putting agriculture under
increased market pressure.
“Pressure to reduce the U.S.
budget deficit will result in agri
culture’s being one of the target
areas for spending cuts,” he said.
“Also, in both the recently com
pleted General Agreement on Tar
iffs and Trade (GATT) and in the
North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), there is a
call for gradual reduction in agri
cultural price supports and/or tar
iffs on agricultural commodities.”
Most of the future growth for
U.S. export markets will be in
newly industrialized or develop
ing countries in Latin America
and the Pacific Rim, Cole pre
dicts. These economics offer the
best potential future market for
U.S. agricultural exports, particu
larly value-added products such as
processed grain, processed poul
try, and processed fruits and
vegetables.
“Numerous forces will continue
to influence the future profitability
of U.S. agriculture,” he said.
“Many of these factors are deter
mined in an international setting,
well beyond the control of farm
organizations and especially the
individual farmer. That’s why all
of us who are concerned about the
future of U.S. agriculture must be
increasingly aware of what hap
pens daily in the global
marketplace.”
in developing the recognition of
United Farm Tools as a 'World
Class' manufacturer of farm
equipment
To introduce the new UFT Fi
nancial Services Division, the
company will be offering custom
ers a choice of 0% interest until
October 1,1994 or 5.9% notes for
36 months on the purchases of
new UFT equipment, plus an array
of lease options.
For more information, contact
UFT Sales at (319) 283-5451 or
UFT Financial Services at (502)
651-7121.
Longhorns To Be Crowned
tered in the ITLA registry each
year.
Almost extinct in die early
1900 s, there are more than
200,000 of these cattle living to
day. J. Frank Dobie, in his book
“The Longhorn,” estimated more
than 60 million Longhorns roam
ed the southwest area of the U.S.
after the Civil War in what is now
New Mexico, Louisiana, Texas,
and northern Mexico. These are
the cattle that were driven on the
Monroe
Wins Environmental Award
PHOENIX, Ariz. Monroe
County Conservation District in
Stroudsburg, Pa., was honored as
the Conservation District of the
Year by the National Association
of Conservation Districts at the
group’s annual convention in
Phoenix, Ariz.
Austin Blakeslee, chairman of
the district’s board of directors,
and head naturalist Roger Spoils
represented the district at the
award ceremony, where they were
recognized before nearly 2,000
conservation leaders for the dis
trict’s innovative natural resource
education programs.
‘The staff and board of direc
tors of the Monroe County Con
servation District combines a
strong commitment to conserva
tion with the creativity that makes
the stewardship of our nation’s
soil and water an important part of
life in eastern Pennsylvania and
worldwide,” said Dick Foell, man
ager-Agrißusiness Affairs for
Soil Judging Team
First In Northeast Contest
Maryland in the spring. .. ~ . , , . .
The competition, which is class taught by team
hosted by a different school each C ° 3C . h . N , clson 1*“";
.. . j . .u coordinator m Penn Stale i Col
ycar, provides s udents with a i ege of Agricultural Science;. Stu
umque opportunity to see soils , s j earn , 0 describe ano clas
from different areas of the state.
classify them and make interpreta- 7 ; h ff / g '
lions for different land uses. ni “ propert , ies .. that * Ue 9f us f s ’
c ,„ . . , such as waste disposal a’ld water
Students prepare for the contest movement
by taking Soils 100, a one-credit, movcmem -
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) The Penn State Student
Soil Judging Team recently placed
first among six colleges in the
1993 Northeast Collegiate Soil
Judging Contest at the Ag Prog
ress Days site at Rockspring. The
team now qualifies for the Nation
al Collegiate Soil Judging Contest
to be held at the University of
Members of the Penn State Student Soil Judging Team are pictured left to right.
Front row, Stefan Weaver; Chris Manns, second-place Individual winner; Kristin Kor
utz, toth-place individual winner; Raymond Shipp, contest organizer and coach
emeritus; Steve Smith; find Charles Walnoha. Back row, Miguel Calmon, graduate
assistant; Nelson Thurman, coach; Make Hasei; Brooks Fleming; Keith Goyne;< Jim
Gezik, sixth-place individual winner; Shawn Kister; and Ed Gross. Not pictured are
Alex Dado and Ron Andrasko.
great trail drives to beef hungry
northern, eastern, and far western
states.
Texas Longhorn cattle gave
birth to the American Cowboy and
originated the great western
ranching industry. Ancestors of
the Texas Longhorn were mostly
Spanish cattle brought to Mexico
around 1500 A.D. for food, milk,
hides, and tallow for Catholic mis
sions and the exploring Conquis
tadors. Disease, marauding In-
Conservation District
Zeneca Ag Products, co-sponsor
of the program.
“Through the educational pro
grams of districts like this one, our
nation can pass along the respect
for our natural resources that will
be so important for sustaining fu
ture generations.’’
Monroe County Conservation
District serves Monroe County re
sidents and school districts with a
wide array of fee-based services,
including educational curricula
that fulfill the state requirements
for environmental education, a
newsletter on local environmental
programs and issues, a summer
day camp for children, and public
programs for adults.
The district is housed in an en
vironmental education center sup
ported by more than 600 dues
paying members. There are three
full-time naturalists on staff, as
well as three resource technicians,
three office support staffers, a
maintenance person and a district
dians, and completion of the woik
of the explorers left these Spanish
cattle to fend for themselves.
Present-day Longhorns are the
result of hundreds of years of na
ture’s “survival of the fittest” me
thod of eliminating the weak and
unproductive. Today, Longhorn
cattle are being revived due to
their natural lean meat, long life,
high protein, low cholesterol
qualities, and other genetic attri
butes.
manager. Naturalist Karen N.
Boyle says the Education Center
was built and developed thanks to
a decade of hard work by many
people who have since left the or
ganization.
Boyle and fellow naturalist
Glenn Wachter discussed the
Monroe County Conservation
District Environmental Education
Center with conservationists and
educators in a conservation educa
tion workshop in Phoenix. The
workshop introduced NACD Con-
servation Education Award win
ners to each other, and to members
of the organization that presented
them their awards.
“It’s nice to be recognized for
doing something we think is im
portant,” said Wachter. “Although
we’re not in it for the recognition,
we appreciate it.”