(Continued from Page A 1) Two Pennsylvania trout farms bid on parts of the contract, which was offered to bidders piecemeal as part of a line-item bidding pro cess. The bidding took place in June, with trout suppliers allowed to enter bids on any or all of the 96 trout stockings. Bid invitations were sent to trout growers in March, along with a list of requirements to as sure that the contracted fish arc healthy and safe. The require ments included stipulations that the fish pass the state’s PCB pro tocol, show no clinical signs of disease, and be certified free of enteric redmoutfa (ERM) disease. In late May, DGS issued a list of changes to (he original rules. Among them was the addition of a requirement to test annually for several other disease-causing pathogens. The bidding date was Soil ph - Get AT FALL HARVEST TIME Soil test to determine PH and aglime needs Apply aglime early fall to complete spreading before winter Call your local Martin Limestone dealer or call us in Blue Ball, PA (800) 233-0205 (717) 354-1370 Martin LIMESTONE Trout Deal Bud For Pa, Growers extended from June 4 to June 11. Laurel Hill Trout Farm, Rock wood, Somerset County, was one of the Pennsylvania bidders, sub mitting bids for 27 percent of the specified trout, Kane said. Bob Pritts, owner of Laurel Hill Trout Farm, said that the fact there was no minimum number of trout stockings that a bidder could win and no way to make an accurate determination of compli ance costs hindered his ability to bid competitively. Pritts produces about 100,000 pounds of trout per year, mostly for stocking in private waters in southwestern Pennsylvania. Compliance costs would have become more affordable in sup plying a large number of fish, but a small number would have been a losing proposition, according to Pritts. “If I would have gotten just a Soil test to know couple bids, I couldn’t have af forded to do the compliance work,” Pritts said. “ ‘lt was hard to factor in a price because you didn’t know know how many fish you would actually get” Disease testing in North Caroli na is handled for free by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service out of its Georgia office, according to Tom Ort, Tellico manager. In Pennsylvania, however, trout growers must foot the bill for the disease tests, at a cost of “thousands of dollars,” according to Renee Ecklcy, president of Limestone Springs Fishing Pre serve and PAA board member. Eckley said she attended the bidding meeting, but decided not to bid because of the uncertainty of the compliance costs. “I would have bid if I could have bid competitively,” she said. For PCB compliance, Tellico will have to pay about $4,000 per it year like any other fish supplier would have for having the fish tested by the state of Pennsylva nia. That testing is required on five samples of eight fish each, according to Ort. Economies of scale and ideal trout-growing conditions in west ern North Carolina are the main reasons for Tellioo’s competitive advantage, Ort said. Tellico produces 2.2 million fin gcrling trout in their hatchery and 280,000 pounds of larger fish an nually, some of which go for sport stockings like these in Pennsylva nia. Pritts said that there had been discussions with the PFBC prior to bidding about requiring a min imum of 20,000 trout being awarded to individual bidders. But according to Rick Hoopes, Pennsylvania director of fisheries, a state purchasing rule disallows such a provision. Hoopes noted that all bidders Record Com Forecast Up 1 Percent From Last Month WASHINGTON, D.C. Com production is forecast at 10.3 bil lion bushels, up 1 percent from last month and 14 percent above 2002, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Based on conditions as of No vember 1, yields are expected to average 143.2 bushels per acre, up 1.0 bushel from October and up 13.2 bushels from last year. If re alized, both production and yield would be the largest on record. Both previous records were set in 1994. , Of the nvmnroducing States, Illinois and OBlllipe expecting re cord yields. Yie&te are also fore cast at rttord highs in 8 other States located mostly in the right / Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 29, 2003-A25 I if ; ;ir- T • - i All-Plant I LIQUID PLANT FOOD 9-18-9 PLUS OTHERS! • Contains 100% white ortho phosphoric acid. Made in USA. • Non-corrosive. Won’t settle. • Top quality. Excellent service. • Newest equipment • Financially sound...and growing! Big Demand Requires More Distributors! □ I sell to farmers. How do I become your distributor? □ I’m a farmer. What’s the price? Where do I get it ? CALL or SEND FOR FACTS: Phone: 814-364-1349 i ALL-PLANT LIQUID PLANT FOOD, INC. \ 821 State R 4.511 N., RFD 3, > Ashland, Ohio 44805 were notified equally of all the bidding rules and any changes that occurred. Dennis Guise, PFBC executive director and chief counsel, agreed that there was no discrimination in the bidding process. “Everybody was on a level playing field as far as submitting bids,” he said. Kane, of the Department Gen eral Services, said that bids from the Pennsylvania fisheries were “ ‘more than double, sometimes, fire price of the bid that won.” TTie five-year contracting is a PFBC pilot program designed “to see if it is feasible for us to get fish from commercial sources to aug ment production,” said Tom Cochran, PFBC biologist. Hie PFBC has historically stocked about 5.2 trout per year in Pcnnsyivanin-yWlters from its own T&t number is now about 4 million, according to Cochran. Southeast. Soybean production is forecast at 2.45 billion bushels, down 1 percent from the October forecast and 11 percent below 2002. If re alized, this would be the lowest production since 1996. Based on conditions as of No vember 1, yields are expected to average 33.8 bushels per acre, down 0.2' bushel from .October and down 4.2 bushels froiiu2oo2. As harvest progressed, produc ers realized yield decreases from last month in Sooth Dakota, upper Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes, and eastern Corn Belt. However, in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, the Tennessee Valley, and along the Atlantic Coastal Plains, yield prospects in creased from last month. Area for harvest is forecast .at 72.5 million acres, unchanged from last month but up fractionally from 2002.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers