Page 4—Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 29, 2000
Despite Dry Weather,
(Continued from Pago 1)
high moisture com. In recent
years, he’s noted that it can be
difficult to market the product
and that many other fanners in
the valley who have retired
from their dairy operations are
now growing com for sale.
“I’ve found with the dairy
men being squeezed so much
on trying to make a living, it’s
bothering some to find a market
for our high moisture com,”
Webster noted.
He now has a steady market
for the com from a local dairy
farmer. Any extra is marketed
on the open maiket.
In the past, Webster has also
been a member of the 5-acre
com club and won the top
award in 1989 with Pioneer
hybrid 3751.
“I used to stick to an old vari
ety they had for years, but it was
a slow dry-down com. I got
away from that because I sell
for high moisture com. That
way we can get in the fields and
harvest quicker before we get
into bad weather.”
He said, “Pioneer wanted me
to try out this com borer resis
tant variety and I was planting
the other variety of Pioneer
along with 3751. Then Dave
Potter of Agway contacted me
and wanted me to try some
DeKalb. I wished I’d tried
more, I guess,” he said.
“I always thought I wanted to
try the Roundup ready com, but
we have so much trouble with
Japanese bamboo and the only
thing I’ve found that will touch
it is Banvel. That won’t kill it,
but it will knock it back enough
that the com can get above it
and you can still get a pretty
good yield,” explained Web
Ansel Webster reviews the performance report from
Pioneer. His fields Included a new corn borer resistant
variety as well as another variety of Pioneer Corn. He
also planted some varieties of DeKalb.
ster. “Whoever invents a weed
control that can get rid of that
bamboo will get rich quick, I
think, because it’s all up and
down the river.”
Webster has been farming
for most of his life. He grew up
on a dairy farm in the Mansfield
area. He farmed himself during
high school before having a
two-year stint in the army,
working for the electric com
pany and trying out a factory
job. Webster then decided that
farming was the profession he
wanted to pursue.
“I went in with my father on
our dairy farm, and we were
partners for quite a while. Then
we got a chance to swap the
farm in Mansfield for this farm
down by the river, and I certain
ly haven’t been sorry for it,”
said Webster.
The Websters milked about
SO cows at the new farm for
many years before selling off
the milking animals and con
centrating on raising replace
ment heifers. When he saw
what kind of crops he could get
on the river bottom, he decided
to just stick to crop farming.
Today Webster has sold
some of his property, although
he holds the farming rights for
five years. He will also lose
some land to the Rt. IS expan
sion. He now raises com and
hay on about 640 acres.
Over the years, he has
witnessed many changes in
farming.
“There’s better weed con
trol,” explained Webster, “and I
have a computerized com
planter. That is really handy.
You know whether you’re
planting or if you’re not and it
will tell you the population in
each row. It’s quite an improve-
Webster’s Com Posts High Yields
can
meat over the old 2-row com
planter.”
Webster tries to do most of
the woik himself, although he
does admit that the computer in
the com planter baffles him a
bit.
“With the new tractors one
man can do a lot of woik. I gen
erally do all the woik myself
except for planting the com. I
never have got to leam the com
puterized com planter,” said the
74-year-old Webster. “I have a
nephew who knows computers
pretty well. He generally docs
my com planting. This year I
had a girt who is interested in
farming do my com planting
NCGA Expresses Profound
Disappointment At WTO Breakdown
WASHINGTON, D.C.-The
nation’s corn farmers are pro
foundly disappointed by the
breakdown of the World
Trade Organization (WTO)
talks in Seattle recently.
Nevertheless, they are heart
ened by indications from U.S.
officials that negotiations on
agriculture could resume
soon.
“American farmers were
among those who had the
most to gain going into these
talks, and we have a great
deal to lose if the WTO fails
to make progress towards
further liberalization of glob
al trade in food and agricul
tural products,” said National
Corn Growers Association
(NCGA) President Lynn Jen
sen, a South Dakota farmer
who headed a delegation of
NCGA leaders to Seattle.
“Significant progress was
made in Seattle in terms of
developing a substantive
agenda for future agriculture
talks,” Jensen noted. “In fact,
from what we understand,
agriculture was as close to
being done as any of the
working groups.”
Jensen expressed hope
•tune the planting rate with his computerized com planter.
and my son finished up.”
With the help of others,
Webster has learned more and
more about the com planter
every year.
“I might have to do it
myself,” said Webster. “My
son generally takes a week of
his vacation to help me plant,
but he has to ask for a week so
far in advance. We don’t know
what the weather will be. It
might rain all week.”
Webster’s other son lives in
California. He and his wife also
had three daughters, one of
whom is deceased.
With land close to the river.
mli mm
that WTO members will capi
talize on this progress and
move quickly to jump-start
the stalled agriculture nego
tiations.
“We export approximately
20 percent of the U.S. corn
crop, and additional corn as
value-added products,” Jen
sen said. “We have the capac
ity to export much more, but
trade barriers and competi
tors’ export subsidies prevent
the U.S. corn industry from
realizing the full potential of
our comparative advantage
in corn production.
“Thus, NCGA will continue
to press for a trade agenda
that includes elimination of
PENNSYLVANIA MASTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC., INC.
Planting Refuges, Preserving Technology
one might expect to have water
in their fields from flooding,
but the location of Webster’s
farm couldn’t be better.
“They built some dams after
1975. And the difference farm
ing here is like daylight and
daik. Before they put the dams
in, we spent almost as much
time cleaning off flood trash as
we did working the ground.
Now we don’t have any of that.
They let the water out bank full
—only what the river will take.
It might take a week or two to
get the dam back down to the
right level, but we don’t have
the flooding. We feel real fortu
nate!’’ said Webster.
export subsidies, tariff reduc
tions, and further reductions
in trade-distorting domestic
support programs,” he said.
“This week’s setback makes
the choice very clear. If the
WTO can make significant
progress on these objectives,
it will enhance global food
security and create real
opportunities for U.S. farm
exports.
“But, if the wave of protec
tionism sweeping the globe is
allowed to proceed unchecked,
not only will farmers lose, but
so will the world’s consumers
who depend on abundant,
safe, and affordable food.”