A26-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 6, 2002 New Bolton Center Dedicates Aquaculture Lab (Continued from Page A 1) “Aquavet” program 25 years ago. Sam Hayes, agriculture secre tary, offered words of apprecia tion for “the men and women who professionally dedicate themselves every day to provid ing, propagating, and protecting animal resources,” he said. Hayes noted that the theme for agriculture week, observed a little while ago, was “harmony in the world.” “We cannot have harmony in the world if we do not have good agriculture,” he said. “As we look around the world today, many times the discord, the foment, has been generated by a people unable to clothe and feed themselves ... we must find new ways to generate new food and one of those ways is to look to the water and the organisms in that water.” Manuel Stematakis, Delaware River Port Authority (DRPA), spoke of the partnership of the organization with the school. In 1997 the DRPA awarded a grant to study the feasibility of cutting-edge, closed-system fish farming. Over the past five years, he said, the DRPA has in vested about $1 million to pro mote aquaculturre. The research is important, ac cording to Stematakis, to de velop technology to make the industry economically feasible. He sees aquaculture “as an op portunity for the region.” Re search could help this area, the country, and the world provide a stable source of food. The center has also formed a partnership with Cheyney Uni versity to advance urban aqua culture by developing a “world- Call or email us today for a FREE CATALOG. TOLL FREE -1-800-845-3374 • 717-866-7565 • www.farmerboyag.com Thanks to Jim & Shirley Hershey, Elizabethtown, pa for choosing Farmer Boy Ag Systems to construct their 2 - 44’x500’ Tunnel Ventilated Broiler Houses with Recirculating Cool Cell System This unit features... r til a Lion sys/ems Mtf w A Division of (jSI) Feed Bins & Augers Poultry contract provided by Farmers Pride Fredericksburg, Pi class aquaculture curriculum,” according to Alfonso Jackson, minority business development agency. Students who want to start their own business of raising fish or plants will be able to develop marketing studies and business plans or be involved in field ser vice programs. According to Robert Fair child, board of overseers, the project is “the beginning of re search and discovery... our work here will someday benefit the people of Africa, teaching them to grow food in areas that would otherwise be inhospitable. “1 hope that this building en riches our lives and brings us to new vistas,” he said. His daughter, Suzanne Fair child, gave a color commentary about her father, who often took his four daughters fishing. Building construction began Emergency Loan Program MISSOULA, Mont. Agri culture Secretary Ann M. Vene man recently announced new rules that will make it easier and faster for farmers who have suf fered losses because of natural disasters to get federal loans. Local Farm Service Agency of fices will process all new Emer gency Loan Program appli cations from farmers under these rules, which are effective immediately. “FSA farm loan employees initiated these changes to make the program more responsive to all farmers, from those who raise livestock to those who grow tra ditional crops like corn, wheat, and soybeans,” said Veneman. A Division of (§9?) Ventilation S Shenandoah Brooders in May 2001. Each of the 16 tanks hold 200 fish. The facility will house mainly hybrid striped bass, a popular farm species which grows well and is well known in the area, according to Chris Weaver, systems manager and research associate. Nutrition will be the focus of the research. Researchers will, for example, test the feasibility of different protein sources to substitute for fish meal, which comes from “trash fish.” Fish meal may be in short supply in the future, said Weaver. Future studies include meth ods of preventing and control ling infectious diseases in the fish. The aquaculture program, part of the University of Penn sylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, will be housed in a 2,500 square-foot building, ine facilities contain four groups of “Farmers can now borrow 100 percent of production losses rather than the previous 80 per cent, and they will have to go through fewer steps to apply for a loan. These are the most sig nificant changes to the program in more than 15 years.” Veneman made the an nouncement during a trip to Montana where she met with farmers and ranchers in Mis soula with Congressman Denny Rehberg. The Secretary also at tended a rural development con ference in Bozeman with Senator Conrad Burns and Gov ernor Judy Martz. Farmers now can borrow the full amount of their losses, up to Please Contact Shane Weller For New Poultry Contracts and Existing Building Renovations FARMER BOY AG Systems TURN-KEY ANIMAL PRODUCTIO Standing at one of the tanks is, from left, Alfonso Jack son, minority business development agency, Leon Weiss, New Bolton Center; Robert Fairchild, board of overseers; and Manuel Stematakis, Delaware River Port Authority. four 330-gallon tanks, each five feet in diameter and 2Vi feet deep. Each group of tanks has its own filtration and water system. Additionally the build More Accessible To Farmers the maximum $500,000 out standing balance. This reduces the need for farmers to apply for additional assistance through other USD A loan programs. The change will benefit borrowers by decreasing the number of loan applications they must com plete. In addition, USDA will use established production informa tion when available, rather than requiring borrowers to submit additional records to calculate qualifying production losses. USDA also has simplified steps local FSA staff must follow to determine applicant eligibility and loan amounts. These changes will reduce paperwork Cumberland Hi-Lo 8 & 13 Spoke Pan Feeders ‘The preferred feeders tor easier starting of chicks" ing has a laboratory for re searchers to test water samples on site. The New Bolton Center also has a pond fish farming project. for borrowers and shorten loan processing time. The program also will be more accessible to livestock pro ducers. In the past, these pro ducers, unlike farmers who grow crops like corn, soybeans and wheat, had a difficult time quali fying for emergency loans. USD A has updated loss deter mination methods, originally developed with crop production in mind, to accommodate the different production levels and margins of livestock production. The Emergency Loan Pro gram provides about $l5O mil lion annually to more than 2,500 farmers who cannot obtain com mercial credit. A A SYSTEMS
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