C4-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 2?, 1995
TIGHT FERTILIZER
SUPPLY CREATES
MANURE MARKETING
OPPORTUNITIES
Leon Ressler
Extension Agent
Agriculture/Environment
Strong worldwide demand for
fertilizer over the past two years
has contributed to a substantial rise
in fertilizer prices.
Nitrogen prices for the fall of
1994 were around 2S percent high
er than the year before. Then an
explosion at a nitrogen plant near
Sioux City, lowa in December
added increased pressure on nitro
gen prices. The plant produced
about two percent of the U.S. nitro
gen supplies.
In a good supply year, loss of
that much production may have
minimal impact, but in an already
tight market the impact was signif
icant This has contributed to even
higher prices for spring fertilizer.
These high fertilizer prices com
bined with good weather are creat
ing an excellent business oppor
tunity for poultry fanners with
manure to market
Following several good market
ing principles used in marketing
ifiß
m MANUFACTURERS of -W
LAMINATED RAFTERS
and WOOD ROOF TRUSSES
701 E. Linden St., RICHLAND, PA 17087
elephone: 717-866-6581
Fax; 717-866-7237
The Symbol
Of Quelity
any product will help you success
fully market your manure. First
promote your product Advertise!
It is also important to understand
your competition and be honest
about your product’s advantages
and disadvantages.
Manure’s primary advantage is
low cost relative to fertilizer as a
source of crop nutrients. Another
advantage is that some of the nitro
gen in manure will be available
slowly over time. Manure also sup
plies micronutrients to the crops
and organic matter to the soil.
Offering manure test information
to potential buyers is very
important.
See Table 1 for guidelines on
developing pricing for manure.
Offering custom application ser
vice will open new opportunities
and give you equal footing in an
area which was in the past a main
advantage of your competition.
You need to honestly face your
disadvantages as well. These
include hauling cost, inability to
custom-match a particular nutrient
ratio required by a field, and com
paction from heavy application
equipment
In order to assist suppliers and
receivers to redistribute manure in
southeastern Pennsylvania, I have
Family Farm to
Architectural Innovation
TUDOR ARCH
Engineered
Timber
Ephrata Area Young Farmers Meet
EPHRATA (Lancaster
Co.)—Duane Hobbs from Dupont
and Tara Soper from Ciba hosted a
dinner meeting at Family Time
Restaurant for members of the
Ephrata Area Young Farmers and
other interested farmers.
Luke Burkhart, from Pennsyl
vania Dept of Agriculture, stated
the successful completion of dis
posal of any chemicals that were
no longer useful. The proper dis
posal of containers was explained.
Some SO individuals participated
been putting together lists of each
group. Each year I update the list
and send a list of suppliers to the
potential receivers and vice versa.
The lists are organized by county
and township to enable you to find
those on the matching list nearest
to you.
1. Determine the current market price for N, P 2 os, and K 2 O for your area
and use those prices in the following example formulas.
2. Use a manure test to determine the N-P 2 0s-K 2 O content of your manure.
If no manure test is available, use book values in the agronomy guide.
3. Use Table 2-14 in the 95-96 Agronomy Guide (available from your Penn
State Cooperative Extension Office) to determine the N availability factor for
the manure nitrogen under your management system.
For Example: A poultry layer manure sample has a nutrient content of 38
pounds of N, 48 pounds of P 2 O s , and 25 pounds of K 2 O per ton. The manure
will be spring-applied and incorporated within one day. The value per ton
would be:
38 lbs. N X .50 (Availability Factor) X $0.25 per lb
48 lbs. P 2 O s X $0.22 per lb.
25 lbs. K 2 O X $O.lB
Over Thirty-Five Years
Of Quality Service
STRAIGHT
BEAM
in the program, and questions wwe
answered relating to the most
effective use of crop aids to envir
onmental and economical
situations.
Ephrata Area Young Farmers
recently hosted a meeting at
Durlach/Mt Airy Fire Hall where
some 12S persons were informed
by John Schwartz, Lancaster
Extension director, on the impor
tance of the Clean and Green Act
and the economic impact it has on
assessment and the requirements
If you are interested in partici
pating, contact me at Penn State
Cooperative Extension, 1383
Arcadia Road, Room 1, Lancaster
PA 17601-3184, (717) 394-6851.
Note: This calculation
assumes that the crop requires
Table 1
How Much Is Manure Worth?
needed for participation.
After a lively question and
answer period, everyone was more
knowledgeable of the impact of
Act 319.
The next monthly meeting will
be April 11 at7:3opjn.atEarlG.
Martin Farm, 250 Royer Road,
Ephrata. Rob Kauffman, research
manager for Brubaker Consulting,
will provide the training in a Pesti
cide Sprayer and Com Planter
Calibration Seminar. This is open
to the public.
all the nutrients in the manure.
However, your soil test may
show, for instance, that your
corn field requires only nitro
gen. In that case, you could only
justify paying for the nitrogen in
the manure if you were buying it.
= $ 4.75
= $10.56
= $ 4.50
$19.81
UNIVERSAL ARCH
MANUFACTURERS OF
GLU-UM ARCHES
GLU-LAM BEAMS
GLU-LAM TREATED POSTS
ROOF TRUSSES
FLOOR TRUSSES
T&G AND V-GROOVE DECKING
WE CUSTOM DESIGN OR MATCH
EXISTING BUILDINGS
COMPLETE LINE OF POST
FRAME BUILDING MATERIALS
CRANE SERVICE
Everyone at Rigldply Rafters,
Inc. is fully committed to serving
our customers and providing
them with the finest products
available. Jhe excellence that
we strive for is to show our
appreciation for our customers
continued loyalty to Rigidply
Rafters. You deserve the bestl