f
Revolutionary Crop Yields
(Continued from Page A 1)
high yielding dwarf wheat variet
ies that helped turn Third World
countries such as India into food
exporters. The wheat varieties
were introduced into India and
Pakistan in 1965. Borlaug’s work
helped prevent starvation and
malnutrition across the globe.
5. The agricultural debt crisis
of the 1980 s, which started when
the Federal Reserve Bank en
couraged higher interest rates to
slow inflation. This forced many
full-time family farms out of
business, created rural bank fail
ures and crippled small towns.
6. The 1962 publication of Ra
chel Carson’s book, “Silent
Spring.” Carson, a nature writer
and former marine biologist, doc
umented how the insecticide
DDT accumulates in the environ
ment and harms mammals and
birds. Her book helped start the
environmental movement.
7. The use of antibiotics for
livestock and poultry, approved
by the Food and Drug Adminis
tration about 50 years ago. Add
ing antibiotics to the feed of hogs
and chickens not only prevents
disease, it makes the animals
grow faster. And it makes it easi
er to confine them in large build
ings with fewer disease out
breaks. Medical research has also
identified overuse of antibiotics
in livestock production as one
reason antibiotics are becoming
less effective medicines ■ for hu
mans.
8. Tie. NAAJ members gave
equal votes to two developments;
the adoption of no-till farming,
which avoids plowing and slows
soil erosion, and the fact that the
farm population dropped below 2
percent of U.S. population for the
first time during the 19905.
9. The adoption of anhydrous
ammonia fertilizer, a cheap
source of nitrogen fertilizer made
by using natural gas. Until anhy
drous ammonia was adopted in
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the 19505, farmers relied on ani
mal manure and leguminous
plants such as clover to provide
this key plant food. Without
cheap nitrogen, the high yields of
hybrid com and dwarf wheat
would not have been possible.
10. Integration of the poultry
industry. Most farmers once
owned a few chickens to raise for
meat and eggs. In the 19605, once
chickens could be confined in
large buildings thanks to antibi
otics and abundant cheap com,
the ownership of chickens gradu
ally concentrated with a few
companies. Those companies pay
farmers a fee for each bird they
raise for the company. A similar
process of vertical integration is
taking place today in the hog in
dustry.
NAAJ members identified sev
eral other key trends that weren’t
on the historians’ lists. They in
clude the increasing mechaniza
tion of agriculture in general. For
example, mechanical tomato
pickers (which were on the list
but didn’t make the top 10) be
came popular in the 19605. The
U.S. grain export boom of the
1970 s that followed sales to the
former Soviet Union in 1972 was
another key event. So was elimi
nation of rail freight subsidies for
grain in Canada, which led to
more exports of Canadian crops
and livestock into the U.S.
A list of 40 important events
and changes in agriculture was
prepared for the NAAJ members
by three leading agricultural his
torians, R. Douglas Hurt of lowa
State University, C. Fred Wil
liams of the University of Arkan*
sas at Little Rock, and David
Vaught of Texas A&M Universi
ty-
NAAJ was formed as Newspa
per Farm Editors of AmeHca.
Today the group represents about
100 newspaper, magazine, and
news service writers who cover
agriculture in the U.S. and Cana
da.
Trailer or 3 Pt. Hitch Models
Drought’s End Should Lower Corn Prices
For Pennsylvania Livestock Producers
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) Pennsylvania livestock
producers forced to buy more
com than usual to feed their ani
mals after last summer’s drought
nearly wiped out their com crops
across the state can take solace
in predictions that com prices are
likely to drop later this year,
according to an expert in Penn
State’s College of Agricultural
Sciences.
“With good weather, we’ll
have a good crop and steady to
slightly lower com prices for feed
by fall,” says Lou Moore, profes
sor of agricultural economics.
“Pennsylvania was hit particular
ly hard by the drought, harvest
ing just 64.6 million bushels last
year. The crop was just slightly
higher than the one harvested in
the severe drought of 1988.”
Persistent drought in the Mid
west and high transportation
costs resulting from soaring gaso
line prices have combined to
boost the price of com to more
than $3 a bushel. Although the
drought seems to be over in
Pennsylvania, continued dry con
ditions are forecast for the Mid
NFU Lauds Signing Of Supplemental Aid Bill
WASHINGTON, D.C. Na
tional Fanners Union claimed
two victories for America’s farm
ers and ranchers as President
Bush signed the supplemental
appropriations bill last week.
The bill, which provides sup
plemental defense funding for the
war, also addresses various other
issues, including language to
close an organic labeling loophole
and to meet humanitarian food
needs without harming domestic
markets.
The legislation repeals a provi
sion passed earlier this year that
west. And oil prices remain ex
tremely volatile due to war and
political unrest in the Middle
East and South America.
Com is most important as feed
for dairy cows in the state. Penn
sylvania remains the nation’s
fourth largest milk-producing
state, and hilly 40 percent of
Pennsylvania’s agricultural re
ceipts are generated by the dairy
industry. Com also is used as
feed for beef cattle, swine, and
poultry. Virtually all field com
grown in the state is fed to live
stock.
“So when we have a severe
drought like last year, it hurts
livestock producers most because
they have to buy more feed,”
Moore explains. “Even though
there is a lot of com grown in the
state, Pennsylvania’s com pro
duction represents just 2 percent
of the national com crop.
“Pennsylvania is the 18th most
important agricultural state in
the country,” Moore adds.
“According to a report released
in late March by the Pennsylva
nia Department of Agriculture,
1.45 million acres of com are ex
would have weakened the organ
ic standards by loosening the re
quirement that livestock be fed
organic feed in order to be la
beled “organic.” NFU had urged
Congress to close the loophole
and stay true to the organic stan
dards that were issued in October
2002.
Additionally, the supplemental
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pected to be planted in the state
in 2003. More than 79 million
acres of com will be planted
across the country. So even
though we are the most impor
tant com state in the Northeast,
we do not produce enough to
have any influence on com
prices.”
Nationally, Moore points out,
about the same amount of com
will be planted this year as last,
ending a trend toward farmers
planting less com and more soy
beans. He attributes that change
to lower government subsidies for
soybean production.
Less com is expected to be
grown this year in Plains states
such as Nebraska because of con
tinuing drought, but prospects
appear good for com production
in what Moore called the “east
ern com belt,” states such as
Ohio, Illinois and Indiana.
“This should be the eighth
consecutive year in which the
com harvest will be over 9 billion
bushels, making it feasible to feed
livestock,” Moore says. “If the
weather is favorable, this year
could produce a near-record
crop.”
bill ensured that the Bill Emerson
Humanitarian Trust(BEHT)
would fulfill food aid commit
ments while minimizing negative
impact on domestic markets. Ini
tially, the administration planned
to sell wheat from the BEHT to
purchase rice for use as humani
tarian aid to suffering Middle
East countries.
Dennis Keefer
Sr. Agricultural Lender
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