WILLIAMSPORT (Lycoming
Co.) Central Susquehanna
grain Marketing Club and Penn
State Cooperative Extension pre
sents the 1998 Grain Marketing
Winter Seminars.
Plan to come out and join with
neighboring grain producers to
learn how to maximize your profit
margin when you buy and sell
grain. Speakers from industry and
two universities will be helping us
to answer the following questions:
What local and global factors af
fect price? How can I learn to anti
cipate price moves? How do fu
tures and options play a part in my
price planning? Should I have a
brokerage account? How can I use
all this knowledge to my benefit?
Hie following seminars ate of
fered to grain marketers looking to
increase their level of understand
ing on this important subject
• Thursday, Feb. 12,10 am. to
2:30 pm. Kevin McNew from the
University of Maryland will be
coming in to explain further the
concept of basis —what it is, why
it is important to us, how it
changes over time, and bow to use
it to our advantage. He will also
Vegetable Day
Speakers Encourage
‘ Store-Door *
Relationships
(Continued from Pago At 9)
Elkner reviewed the results of a sweet com vari
ety trial conducted at the Penn State Extension
Landisville Research Station last summer to exa
mine 30 different varieties to look at several fac
tors, including standability, car quality, tipfull,
and taste.
The com was planted on a “staggered” schedule
so that different varieties would become mature at
approximately the same time. The planting dates
were to bring fully mature cars to harvest in time
for a special taste-test twilight meeting at the
research station in August.
Overall, growers offered their opinions on the
“Instability” of the com. Preferences varied. But
com “taste” overall is affected by the number of
cloudy days in the season (sweet com prefers lots
of sun) and other elements.
Some varieties offered a “creamier” taste, while
other growers preferred varieties that were mostly
sweet. Elkner pointed out that it is important to
know your customers and what they would prefer.
If trying new or experimental varieties, plant them
in small lots with caution.
Although the best “taste test” is conducted with
raw com picked right out of the field, Elkncr noted
that the taste test is conducted with cooked com
because that is the way it will be prepared by the
customers at home.
Elkner also reviewed the results of a study
involving 14 different varieties of pumpkins at the
Landisville site. Overall, there were some surpris
ingly good varieties that withstood tough drought
conditions in the summer with some good yields.
Also at the Vegetable Day, Bob Berghage,
assistant professor of horticulture at Penn State,
spoke about new varieties of bedding plants avail
able to the grower.
Bcrghagc said the best petunias he has ever seen
are the “Wave Series" from Pan American. The
“Purple Wave" variety is the 1995 All-American
Series winner. The petunias hold up well after
rainfall (what horticulturalists refer to as “storm
recovery"). In all, Bcrghagc reviewed 35 different
plant species for the use in the home garden.
The Vegetable Day offered other sessions on
cover crops for vegetables, apple rootstocks, bio
logical and chemical control in greenhouses,
vegetable disease problems, pollination concerns,
fruit tree fertility, vegetable research and promo
tion, managing vegetables under stress, early sea
son production of vegetables, managing bumble
bees in the greenhouse, sprayer coverage, what's
new in weed management, greenhouse tomato
production, the basics of trickle irrigation, and
plastic mulch disposal and water rights.
add to the prior seminar with a dis
cussion on the practical use of fu
nises option trading. And as a side
note, he agreed to make some
comments on the work he was in
volved in that tracked the per
formance of market advisory ser
vices compared to price for com
and soybeans.
• Thursday, March S, 10 am. to
LEESPORT (Berks Co.)
Specialty corns, emerging tech
nologies in com production, and
grain quality are the headline top
ics to be presented at the Berks
County Crops Day, Jan. 30 at the
Berks County Ag Center, Lees
port. according to Mena Hautau,
extension agent
Dr. Greg Roth, Agronomy De
partment Penn State, said that
Grain Seminars Set
noon. Lou Moore will join with us
to discuss grain marketing Cram
the bigger picture. Lou is known
for his market outlooks and he will
talk about what influences the
market price and how you can
work to understand those factors
and learn to use them to your ad
vantage. Although we generally
sell locally, price is influenced by
world events. Learn why that’s
Berks Crops Day Jan. 30
there are many exciting innova
tions in com production. He will
present a discussion regarding
various com types, such as high
oil com, leafy type, and low phy
tase com. Precision agriculture
and biotechnology are technolo
gies that may or may not be adop
ted in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Rick Stehouwer is a new fa
culty member in agronomy, Penn
Working together. Isn’t it a wonderful thing?
important to you.
The meetings will all be held at
the Bonanza Restaumnt/Comfort
Inn at New Columbia. The restau
rants is located just south of 1-80
on Route IS in Union County. It
will be held in the Union Room.
Seating is limited and will be
available on a first-come, first
serve basis.
State, and is responsible for re
search and extension in environ
mental soils. He will be updating
producers on the new regulations
regarding sludge application.
Other topics include a tax law
update by the new farm manage
ment extension agent serving
Berks County. John Rutherford. A
weed management update will be
presented by John Yocum, man-
Each does its own thing. And both benefit. When it conies
to COUNTER* CR* systemic insecticide-nematicide and
your herbicide, each does its own thing. And your com benefits.
Use contidled-release CR to stop tough pests. Then use virtually
any herbicide, including SUs.\bu’ll give your corn its best
fighting chance. It lasts longer. It handles the extremes. Its CR.
m
Cover yours.
■JBCH
www.cyaiMmid.com
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 24, 1998-A2l
Registration cost is SS. Lunch
Dutch treat at the adjacent Bonan
za Restaurant
For more information or to re
serve a scat at one or all of the ses
sions, call Tom Murphy at the Ly
coming County Extension office
at (717) 327-2350. Reservation
deadline is five business days pri
or to each meeting.
ager of the Southeast Pennsylva
nia Research and Extension Cen
ter and nutrient management will
be covered by Don Reinert, Berks
County Conservation District
Registration cost is $4. Regis
tration information can be ob
tained by contacting Penn Stale
Cooperative Extension-Berks
County, PO Box 520, Lees port,
PA 19533-0520, (610) 378-1327.