p qge 12—Com Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 11,1995
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Around
the country, the first thing that
comes to mind when thinking
of New York is the hustle and
bustle,, crowded streets, traffic
jams, noise, and pollution. It’s
hard to imagine that on the out
skirts of all this chaos are
down-to-earth New York com
growers.
Ron Robbins, president of
the New York Corn Growers
Association (NYCGA), de
scribes NYCGA members as
“people who are driven to suc
ceed and have the foresight to
see the need to be involved.”
By working together, they
have overcome many legislative
issues, the most difficult being
the strict regulations involving
pesticide registration. From
1988 to 1992, the Department of
Environmental Conservation
(DEC) forbid any new weed or
pest control products to enter the
New York market. Without
access to new and improved,
safer and lower-use pesticides,
New York com farmers were at
an economic disadvantage com
pared to neighboring states. The
NYCGA joined forces with the
Farm Bureau, and after a five
year battle with DEC, the rigid
pesticide regulations were lifted.
Another pressing issue for
NYCGA is the Clean Water
Act, which involves investigat
ing non-point sources of pollu
tion. For example, Southview
Farms, located in Western New
York, was sued by citizens who
claimed manure from the farm
# WARNING, ALL SILO OWNERS
Check your silo now for rotten staves. If you
have been using your silo for 10 to 15 years
for either corn silage or haylage, It Is time
to SHOTCRETE.
RESURFACES INTERIORS:
• Coats the silo’s interior
* Protects feed in storage
* Durable lough acid resistant
• Increases useful life
* Economical
REPAIRS HOLES:
9 Repairs even large holes
9 Up to twice the strength of the
original slave
* Rapid application
* Durable surface
EXTENDS USEFUL LIFE:
* Support (or old foundations f
* Special repairs can be made
quickly and economically
* I ittle or no forming needed
• Stronger than the original
Shotcrete la alao good for repairing atone walls
When you think your silo Is beyond repair
Lancaster Silo Co., Inc.
2008 Horaaahoa lid. • Lancaster, PA • (717) 299*3721 '
N.Y. Corn Growers
Take Charge
was seeping into water sources.
Southview Farms spent half a
million dollars fighting the
case and won. Unfortunately,
the case was appealed and the
not-guilty verdict has now been
overruled. “This will probably
impact the New York farmer
more than any other national
issue I can recall,” said Rob
bins. “We are surrounded by
water on three sides and are in
a prime area for regulations.”
Already a highly regulated
state, this incident could trigger
stricter regulations, investiga
tions and lawsuits.
Still another challenge for
the New York com grower is
the loss of farmland. New York
farmers plant an average total
of 1,150,000 acres of com per
year. However, in the past 12
years, urbanization has had a
hand in decreasing farmland by
300,000 acres. “We have one of
the highest tax rates in the
nation. With high tax rates and
declining farm income, many
farmers that own land near
urban areas must consider sell
ing out for urban develop
ment,” said Jim Czub, New
York’s delegate to the NCGA
board.
But there is hope on the hori
zon. New York com growers
are just one law away from a
feed grains checkoff. The cur
rent New York Marketing
Order allows promotional
funds to be collected from
almost all commodities, except
feed grains. NYCGA is cur-
Before The silo i interior After The surface is
with plaster damaied and stave reconditioned and a new. thick
exposed lou§h surface will protect
stored feed
iftli
.1
r’ ' «,
Bciore A hole ta worn After With the hole repaired
completely through the ailo wall by Shot Crete and a new
surface applied the silo is
ready for years of use
Before The bottom part of After The ShotCrcte
the slaves are completely worn System repairs and replaces
the misting structure
THINK OF SHOTCRETE!
rently working hard to legislate
a change in this law, with the
goal of passing a state checkoff
by the summer of 1995.
Even without the additional
market investment dollars a
checkoff would produce, com
farmers are doing their best to
promote the construction of an
ethanol plant in New York.
“Ethanol use and production
has become a priority issue for
the Empire State’s Council of
Agricultural Organizations
(CAO), of which we are a mem
ber,” said Robbins. To show
their support, the NYCGA has
testified at hearings on the
Clean Air Act and has collabo
rated with Pal Eneigy Oil Com
pany at a recent trade show to
promote ethanol use.
“Starting out with no money
and no paid staff has made it
difficult for the organization
(NYCGA) to grow. We have
finally been able to make our
selves more visible to farmers,
and our leadership has gained
respect in our capitol,” said
Robbins. NYCGA is in the
process of planning a member
ship drive this month, with a
goal of totaling 400 members.
The NYCGA also partici
pates in trade shows to promote
com and membership in the
association. During “Empire
Farm Days” held in August, all
three-year memberships, new
or renewed, received a bag of
free seed com, donated by sev
eral seed com companies. Free
samples of popcorn and
biodegradable plastic bags
(DdWBH TMM MIWO
were also used to lure both
farmers and non-farmers into
the booth to discuss new uses
for com.
The NYCGA has earned
respect from both consumers
The Sweet
In Sweet Corn
UNIVERSITY PARK
(Centre co.) Sweet com has
gotten sweeter over the years;
and many of the newer hybrids
retain their sweetness longer,
giving gardeners a longer
harvest window, and consum
ers more flexibility in storage.
It’s no longer necessary to
dash from the garden to a pot of
boiling water in order to have
sweet sweet com.
Regular sweet com contains
a double dose of a recessive
gene called sugary (su). Sweet
com kernels contain almost
twice the amount (10 percent)
of sucrose as fieldcom, plus a
water- soluble polysaccharide
that produces a creamy texture.
However, the sugar in regu
lar sweet com rapidly converts
to starch after harvest, losing 50
percent of peak sugar concent
ration in just 24 hrs at room
temperature.
“Silver Queen” is an exam
ple of a standard sweet com.
The new sweeter sweet com
and the government. And Rob
bins adds, “We may not grow
the most com, but we do have
the'most consumers living in
our backyard—and those con
sumers are the foundation of
everyone’s future!”
hybrids have even higher con
centrations of sugar,and this
sugar converts to starch more
slowly. One gene involved in
this improvement is the shrunk
en gene (sh 2). The sh 2 hybrids
can have a sucrose content as
high as 37 percent at harvest,
that drops only to 29 percent
after 2 days storage at 80 F.
However, the sh 2 sweet corns
are low in water-soluble polys
accharides so lack the creamy
texture of the regular sweet
corns.
Examples of sh 2 hybrids are
“Illini Xtra Sweet,” “Milk ‘n
Honey Supersweet,” and
“Butterfruit.”
Another gene involved in
some of the sweeter sweet
corns is the sugar enhanced
gene (se). It produces both extra
sweetness (with a more com
plex flavor due to a mix of
sugars) and tenderness.
Some corns in this group
have the registered trademark
EH, which stands for Everlast
ing Heritage (e.g. Kandy Kom
EH).