Banner Graphic, Volume 10, Number 191, Greencastle, Putnam County, 16 April 1980 — Page 8

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The Putnam County Banner Graphic, April 16,1980

USDA's commitment to buy wheat fulfilled

WASHINGTON (AP) The government has spent well over half a billion dollars to buy wheat originally destined for the Soviet Union. In what officials said was the last round of buying for the time being, the Agriculture Department said Monday that it had bought about 94.4 million bushels of wheat directly from farmers. Although no prices paid for the wheat or the total spent were announced, officials said $3.75 a bushel was a rough estimate. That would mean the grain cost the government around $354 million. Added to earlier purchases of about 60.5 million bushels from grain elevators, the department has now bought about 154.9 million bushels of wheat part of the administration’s plan to isolate from the market the grain embargoed from delivery to the Soviets. Those wheat purchases were reported at the time to cost about $66.1 million and $160.5 million, respectively. Thus, based on rough estimates, the entire wheat package has cost the government around $580.6 million. President Carter suspended further deliveries of U.S. grain to the Soviet Union on

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Jan. 4 in retaliation for its invasion of Afghanistan. The administration then made a commitment to buy or otherwise isolate from the market all the embargoed grain, including about 4 million metric tons of wheat and around 9 million metric tons of corn. Thus, with the latest purchases made from farmers after USDA posted its price offers in local offices last week officials said the com-, mitment to buy wheat has been fulfilled. Only a relatively small amount of corn has been bought, all from elevator companies, and officials said they want to see how farmers respond to an expanded grain reserve program before deciding to buy corn directly from them. A metric ton is about 2,205 pounds and is equal to 36.7 bushels of wheat or 39.4 bushels of corn. Farmers offered to sell a total of about 110.9 million bushes of wheat to the government, which accepted offers on a first-come, firstserved basis, according to the class or kind of wheat involved. All of the soft red and white wheat offered by farmers was bought. But only about 86 percent of the hard red winter wheat and spring was bought.

Expanded corn program expected to boost prices

WASHINGTON (AP) - Within a few days, perhaps by the end of this week, the Agriculture Department expects to begin letting corn farmers who did not participate in the 1979 feedgrain program put “a limited quantity” of their grain in the government’s reserve program. Agriculture Secretary Bob Bergland announced the ex-

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Western farmers may have to sell excess acres

By LANCE GAY Washington Star Service WASHINGTON - The Interior Department estimates that Western farmers with large landholdings could be forced to divest themselves of about 2.25 million acres of highly productive land under new rules written to enforce a neglected 78-year-old law. In a preliminary report issued Thursday, the agency said that about 9 percent of the owners of Western farms in lands reclaimed by federally financed irrigation projects are in violation of a 1902 law that sets a 160-acre limitation on farm size in such districts. David Schuy, an Interior Department economist, said the farmers who include some of the nation’s largest agribusiness concerns will have to divest themselves of their “excess” acreage unless Congress adopts proposed changes in the law this year. Any such move could set off the largest land rush since the Homestead Act and has whipped up com’derable controversy in the V est. In its preliminary 150-page report, the department disclosed that large agribusinesses own the most land affected by its courtordered moves to enforce the limitation, and that most of that

panded corn reserve prgwm Tuesday. Along with cash purchases of grain by the department, it is aimed at taking from the market quantities of corn and wheat that were embargoed by President Carter from delivery to the Soviet Union. The objective is to help boost grain prices, which many farmers believe have been depressed

land is in California. The survey found that .03 percent of the owners own 11 percent of the 8.8 million acres of the total land covered by the act. About 435 of the largest farmers on the lands control a total of 1.6 million acres. “It’s the first time we’ve had good solid data on this,” said Reclamation Bureau Commissioner R. Keith Higginson. “Obviously, some farms are operating contrary to the original intent of the law.” On Capitol Hill, agribusiness conglomerates argue that any move to split up the large farms threatens the supply of produce. Following a heated debate, the Senate last year passed legislation increasing the cap on the total amount of land per farmer to 1,280 acres - a move that would still require the sale of several hundred thousand acres. But the Senate also accepted an amendment by Senate Majority Whip Alan Cranston, D-Calif. that would exempt California’s Imperial Valley from acreage limitations. The measure is pending in the House, where it has come under strong opposition. Rep. George D. Miller, D-Calif., calls the Senate bill “socialism for the rich.” The 1902 legisation was aimed

for weeks as a result of Carter’s action on Jan. 4 in response to the Soviet Union’s military occupation of Afghanistan. The department also has been buying some corn, including an additional 25.8 million bushels announced earlier Tuesday, and has bought 154.9 million bushels of wheat. Congress recently approved legislation which permits pre-

Soybeans held due to low prices

MOUNT VERNON, Ind. (AP) Soybean prices are nearing a two-year low, according to grain merchants, and that is making Indiana’s producers hold on to their perishable crop and hope for an upswing in prices. “We will sell what we need to make the cash flow work,” said David Allyn, an area farmer. “Your eternal hopes always are that the prices will go back up. But it can definitely put us in a cash-flow bind.” The prices, hovering at less than $6 a bushel and about a dollar less than last year, are nearing a two-year low. The current rates are harder for farmers to handle when they are coupled with the escalating cost of fertilizer and other farm chemicals. “The only farmers who are selling are those who need money for mortgage payments or to put in new crops this spring,” said H.G. French, a merchant at Behimer Kissner Inc. “They are having a tough

Vet school schedules open house Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine has scheduled an open house Saturday, April 19 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Extension Agent James R. Baird has announced. Guided tours will be held in the morning with self-guided tours in the afternoon. Information will be available for prospective veterinary students. Other features will be student exhibits, petting zoo, Indianapolis Police K-9 Corps and Indiana Reining Horse Association. About one-fourth of the nation’s farms or roughly 600,000 produce nearly 80 percent of its food and fiber, with the largest 200,000 farms already producing half the agricultural supply.

at encouraging the growth of small farms in desert areas. To get the water from federal irrigation projects, the law requires farmers to live on the land. Without the water, the land would return to desert. But the Interior Department ignored the law until 1976, when a U.S. District Court judge in California ordered the agency to follow its provisions. In 1977, as the Interior Department announced its intentions to publish rules to enforce the law, the large farmers successfully sued to force the agency to issue an environmental and economic impact statement. The preliminary report issued by the department Thursday was partly in response to that court order. The agency said it plans to issue its draft report by December. Responding to pleas from the farmers, the administration has proposed changes in the law to double the acreage limitation to 320 acres per farmer, or to a maximum holding of 980 acres for a farmer, his family, and a lease on adjoining acreage. If Congress were to accept this proposal, about 1.3 million acres of the land would be declared excess. The Interior Department has proposed that the land be redistributed by a lottery.

viously ineligible farmers to take part in the reserve program. It enables them to store grain for as long as three years or until prices rise enough to trigger its release on the market. But wheat farmers who did not take part in the 1979 acreage program will not be allowed to enter the reserve program at this time because government

time.” “Not only the prices are depressed the farmers are depressed,” added one Evansville grain merchant. Grain merchants say the prices seem to have stabilized in the last few days, and some are predicting they won’t go much lower. But the plummeting prices have also affected the value of some soybean farm land. Last week a local farmer was selling land for $2,300 an acre he says would have sold for $3,200 an acre last year. “There is a tremendous oversupply of soybeans right now,” said one Evansville merchant who declined to be identified. “Nobody wants to buy them and store them and pay the high cost of keeping them.” Producers and merchants alike blame the price drop on a world-wide oversupply of soybeans. Indiana has soybeans left over from last fall’s harvest. Farmers say they expect this month’s market to be glutted soybeans from Brazil.

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Extension calendar April 17 - 4-H Rabbit Club meeting, 7 p.m., fairgrounds. April 19 -- Purdue Sheep Day at Purdue University April 21 - 4-H Junior Leader meeting, Progressive Dinner, reservations necessary. April 24 -- Extension Homemakers Leader training lesson on “Vitamin Know-How” at the Farm Bureau Insurance Building. Information given by Betty H. Sendmeyer, Extension Home Economist. Everyone welcome! April 25 - Area 4-H and FFA Judging in Monroe County. April 26 -- Area Horse and Pony Judging at Terre Haute. April 28 - Fairboard meeting, 7:30 p.m. fairgrounds. April 29-30 - Extension Agents Annual Spring Conference. April 30-May 1 ~ 4-H Horse and Pony Club will measure horses. A veterinarian will be available to give Coggins Test at the horse barn. 6:30 p.m. both evenings. May 7 - Extension Homemakers Spring Dessert. New extension homemaker club members will be honored and the 1980 Jane Award winner will be announced, as well as all nominees honored. May 8 -- County 4-H Share-the-Fun Contest at Greencastle Junior High School. June 3-6 Putnam County 4-H Camp. June 25 - County 4-H demonstration contest. July 27-August 2 - Putnam County Fair. Market report INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The Indiana direct hog market Tuesday at 70 yards and plants: Demand moderate to good, barrows and gilts 50 cents to 1.00 higher; 1-2 200-240 lb 27.5028.75, bulk 27.75-28.50, 240-250 lb 27.00-28.00; 1-3 250-260 lb 26.00-27.00. Sows mostly steady; 1-3 300-450 lb 22.00-25.00, 450-600 lb 25.00-27.50. INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Hogs 1,500: Barrows and gilts active, 75 cents to 1.00 higher; 1-2 210-250 lb 29.00-29.50; 1-3 235265 lb 27.50-28.50. Sows: moderately active, under 450 lb 50 cents to 1.00 higher, over 500 lb 50 cents to 1.00 lower in limited test; 1-3 300-400 lb 25.00, lot 450 lb 26.00,475-600 lb 27.00-28.50. Cattle 400: trading moderately active, slaughter steers and heifers steady to 50 cents higher, cows and bulls scarce.

purchases have absorbed all that was affected by the embargo. Before the law was enacted, only farmers who took past of their cropland from production last year were eligible for the reserve program. Bergland said a maximum of about 295 million bushels of corn will be allowed into the reserve “on a first-come, firstserved basis” until the limit has been reached, or until May 15, whichever comes first.

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But he said farmers who cooperated in the 1979 acreage set-aside program “will continue to be eligible” for the reserve, regardless of how much of the previously ineligible grain is put into it. Thus, including corn already bought by USDA, some 9 million metric tons of corn about 354.6 million bushels would be covered by purchases and additions to the reserve. That is the amount of corn suspended from delivery to the Soviet Union.

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