A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 25, itfar CMA Conference Provides Insights Into Agriculture’s Economic Future (Continued from Page A 1) of com on hand” this September. "I’m not as pessimistic about prices,” Moore said. The Jan. 14 cash price of com stood at $2.63 per bushel. July 1997 futures price stand at $2.71 per bushel. The com market will continue to improve this spring, Moore indicated. Moore told those who want to speculate on com markets to “stifle greed Space your sales even if you’re not happy with the prices.” Moore offcied other advice: don’t sell at the highest price, don’t mis represent quality, get to know the futures markets, and realize “there is a tomorrow.” Moore said, “Wc produce a little less than half the world’s com,” at about 250 million metric tons. “Wc produce more than half the world’s soybeans,” at about 29 million metric tons (Brazil, on the other hand, produces about 25 mil lion metric tons of soybeans). He reminded the producers of what could happen to worldwide com prices if we have a crop failure dur ing the summer. Moore also offered insight into how the national economy is doing and how that reflects on the ag eco nomy. The national economy remains “positive,” Moore indi cated. Industrial production for the year in November was up 4.4 per cent and unemployment stood at 5.3 percent (“It can’t be much bet ter,” said Moore. “Five percent ot the population won’t work under any conditions.”) Real inflation stood at 3 percent. With all of that, the U.S. has experienced the “third largest growth period in economic history,” he said. (In Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, a story reported on how Federal reserve Chairman Alan Grecspan saw few signs of “inflationary tension” in the economy, with a “pickup in some measures of wages.”) At the same time, there are some bleak spots on the eco nomic horizon. The national economic gross domestic pro duct was up only 2.3 percent, which means the economy remains “fairly anemic,” Moore said. Consumer debt continues to increase at unheard-of rates, and the payments on the debt can slow the economy down. Moore posed the question: How long can it last? He indicated some economists see no recession coming, at least through 1997. But as long as the national economy remains on a posi tive track, usually the ag economic sector follows close behind. Increasingly, more fanners are seeking off-farm work “to support the farm habit,” said Moore. The government con tinues to pull price support systems away from the farm eco nomy, leading to a more frcc-markct economy, with much less government support pricing. More production than ever before is under contract, and exports conunuc to level. Moore gave an example of how one agncultural company puts everything in perspective for producers. Cargill, the largest closely held ag company, according to Moore, has > early sales of S6O billion (compared to the entire Pennsylva nia ag industry, with yearly sales of a paltry 53.7 billion). For ty percent of Cargill’s assets arc overseas. Cargill’s com exports make up 25 percent of the total U.S. exports overseas. Cargill docs 20 percent of the U.S. com milling and 25 per cent of the oilseed processing. The company slaughters 20 percent of the U.S. cattle, operates 300 gram elevators, and employs 79,000. What happens in the national economy can affect many different aspects of agriculture, as the size and power of cither privately or publicly held ag companies increase. Meanwhile, the national debt continues to be “a tcmble problem,” Moore said, that must be addressed. “Wc’rc in the process of rebuilding our faculty and cooperative extension staff,” said Ted Alter, interim dean of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Alter told those at the PCM A meeting that since 1990,163 positions m the college and extension services have been lost beouse of budgetary cutbacks I ast year, the stale’s General Assembly placed an 11 4 percent increase in the budget, which has helped the college rebuild. According ui the Penn Slate’s Stale of the College Report, on Aug 8 last year, the hiring frcc/c imposed within the col lege since June 1995 was lifted, and the college initiated the process to fill faculty, county agent, and staff positions m the areas of critical need. Alter estimated that about 65 positions out of the original 163 have been filled. This year, according to Alter, Penn State has petitioned the Gen eral Assembly for an 8.6 percent increase for extension ag research and ag extension education. “If we get 8.6 percent, or a good portion of that, we’d be able to continue the process of rebuilding our prog ram,” Alter said. The college will continue to examine ares of “selective enhancements” in target areas as part of a new five-year plan. These areas include research and educa tion with cooperative extension (selective enhancements to plant and animal science programs), environment and natural resources (selective enhancements to the School of Forestry, but also including agronomy and plant pathology programs), and areas of food processing, food safety, and nutrition. A new dean will soon be appointed, according to Alter. An area that the college will continue to address more thor oughly, according to Alter, is the fact that industry has asked for stu dents that graduate to have more experience, especially “in the day to-day operations of real-world business,” Alter said. Steve Fales, department head, Penn State Department of Agro nomy, reflected the challenges put Penn State Restructures CMA consultants spoke about their experiences with producers at the meeting. John Flanders, West Branch Crop Management Association Consultant, center, came to realize that the work of the CMA Is to be a “moderator” between “new technologies and placing those technologies on the farm.” Others who spoke Included, from left, Mark Madden, Susquehanna County extension agent; Greg Roth, Penn State associ ate professor of agronomy; Flanders; Bill Curran, Penn State associate professor of weed science; and Tim Beardsiee, Sulßra CMA farmer. forth by industries to better prepare ales to become proficient in com the students for the business world, munication and problem-solving A focus will be on training gradu- skills and understand ag econom- \ ics and the overall ag industry. “By and large, our students are (Turn to Page A2l)
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers