824-L«ncMtBr Farming, Saturday, Juna 25, 1994
FFA HAPPENINGS
WASHINGTON, D.C. The
Cedar Crcsi FFA Chapter has
been named the Pennsylvania
state winner in the National FFA
Organization’s Commodity Mar
keting Activity.
The Commodity Marketing Ac
tivity is an integrated classroom
activity that helps students gain a
realistic commodity market ex
perience. Teams of students arc
given a model farm with com,
soybeans, wheat, cattle and hogs.
Team members decide when to
buy and sell these products to
achieve the greatest economic
gam. Orders arc called to a “brok
er” and the trade is recorded. Real
prices and market conditions arc
experienced but no money is ex
Herbs
UNIVERSITY
PARK (Centre Co.)
Herbs once used for
everything from sto
mach ache remedies to
air fresheners have
made a comeback.
“Interest in herbs has
increased rapidly in the
past few years,” says
Keppy Amoldsen, hor
ticulture graduate stu
dent in Penn State’s
College of Agricultural
Sciences.
Last year Amoldsen
and Aimee Voisin, a
senior majoring in horti
culture, completed an
independent study pro
ject growing 67 herbs in
an ornamental plot at
Penn State’s Trial Gar
dens. Their demonstra
tion garden provided
information used to
compile a Penn State
publication entitled
“Herbs for the Home
Gardener.” This
68-page publication has
S 8 colored illustrations
and information on 32
herbs, including com
mon and scientific
names, plant character
istics, hardiness, size,
soil preference, prop
agation, pests and dis
ease, bloom time and
color and uses for the
hsrbs.
“Many commercial
growers are finding it
lucrative to sell herbs
wholesale to garden
centers and stores.
There’s also a large
market in dried herbs for
decorations, teas, cook
ing and other uses. You
can make a career out of
herbs,” says'Amoldsen.
Voisin plants to do
just that. “Herbs have
such unusual textures,
colors and scents. I got
interested in them when
1 worked in a green
house after graduating
from high school,” she
says. “I started buying
books about herbs, and
how I’ve decided to
become a wholesaler
and sell dried herb
products.
“It’s one thing to read
changed.
The specific objectives of the
activity arc to: (1) learn the deci
sion-making process, (2) manage
the risk of a commodity market,
(3) practice various methods of
marketing farm products, (4) un
derstand various career opportuni
ties in marketing, (5) use applied
mathematics in marketing, (6) un
derstand terms and strategics of
various marketing methods, (7) to
experience the mechanics of trad
ing and (8) to have a “real market
ing experience,”
At the conclusion of the trading
period, a test is administered to
each ol the teams. The best covers
commodity marketing principals
and practices used in the futures
Bring Aroma Of
and it’s another to grow
them,” says Voisin.
“We had some surprises
in our independent
study. Some plants
turned out to be incre
dibly bushy and took up
three times the space we
V- LANCO
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WALLS
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WE DO SCS WORK-ALL TYPES OF POURED WALLS
• Retaining Walls • Bunker Silos
• Manure Pits (circular or rectangular) • Slatted Floor Deep Pits
• Footers • Flatwork
CONTACT: STEVE PETERSHEIM, JR.
P.O. Box 256, Bird-In-Hand, PA 17505
717-291-4585 • (FAX) 717-291-4686
It's a fact! Contaminated water can have a costly effect on your
livestock and poultry performance. Our years of experience plus
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CaUm today for treatment of:
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548 New Holland Ave. Willis Sharp 740 E. Lincoln Ave.
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market. The teams’ scores for both
the trading activity and the test are
combined and the state winner is
then determined.
Each participating team re
ceives a certificate and the win
ning team will receive a $lOO or
$3OO scholarship based on the
number of teams participating,
scholarship moneys will be divid
ed among team members and a
plaque will be provided for the
school.
The Commodity Marketing Ac
tivity is sponsored by the Slewart-
Pclcrson Advisory Group and the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a
special project of the National
FFA Foundation, Inc.
Success
thought they would.
And I never realized that
cilatro and coriander are
really the same plant
one is the leaf and one is
the seed.”
“Herbs for the Home
Gardener” is available
Water Quality
An IMPORTANT
Ingredient in
took Management
Martin Water
Conditioning Co.
SPECIALISTS IN FARM WATER TREATMENT
for $8 from county
cooperative extension
offices or from the
Publication Distribution
Center, 112 Agricultur
al Administration
Building, University
Park, PA 16802.
s receiving their plaque and
check for winning the National FFA Commodity Marketing
Activity from Dr. Thomas Bruening, assistant professor of
agricultural education at Penn State University, are, front
row, left to right, Jason Hess and Kevin Putt. Back row, left
to right, Don Atkins, Chris Kepley, and Dr. Thomas Bruen
ing.
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