A3O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 18, 2000 Foods Debate (Continued from Page A 29) The knowledge of how to con trol genetic expression would have inestimable use in the health care field, in having the ability to turn off and on the ex pression of, for example, cancer cells. Backman said that bioen gineering is a matter of “using technology right, for the right purposes.” Everything out there has a risk,” said Backman. “We’re trying to lower the risks and in crease the benefits, to keep pro fitability and maintain the rural community.” Organic farming proved to be a hot button for the audience in attendance. Freese noted that organic farming is more labor intensive, which would mean the addition of people “back on the land,” a boon for sustainable ag riculture. “It’s a mistake to impose any one solution on anyone,” said Medley. “There is a place for or ganic agriculture but also cur rent production agriculture meets a lot of needs.” The United States produces the safest, most abundant food at a reasonable cost. We must allow for diversity in production practices.” Backman noted that corn with a Bt gene helps to lower the amount of sprays needed. Freese wondered whether the pubic could trust the companies that said the sprays were safe } Randall G. Renninger j Certified Public Accountant | Specializing in agriculture and construction industries s “We help business people discover ways to cut costs, 1 save taxes, and be more profitable” f Call about our FREE seminars 535 W. Orange Street, Lancaster, PA 17603 (717)299-6480 ♦ Fax (717)299-6390 before are now touting geneti cally-engineered crops to reduce spraying, as he noted that chem ical and seed companies were one and the same. “Why is biotechnology devel oping?” asked Freese. “Is it be cause of pressure from corporations for profit for stock holders, or seeking what is good?” “If you want to talk about sustainability, biology must be part of the platform,” said Medley. Clair King, Cochranville pro ducer, attended the meeting and shared his thoughts at the end of the public discussion. To answer Freese, King reported that he no longer has a yield drag in soy beans, which Freese had sug gested was characteristic of genetically-altered crops. “I really appreciate the tech nology that has kept our farm in farming for three generations,” said King, who farms along with his father, son, and two brothers. The Kings farm 800 acres of potatoes, corn, soybeans, wheat, and barley. King’s brothers also run a 60-cow dairy. “There were years that I sprayed three times on a lot of acreage. Now I spray the entire corn acreage once and spot spray the second time. We basi cally wait until the weeds are there and spray when we have to. That really has helped us, saving $2O-25 compared to what we once used,” he said. He encouraged organic farm ers to “go for it,” but added that w» •»***««»*»*•*• Average Farm Feed Costs for Handy Reference To help farmers across the state to have handy reference of commodity input costs in their feeding operations for DHIA record sheets or to develop livestock feed cost data, here’s last week’s average costs of various ingred ients as compiled from regional reports across the state of Pennsylvania. Remember, these are averages, so you will need to adjust your figures up or down according to your location and the quality of your crop. Corn, No.2y 1.97 bu., 3.52 cwt. Wheat, N 0.2 2.17 bu., 3.62 cwt. Barley, N 0.3 —1.36 bu., 2.92 cwt. Oats, N 0.2 —1.31 bu., 4.10 cwt. Soybeans, No.l —4.24 bu., 7.09 cwt. Ear Corn 58.95 ton, 2.95 cwt. Alfalfa Hay —130.00 ton, 6.5 cwt. Mixed Hay 119.00 ton, 5.95 cwt. Timothy Hay—l2o.so ton, 6.03 cwt. organic producers should not be negative about other ways of production when those methods are tested and safe. i“We eat our own food,” said King. See Lancaster Farming Cow Cam Visit our Website at www. lancasterfarming.com Lancaster Farming Classified Ads Now searchable on the Internet, ✓ Check Out Our Web Site rjstcrliuining com www lam NEW SORT ALL BUILDING Tintrs • Two New 2200 Hd Sort All Finishers, Now Under Construction WE CAN HELP WITH ALL YOUR BUILDING AND FUTURES MARKETS What is really needed to shore up cheese prices is for “natural cheese” to enter the CCC. That is what represents “block cheese.” Perhaps the most interesting part of USDA’s weekly Dairy Market News report was the following quote; “A few processors were filling in extra line time with process production for offering to CCC. Natural and process continues to be packaged and graded for sale to the CCC.” It is possible that cheese prices strengthened this week as a result of strong fresh cheese movement and imminent sale of natural cheese to the CCC. In other dairy market news, if you thought the presidential elections were weird, try to figure out what happened in the butter market this week. Grade AA butter prices in Chicago rose $03125 per pound on November 8, 2000 This can be explained by Designed by Schick Enterprises SUPER SORTER THE PERFECT PIG PICKER • Automatically Sorts Pigs By Weight • Make Money On Sort Bonus • No More Battles On Market Day • Pigs Will Be Sorted, Ready For Loading • You Can’t Afford To Build Without It EQUIPMENT NEEDS (Continued from page Al 6) the laws of supply and demand milk production is up over 3 percent so far this year, cumulative butter production through September is up 4 5 percent, butter consumption through August is up just 0.4 percent, and butter stocks by the end of September are up 18.7 percent relative to a year ago. More butter, less consumption, higher stocks— okay, maybe the rise in butter prices had nothing to do with supply and demand! USDA reported that cream supplies are very tight right now and may have contributed to the price rise. But, what is clear is that higher butter prices this time of the month will contribute to a higher Class I mover in December. It will also raise cream prices to processors. Look for butter inventory to move out of the freezer and into the marketplace. id. Pa Call 800-448-4622 an agent near you feed
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