E2-Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 1,2003
Beverages, Brazil, And Farm Bill Featured At Grain Conference
(Continued from Page El)
Players gave positive feed
back on the drink and report
ed lowered soreness and in
creased energy. They also did
not experience the drastic
weight drops that may charac
terize preseason workouts, re
ported Bordi.
Health benefits, said Bordi,
go beyond soreness and body
recovery. Oxidant stress dur
ing exercise may contribute to
fatigue and muscle injury, and
“we strongly believe soy really
reduces this,” he said.
As for the future of the
drink, “we’re looking to have
it bottled and hope that next
year we can make it available
to all the sports teams at Penn
State,” he said.
Ray Leiby, quality assur
ance, Wenger Feed Mill, Inc.,
discussed grain quality during
his presentation.
Quality grains will not have
a musty, sour, foreign odor,
damaged kernels, or have for
eign materials, said Leiby.
This ensures the proper for
mulation of diets.
Grain accounts for 60 per
cent of the formulation, “so it
can have a significant impact
on the final ration,” he said.
The business accepts 15.5
percent maximum moisture
for com and 14 percent for
soybeans. A sieve is used to
test for foreign material.
Random samples are taken
to the laboratory for nutrition
al analysis. “We also test for
molds and mycotoxins, and
forward to another lab for
amino acid profiles,” said
Leiby.
Grain spoilage is the result
of microorganisms using a
grains nutrients for grown and
the reproductive
process. However
“molds don’t tend to
attack good, sound
grain,” he said.
According to
Leiby, if sound
grains are harvested
and kept a low mois
ture and low tem
perature, they may
retain their original
processing quality
and even original vi
ability for many
years
Leiby also spoke
about the advantage
of genetically modi
fied organisms
(GMOs). He expects
to see an increase in
consumer confi
dence in GMOs.
Larry Hepner, de
partment chair, de
velopment of agron
o m y and
environmental sci
ence, Delaware Val
ley College, told the
college’s experience
of growing corn for
an unusual market:
Hollywood.
The college rented
ground to Disney for
the movie “Signs,” a
movie about visitors
from outer space
that left crop circles
in a cornfield.
Since the corn
was valued for its
aesthetic, rather
Speakers during the conference included, from
left, Larry Hepner, Delaware Valley College; Dr.
Peter Bordi, Penn State, Ray Leiby, quality assur
ance, Wenger Feed Mill, Inc.
value, this year’s crop posed
unusual challenges, according
to Hepner.
The first challenge was that
the film crew wanted to shoot
the move from September 15
to October 15 a time when
Pennsylvania’s com is tradi
tionally already harvested.
Consequently, Del Val
pulled up the young, already
growing com and replanted in
the first week of June so that
it would be maturing and
green for the movie.
“We were also trying to
grow com through the driest
part of the summer,” he said.
Consequently, the Del Val
team designed an irrigation
system for the 80-acre farm.
“We worked for a month to
get everything set up,” said
Hepner.
The system included a cen
ter pivot and drip tape. Ef
fluent was taken from a
' / to mMm MM m mm, mamma*.
' / WKKttm Uf Iffy lom HR
HFC Field Commander
point pressure *
■ 26” of underframe clearance to handle heavy residue conditions
■ 130 front to rear depth in 5-bar frame to let trash flow freely thru the cultivator
■ Replaceable bushings and grease zerks on every shank reduce maintenance
costs
wastewater treatment plant.
Newly-installed pipe mains
fed the 100 miles of drip tape
that traveled down every
other row of com.
“The wastewater did a very
efficient job for us in growing
out the com,” said Hepner.
Employees from a firm in
California took two-by-four
boards to create the crop circle
pattern in the field.
“Our other fear was killing
frost,” said Hepner.
In fact, in the final week or
shooting the area had three
days of frost. However with
the addition of green paint for
the first three rows of com,
the last scenes were com
pleted.
“It was a fun summer,” said
Hepner, “but there are practi
cal applications we hope we
can take from it.” Del Val pur
chased the irrigation system
from Disney to look at waste
water use for irrigation.
Marcia Zarley-Taylor, edit
or, “Top Producer,” presented
“Brazil: The Competitor You
Can’t Ignore.”
From her first trip to Brazil
in 1998, Zarley-Taylor was
impressed with the rapidly
changing country.
She has since spent several
years researching “how Bra
zil’s production affects our
competitiveness on the world
market. Their production ca
pacity will change the way we
look at the world.
“It’s not soil, it’s water that
is making crops,” said Zaley-
Tayor.
In addition, “over the last
25-30 years, their scientists
have definitely proven that it’s
not soil quality that counts.
They’re making soil in South
America.”
In the 1970 s producers and
scientists discovered that
using phosphoms and other
elements could correct the soil
that has an organic content of
one percent.
The southern part of the
country, long considered the
agrarian area, is now joined
by the “Cerrado” savannah
area in the middle an area
that was previously consid
ered wasteland.
Recently the USDA re
leased a scientific study that
revealed that with improved
transport, capital investment,
and technology, Brazil could
bring 420 million acres into
production.
“What this means is that
we have overlooked a conti
nent and this isn’t margin
ally productive land,” she
said.
“The U.S. has been asleep
at the switch, really not ex
pecting that wed have to com
pete in the world market.”
Because grain prices are so
low, Brazil is also looking into
poultry and swine production,
she said.
U.S. producers need to
“keep costs low beyond the
farm gate all the way through
everything possible to help
agriculture stay competitive.”
First-class transport sys
tems are also important,
according to Zarley-Taylor.
“I can’t believe that we’ve
spent ten years debating about
the locks and dams on the
Mississippi River. If we want
to stay competitive, it’s an au
tomatic.”
She also urged American
producers to capitalize on
value-added options, since
Brazil is dealing mostly in
bulk.
“The challenge for us to re
alize is that the world has
changed drastically. As we
look into the future, we really
need to develop strategies on
how to cope with this,” she
said.
The afternoon program in
cluded speakers Sam Willet,
director, public policy, Na
tional Grown Growers Associ
ation, and John Berry, ag
marketing educator, Penn
State Cooperative Extension,
Lehigh County. The men dis
cussed how to make the most
of the Farm Bill.
A panel including Cliff Par
ker, RMA, director, Raleigh
regional office; Gene Gantz,
Ag Risk Strategies, Inc.; Rita
McMullen, Stine, Davis, and
Peck Insurance; and Kris
Weaver, Morrissey Insurance
Inc., discussed crop insurance.
Contact your local
dealer for details.
Pennsylvania
ADAMSTOWN
Adamstown Equip Inc
717 184 4391
ALLENTOWN
Lehigh Ag Equip
610-398-2553
BECHTELSVILLE
Miller Equip. Co
610-845-2911
CRESSON & BELLWOOD
Hines Equip Co
814- 886-4183
814-742-8171
LEBANON
Umberger s of Fontana
717-867-5161
OAKLAND MILLS
Peoples Sales & Ser
717-436-2735
OLEY
Pikeville Equip Inc
610-987 6277
QUARRYVILLE
Grumelli Farm Service
717-786-7318
TAMAQUA
Charles Snyder Inc
570-386 5945
| Maryland
RISING SUN
Ag Industrial Equip
410-658-5568
New Jersey
ELMER
Pole Tavern Equip
Sales Coip
856 359-2880