A24-Uncasttf Fuming, Saturday, November 11, 2000 Survey Reveals Swine Industry Trends By Robert Meinen grew from 22.2 percent to 71.4 Penn State A 10-year study conducted by the National Pork Producers Council, lowa State University, and The University of Minnesota has shown an increase in swine industry wages of over 50 per cent from 1990 through 1999. The average industry wage for swine production workers at the end of the decade was $29,726 and only three percent below the average U.S. civilian worker. In comparison, the average wage in 1990 was $19,192 and 20 percent below the national average. According to the study, the in crease in farm size played a key role in driving these changes. The percentage of farms with fewer than 3,000 animals dropped from 47.4 percent in 1990 to 11.2 percent in 1999, while the percentage of farms with greater than 10,000 pigs Coming November 18, new category in Section B! All about antique auctions, shops, collectibles, antique tips and so much more! USD A Releases Report On Farm-To-School Alliances WASHINGTON, D.C. The USDA recently announced the release of an on-line publication summarizing the highlights of the USDA Small Farm/School Meals Initiative Southeast Re gional Workshop May 1 in Georgetown, Ky. PFB Discusses Concerns Regarding Importation CAMP HILL (Cumberland Co.) The Penn sylvania Farm Bureau, the state’s largest general farming organization, expressed concern recent ly about safeguards to prevent the importation of large lots of diseased livestock into Pennsylva nia. At this meeting of the Pennsylvania Animal Health and Diagnostic Commission, Dr. John Enck, executive director of the commission, briefed members and other attendees on a na tionwide effort to develop an emergency man agement system to respond to an outbreak of a foreign animal disease in the U.S. “Farm Bureau applauds the Pennsylvania De partment of Agriculture and others who are working to develop this important system,” said Marel Raub, Farm Bureau’s director of regula tory affairs. “Howeverk, in addition to proce dures for responding to a disease crisis, we must not forget to do all we can to prevent a foreign animal disease from entering the country in the first place.” This discussion arose in response to requests made to the USDA about importing three lots of heifers, totaling 10,000 head, into the state from Uruguay. These applications have been sus pended indefinitely, due to the detection of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Uruguay. The applications had been pending for several months, but were delayed because of investiga tions by USDA of Uruguay’s disease status and control system and a lack of guidelines for im portation of large numbers of animals. Such guidelines would have to be put in place before similar importations could occur from Uruguay or any other country in the future. USDA has assured the agricultural commu nity that no guidelines will be developed without input from the states and other interested par ties. Farm Bureau requested that commission members begin to consider the special character istics of the state and its animal agriculture in dustry so that when the opportunity arises to submit comments, Pennsylvania trill have a strong voice. percent over the same period. Employee Base As producers take advantage of unit cost reduction by increas ing herd size, it is necessary to maintain a more advanced em ployee base. Multiple-site production units, designed for each phase of pro duction, are taking the place of older, single-site, farrow-to-linish operations. These new systems call for more employees and ef fective personnel management. In addition, employees must be come specialized in a single phase of production, which re quires a higher level of educa tion. The study showed that pro ducers and employees with a four-year college degree rose from 24.1 percent to 35.7 percent in 1990 to 23.3 percent in 1999. Owners are finding that produc The report, “How Local Farm ers and School food Service Buyers Are Building Alliances,” can be viewed on USDA’s Agri cultural Marketing Service (AMS) Website at http:// www.ams.usda.gov/tmd/mta/ publications.htm. Now is the time to test your soil and apply Martin’s Limestone to maintain proper soil pH for maximum nutrient availability Call your local Martin Limestone dealer or call Blue Ball, PA (800) 233-0205 (717) 354-1370 Martin LIMESTONE tivity increases when workers are offered a production bonus plan. These incentive plans vary from producer to producer, but the percentage of employees eli gible for these performance based payment programs has in creased by 9.5 percent over the 10-year period. Over 58 percent of employees currently receive incentive payments. The study also documented a continuing challenge for the swine industry to attract and re tain young employees. Workers below the age of 30 decreased from 45.2 percent to 34.8 percent over the time of the study, and the number of people entering the industry between the ages of 25 and 35 decreased by 10 per cent. Employee turnover is also on the decline the average years spent in the industry decrease from 8.0 years to 6.4 years; how ever, the average longevity for all U.S. employees is only five years. Employee Health Wages Researchers also asked a series of health-related questions dur ing the 10-year period, particu larly in 1999. The current data show a heightened awareness of potential health risks and an in crease in the quality of the work environment. The risks include respiratory problems, skeletal muscular health, fatigue, and stress. The study revealed that both dust and gas levels are lower than ever. Employees who rated dust and gas levels as high dropped from 15.3 percent to 9.8 percent in 1990 to 6.3 percent to 3.9 per cent in 1999. “ Ninety-four percent of all farms in the United States are small or limited-resource farms, grossing less than $250,000 in an nual receipts,” said AMS Admin istrator Kathleen A. Merrigan. “To enhance the earning poten FALL AGLIME APPLICATION Don’t put it off. M M. Ultlp.ft M. M Hi KK* J.i. ,<.t. *.*.< iJJ t.t.i J.i. JJ. l.t< ~ti* Put it on. Simmental Sire Summary Released BOZEMAN, Mont. The American Simmental Associa tion (ASA) has released its Fall 2000 Sire Summary. “This summary is based upon millions of performance records accumulated over more than 30 years,” said ASA Executive Vice President Jerry Lipsey. “It is an up-to-date, highly accurate mea surement of Simmental and Sim brah cattle.” In all, 102,535 bulls were eval uated by the ASA, working with the Animal Breeding Group at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. The summary contains data and the corresponding Ex pected Progeny Differences (EPDs) published on 973 Sim mental bulls and 40 Simbrah sires. The Fall 2000 Sire Summary represents the seventh officii run of the innovative Multiple- Breed International Cattle Eval uation (MB-ICE) system, which provides comparisons among all animals in the database, regard less of their fraction of Simmen tal breeding. Under this system, This progress is complemented Employees are more specialized by the fact that 90 percent of and are more likely to have col producers now offer dust masks , . to their employees. However, only 25 percent of the industry Today’s employees have a employees say that they wear a heightened awareness of health mask on a consistent basis. related issues, and the impor- Salaries for swine production tance of having a clean working workers have increased in the . past decade and are now only environment. Fortunately, steady three percent below those of the improvements in air quality have average U.S. civilian worker, also been noted. tial of these farm operations, AMS has assumed a prominent roje in facilitating direct market ing initiatives between small and limited-resource agricultural pro ducers and local school dis tricts.” The workshop, aimed at boost the American and Canadian Simmental Associations are com bined to produce a single inter national cattle evaluation, allow ing animals in both herdbooks to be directly compared. Traits evaluated include: calv ing ease, birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight, mater nal calving ease, maternal milk, maternal weaning weight, plus the carcass traits of: carcass weight, percent retail cuts and marbling. The Fall 2000 Sire Summary is available on-line at http:// wwwjsimmental.org. To reserve a hard copy, please contact ASA at 1 Simmental Way, Bozeman, MT 59715, by telephone at (406) 587-4531, by fax at (406) 587-9301, or by e-mail at sim- mental@simmgene.com. The ASA Sire Summary is published twice annually and is distributed as part of the spring and fall issues of either Sim Talk or The Register, two of ASA’s of ficial publications. ASA, in 1971, was the first beef breed associa tion to publish a sire summary. ing the use of locally produced fresh food in school feeding pro grams, attracted pjore than 180 school food service" directors, state and federal officials, exten sion agents, members of farm co operatives, and agricultural mar keting specialists. ,fi ‘
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers