(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
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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
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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
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Of the nvmnroducing States,
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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.