COLUMBUS, Ohio Ohio farmers said in a government sur vey they’d plant more soybeans and less com this year, but what they will really do depends upon a great unknown this spring’s weather, said ‘Luther Tweeten, an agricultural economist at Ohio State University. A U.S. Department of Agricul ture report released at the end of March said Ohio fanners will plant 2 percent more soybeans, or 100,000 more acres than last year. Farmers intend to plant 6 percent less com, or 200,000 fewer acres. Winter wheat acreage is expected to remain the same. Tweeten said fanners may change their minds, though. If spring is warm and dry, they may plant more com, which has a slightly longer growing season than soybeans. If the weather turns cold and wet, farmers will have to plant later and switch more acre age into soybeans, he said. “It’s a weather phenomenon at this stage,” Tweeten said. The report left fanners’ inten tions for 100,000 acres undeter mined, which could reflect their indecision at the time of the sur vey said agricultural statistician Charles Mayzlik, Ohio Agricul tural Statistics Service. Small amounts of that acreage may go into hay or be lost to non-farm de velopment, he said. Twecnten said farmers have more flexibility to change their in Cochran Fund Accepts Proposals Forestry Projects YOUNGSVILLE (Warren Co.) The Sandy Cochran Memorail Fund is seeking applications through June 1,1998 for the fund ing of educational projects that will support good forest manage ment and the forest industry in northwestern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York. The Cochran Fund was estab lished in the memory of Roe “Sandy” Cochran, a former Penn State forestry extension agent According to Ken Kane, past committee chair and a consulting forester from Kane, “Cochran was widely known and respected. He stressed the importance of con tinuing education and research based knowledge. Cochran work ed with everyone in the forest in dustry, from independent loggers and mill operators to those in volved in forestry education at the local, state, and national levels.” Susan Stout, project forester with the U.S. Forest Service and Cochran Fund Committee mem ber, said “Cochran’s vision for the forestry community included safe work procedures, the application of best management practices in Less Com, More Beans In Ohio tendons because the government ended production controls under the Freedom-to-Farm legislation passed two years ago. Prior farm programs required farmers to plant a certain amount of com or wheat in order to receive crop sup port benefits. Now farmers can base planting intentions on per ceived marketing opportunities or weather problems. “Farmers like that flexibility,” Tweetnen said. “It’s nice for them to switch from com to soybeans or from soybeans to com depending on the weather conditions.” - Another Ohio State agricultural economist, Carl Zulauf, agreed that farm policy gives producers more flexibility. He thinks another factor affecting planting inten tions is that fanners have less cash costs with soybeans, which don’t use as much fertilizers as com, he said. However. Zulauf is concerned about a long-term com trend indi cating that Ohio farmers are losing a yield advantage compared to other corn-producing states. Ohio’s com yields were 34 per cent higher than the national aver age from 1948 through 1952, and only 1 percent higher during 1993-97, he said. Ohio soybean yields, however, were 7 percent above the national average for 1993-97 compared to only 1 percent higher in 1948-52, he sai(L The contrasting changes, in the forests, the cultivation of pro mising markets for local forest products, the application of new technologies, and the creation of a policy environment created by in formed political leaders. The Cochran Memorial Fund is in tended to support projects that fur ther these ends.” High priority will be given by the fund to projects directly affect ing a 17-county area in the North on Allegheny Region. A variety of projects have been funded in the past including support for the Allegheny National Forest “For um,” materials support to the 1995 Warren County Youth Conserva tion Camp, and funding for the de velopment of several forestry photo displays. Requests for aca demic scholarship will also be en tertained by the fund. Applications for funding and further information can be ob tained from The Sandy Cochran Memorial Fund in care of Hie Forest Sciences Laboratory. P.O. Box 267. Irvine, PA 16329-0267. Deadline for submission of all project applications and support ing information is June 1, 1998. EXTENDED PARTS DEPT. STORE HOURS EFFECTIVE MONDAY, APRIL 6, 1998 To Better Serve You During The Busy Planting Season APRIL - MAY - JUNE MON. THRU FRI. 7:00 AM -8:00 PM; SAT. 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM 133 Rothsville Station Rd. uflMßt, OTTJVT ITtHIIPCT P-0. Box 0395 [mm n 1 Litilz - PA17543 a Farm Plan. Ff* HBflS INC — 7 (717)626-4705 W A Service o/FPC F/n«naii Diw ‘ ‘ 1-800-414-4705 FAX 717-626-0996 Tweeten said farmers are also losing a competitive edge in win ter wheat production because profitability per acre is less than for soybeans and com. “The U.S. seems to be losing a comparative advantage in wheat not just in Ohio, but across the board in the Great Plains,” Tweet en said. “We have not improved wheat yields at the pace of com yields.” In all, Ohio farmers said they would plant 3.4 million acres of com, compared to 3.6 million acres last year. The national com acreage is expected to be 80.8 mil lion acres the highest in 13 years or 1 percent above last NOTICE yield ratios between Ohio and the United States may be one reason why Ohio plants more soybeans than com, and the reverse is true for the United States, Zulauf said. Zulauf hasn’t figured out the reason for the comparative decline in com yields. In general, regions can lose competitiveness because of technological lags, differential changes in localized hybrids, geo climatic changes, managerial capabilities, or off-farm jobs com peting for time. A LESSON WELL LEARNED... LANCASTER FARMING'S CLASSIFIED ADS GFT RESULTS! year’s. The USDA reports that Ohio farmers intend to plant 4.6 million soybean acres, compared to 4.5 million last year. Nationally, farmers said they will plant the highest acreage ever—72 million acres of soybeans or 2 percent more than last year. Ohio’s winter wheat plantings are expected to stay firm at 1.2 million acres. Nationally, winter wheat acreage is expected to be 46.6 million acres, or a decline of 4 percent from last year. The potential for a big U.S. soy bean crop plus an outstanding South American crop currently being harvested have sobered re cent prices, Zulauf said. Add to that the lackluster export demand because of die Asian economic crisis and a slackening of domes tic demand. "There’s a lot of soybeans out there,” Zulauf said The supply-demand situation is tighter for com. even though growth in domestic feed usage is slowing, Zulauf said. Further more, intended plantings for sor ghum, a competing feedgrain. are lower. Badger finance charge and no payments 'till Feb '99* ...plus low 4.9%, 6.9%, 8.9% L ...on Forage Boxes, / jb Liquid Manure Tanks, f & Turbo-4™ JNiR Mixers Badger ♦Forage Boxes • Built Badger tough! Conveyors, Feeders, Barn Cleaners • High capacity, smooth, quiet w 4 Silo Unloaders • Powerful Frostbuster m design Burner . . a i Waiver & Low Rate Financing * No payments or finance charge to Feb, 1999 followed by 4 9%-1 year, 6 9%-2 year, 8 9%-3 year lease with $1 purchase option Early buy-out option with no finance charge 20% down payment Available to qualified buyers “The bottom line is we have a long way to go with this crop,” Zulauf said. “If you want me to tell you the price of com for this fall, we’ll have to wait to see the production this summer. If crap weather is excellent and demand growth remains slow, farmers can use the government’s marketing loan program to limit the damage of plunging markets, provided farmers are enrolled in production flexibility contracts, Zulauf said. Marketing loans are available for com, soybeans and wheat, Zu lauf said. Marketing loans cannot be forfeited to the government, as they could in traditional programs. If the market place falls below the loan rate, the farmer can pay off the loan at the tower market price. This assures farmers of the loan rate as a minimum price, even though market prices might be lower. The government will announce loan rates for 1998-plan ted crops in the coming months. Rates vary by county, but the national 1997-planted crop loan rates, per bushel, were $1.89 for com; $5.26 for soybeans, and $2.58 for wheat ‘xm Liquid Manure Tankers & Pumps • 2300 to 5200 gal. capacity Turbo-4 n TMR Mixers • 325 & 450 cu. ft. Forage Blowers • Fill the tallest silos ¥: MILLER St.Nazlanz
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers