Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders Aim To
One-Source Risk Management Information
(ContlniMd from Pag* A 1)
sinner confidence in pioduct
quality, and food safety in sup
port of the dairy management
team. Pasteurization has al
lowed the dairy industry to be
sloppy. But this advantage over
the poultry and meat industries
is coming to an end.
Louis Moore told of the help
given to bankers and accoun
tants to become knowledgeable
in farming enterprises. The
Pennsylvania Bankers Confer
ence at Penn State on April 18 &
19, will be the 34th such event.
Greg Hanson reported on
FINPACK, a financial planning
and analysis system that helps
farmers move from their present
operation to a future enterprise
that will fit their interest and
farm situation. Long range plan
ning, cash flow planning and
year-end analysis are major fea
tures of the FINPACK system.
Mike Evanish reported on the
Farm Bureau arm Credit farm
management program. They
have a large number of farmers
using the program to obtain tax
records, but unfortunatly many
do not seriously use the records
in management decisions.
Chuck Cruickshank reported
on the Land ’O Lakes dairy ac
counting, financial monitoring,
and development program. The
goal of their program is to pro
vide clients with professional
business support services to im
prove their profitability and na
tional competitiveness.
PARK Ridge, 111. - Increases in
gasoline prices as well as concerns
about the fuel additive Methyl
Tertiary-Butyl Ether (MTBE) conta
minating soil and water are two rea
sons the United States should expand
use of ethanol and a fuel source,
according to the Kansas Farm
Bureau.
“If we continue on our present
path, the U.S. Energy Department
expects U.S. dependence on foreign
oil to jump from 50 percent last year
to about 63 percent by 2015,” Stan
David Blandford chaired the
meeting and reported on the
effort to benchmark various
norms for different size dairy
farm operations. Penn State has
access to information to produce
production and economic ranges
of performance. This informa
tion is being made available on
the Internet, but more can be
done.
Could Help Ease
Gasoline Price Crunch
Ethanol
Ahlerich, KFB president, said.
“We’ve seen firsthand what that
reliance can do. Ethanol is a proven
commodity, and if we don’t reduce
our need for foreign oil, the U.S.
economy, including the agriculture
economy, is a the mercy of foreign
suppliers.”
Using more ethanol as a fuel and
fuel additive would reduce depen
dence on foreign oil and would boost
net farm income, Ahlerich noted.
The Midwestern Governor’s
Conference in a recent report con
Ken Bailey reported on milk
marketing strategies and the
need for education and experi
ence in forward contracting to
reduce risk in selling milk,
buying feed, and crop insurance.
The combination of these man
agement tools can help farmers
to make a profit.
Lisa Holden and Tammy Per
kins reported on the new Dairy
eluded the current ethanol industry
increases net farm income more than
$4.5 billion. That figure could mush
room if ethanol was used on a nation
wide scale.
Ahlench pledged continued work
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 8, 2000-A4l
Alliance, a program by Penn
State to bring together all the in
formation available to dairy
farmers from public and private
sources. An extensive effort to
build such a resource on the In
ternet is underway. The future
direction of the Stakeholders
centered on the aspects of bring
ing together all the available in
formation into one source and
providing educational opportu
nities especially in the areas of
risk management.
in Congress to achieve increased use
of ethanol. He stated the concerns o(
farmers and ranchers who, at a turn
of low commodity prices, will now
have to deal with massive increases in
fuel costs as spring fieldwork begins