A2B-Lancaster Farrping, Saturday, November 8, 2003
New Bolton Center Switches To Digital Radiography
KENNETT SQUARE (Chest
er Co.) Penn’s George D. Wid
ener Hospital for Large Animals
at New Bolton Center became the
first hospital (human or animal)
in the U.S. to use a portable digi
tal radiography system with a
14x17 digital sensor panel.
The new equipment, installed
in September, enables radiolo
gists to radiograph skulls, necks,
thoracic, and abdominal areas of
horses and other large animals.
The previously installed 9xll
inch sensor panel permits digital
radiographs of limbs or other
small areas.
USDA Launches Beginning Farmer, Rancher Pilot Loan Program In Pa.
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Richard Pailman, state
executive director for USDA’s
Farm Service Agency (FSA) in
Pennsylvania, unveiled the Be
ginning Farmer and Rancher
Land Contract Guarantee Pilot
Program.
The program will help de
termine whether guarantees on
land contracts facilitate the
transfer of agricultural property
Ohio State Ag Program One Of
Country’s Best, SaysU.S. News
COLUMBUS, Ohio One of
Ohio State University’s depart
ments has been recognized as one
of the natron’s top undergraduate
agricultural engineering pro
grams.
The Department of Food, Ag
ricultural, and Biological Engi
neering within the College of
Food, Agricultural, and Environ
mental Sciences made the top
10 of colleges surveyed for top
undergraduate engineering pro
grams that specialize in agricul
ture. The results were among the
college rankings highlighted in
the 2004 U.S. News and World
Report “America’s Best Col
leges.”
“I congratulate the Depart
ment of Food, Agricultural, and
Biological Engineering in its
ranking as one of the best pro
grams in the country,” said
Bobby Moser, dean of the College
of Food, Agricultural, and Envi
ronmental Sciences. “Our college
has set a goal of being among the
best in the nation. This accom
plishment shows significant
movement toward that goal.”
It is the first time that a de
partment from the college has
been among U.S. News and
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“This new digital sensor panel
allows us to capture a large radi
ographic image in seconds,” said
Dr. Alexia McKnight, lecturer in
radiology at New Bolton Center,
“If the image isn’t positioned cor
rectly, we can quickly repeat it.
With film we had to wait for the
developed image which took time
and often meant that the animal
had to be re-sedated if a view
needed to be repeated.”
McKnight explains that digital
radiography provides more de
tailed images than traditional
films. There is improved contrast
and the information is easier to
to beginning farmers and ranch
ers.
“With an increasing number of
producers approaching retire
ment age, America must continue
to invest in beginning farmers
and ranchers to ensure adequate
food and liber supplies for the fu
ture,” said Pailman. “The Begin
ning Farmer and Rancher Land
Contract Pilot Program gives
USD A the opportunity to see if
World Report’s academic rank
ings.
The survey ranked engineering
college programs accredited by
the Accreditation Board for Engi
neering and Technology. The
rankings were based solely on the
judgments of deans and senior
faculty who rated each program
they were familiar with on a scale
from one (marginal) to five (dis
tinguished). Participants were
asked to survey top universities
offering special engineering pro
grams agriculture being one of
them.
K.C. Ting, chairman of the
Department of Food, Agricultur
al, and Biological Engineering,
said the accomplishment would
help give the program and others
like it across the nation some rec
ognition.
“I think this accomplishes sev
eral things. One, the U.S. News
ranking system is a widely read
publication and this is a very nice
vehicle for publicity. Two, the
news helps boost agricultural en
gineering as a recognized field.
Three, the rankings show to ev
eryone that we are one of the top
programs in the nation, and it’s
really nice to be a part of that.”
interpret. This is because the soft
ware allows manipulating the
raw data to bring into view more
diagnostic information.
“We can see subtle bony le
sions much more clearly on digi
tal radiographs,” said Dr.
McKnight. “Also, subtle fractures
are visible. They don’t show up
on film, and we used to use xe
rography, which required a sig
nificantly higher exposure. The
digital system is much more effi
cient for us and better for the pa
tients because we can perform
our study much faster and with
shorter sedation time. The ability
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guarantees on land contracts are
a viable alternative in the effort
to assist beginning producers in
purchasing land.”
The 2002 Farm Bill requires
the creation of the Pilot Program.
In addition to Pennsylvania,
USDA is implementing the pilot
program in Indiana, North Da
kota, Oregon, Wisconsin and
lowa during fiscal years
2003-2007. Every year, funding
will be available to each of the six
Out of the top 11-ranked un
dergraduate agricultural engi
neering programs listed in the
publication, five were from Big
Ten universities. In addition to
Ohio State, Purdue University,
University of Illinois, Pennsylva
nia State University, and Michi
gan State University also made
the list. There are 55 universities
in the nation that offer agricul
tural engineering undergraduate
programs; about nine similar pro
grams exist in Canada.
Ohio State’s Department of
Food, Agricultural, and Biologi
cal Engineering, which has ties to
the College of Engineering, pro
vides students curriculum op
tions in soil and water, machin
ery systems, ecological and bio
environmental programs, bio-sys
tems; pre-vet and pre-med and
food-related industries.
The Department of Agri-
cultural Engineering came
into existence in 1914. The
department changed its
name to Food, Agricultur
al, and Biological Engi-
neering in 1996.
to accurately measure angles and
distances on the images has also
been a wonderful bonus of the
digital system. It also enhances
our referral capabilities .because
of the amount of detail we can
capture through this technology.”
The system provides other effi
ciencies. Technicians no longer
have to develop film and work
with chemicals. The images are
stored on a Picture Archiving
and Communication System
(PACS) that is the size of a wash
ing machine, so storage space
needs are less. The system is also
backed up daily to an off-site
pilot states to provide up to five
land contract guarantees.
“Beginning producers can face
a number of challenges such as
adverse weather or market condi
tions that can have devastating
effects, especially in the early
years of operations,” said
Pallman. “This important pro
gram provides beginning farmers
and ranchers with a safety net so
they can remain on the land and
continue building their business
es.”
The Pilot Program provides
the seller of the land a 10-year
“prompt payment” guarantee of
the sale to the beginning farmer
or rancher (buyer). In the event
that the buyer does not pay an
annual installment due on the
contract, or pays only part of an
installment, USDA’s Farm Serv
ice Agency (FSA) will provide the
scheduled payment or the unpaid
portion to the seller through an
escrow agent. The guarantee is
limited to the total monetary
amount of two installments. The
guarantee will also cover the
amount of two years’ worth of
unpaid taxes and insurance.
The following are some of the
eligibility requirements prospec
tive buyers must meet:
• The buyer must be a begin
ning farmer or rancher and must
be the owner of a family farm
after the contract is completed.
• The buyer must have partic
ipated in the business operations
of a farm or ranch for at least
three years.
• The buyer must have an ac
ceptable credit history demon
strated by satisfactory debt re
payment.
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The digital images can be re
trieved quickly on computers
throughout the hospital, enabling
clinicians to view them in their
offices. McKnight, the other radi
ologists, and the clinicians can re
view the images on special high
resolution grayscale monitors
that are quite large. The images
can be enlarged and the radiolo
gist can zoom in on an area. Be
cause of the incredible detail and
digital archiving, the system
makes it much easier for teaching
students who are rotating
through large animal radiology.
• The buyer must be unable to
obtain sufficient credit elsewhere
without a guarantee to finance
actual needs at reasonable rates
and terms.
The purchase price of the farm
or ranch cannot exceed $500,000
or its current market value as de
termined by FSA. The interest
rate charged to the buyer for the
10-year term of the guarantee
cannot exceed FSA’s direct farm
ownership loan interest rate in ef
fect at the time the guarantee is
issued, plus three percentage
points. Contract payments must
be amortized for a minimum of
20 years. During the term of the
guarantee, balloon payments are
prohibited and payments on the
contract must be of equal
amounts.
FSA offers direct and guaran
teed loans to individual and enti
ty producers’ use to buy new
farms, equipment, feed and other
fanping essentials. Special loan
programs' exist for beginning
farmers and ranchers, socially
disadvantaged persons and rural
youth. Each year, FSA makes
thousands of loans to farmers
and ranchers who cannot obtain
private, commercial credit.
You can obtain more informa
tion about this and other FSA
programs by contacting the FSA
office in one of the fifty USDA
Service Centers serving Pennsyl
vania producers. Offices are list
ed in the U.S. Government sec
tion of the Blue Pages in the
telephone directory under Agri
culture or visit FSA on the World
Wide Web at www.fsa.usda.gov.
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