The Agricultural View
August 2009 Issue 4
http://theagriculturalview.blogspot.com
(All issues and farm poems) ------------------------------------------------------------- Doug Mercer (FBPA) Retires The instructor of the top Farm Business Planning & Analysis program in Ohio recently retired leaving a legacy of assistance to farmers and agriculture in Washington County that will likely never be equaled. The program has served well over 200 farms countywide during Doug’s 37 years of instruction. See the insert page for a history of the program. From the View’s Desk I continue to provide some food for thought. I would also like to thank those who have given financial support and encouragement. The View goes to 250 homes. After the 6th issue, I plan re-evaluate in January. Mistakes are all mine. Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board Vote YES on November 3! Nearly all agricultural organizations are on record in support of this initiative which is to try to help offset the HSUS’s attack on animal agriculture in Ohio. For information visit: www.ohiolivestockcare.com 1
Animal Rights Update PETA has a budget of more than 30 million dollars. According to *public records from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service last year PETA killed 2,124 pets and placed only seven in adoptive homes. HSUS - The Humane Society of the United States (not local humane societies) is the largest and richest animal rights lobbying organization on earth with a net worth of about 300 million dollars and an executive staff and board of about 50 professionals at their disposal. This equals power and enormous political clout! At times these groups do some good, however the problem is where the mass majority of their millions are spent. See daily Animal Rights updates at: *www.consumerfreedom.com Land Resources Worldwide In 1997 retired Professor of Animal Science at OSU Dr. Jack Cline said there were 33 Billion acres of land resources worldwide including: 9.7 Billion acres of agricultural land of which only 3.5 Billion Acres are fit for cropland. This leaves 6.2 Billion acres that can only be utilized by animals to produce food for a world with millions of starving people! 2
Concerning Fruit Sales Incentives (See Issue 3) It has been brought to my attention that it is generally individual auditors and school clerks who invoke their opinions against student incentives that create some problems for FFA chapters. Incentives, however, are ultimately at the discretion of each school. Thoughts for Teenagers: 1. Think for and believe in yourself, set goals and decide what kind of person you want to be known as (see Proverbs 22:1). 2. Remember, when you text message in the presence of others you are actually sending two messages; the written text and the message you send to those in your presence that you ignore. Washington County Agricultural Education/FFA Instructors Lisa Miller – Fort Frye, Erwin Berry – Frontier, Brian Welch – Marietta, Allen Clark – Warren, Kevin Wagner and Jason Lipot - Washington County Career Center, Matt Hartline – Waterford (Chair) A Glance Back – Washington County *At the 1826 Agricultural Fair, Henry Fearing was recognized for raising 105 bushels of corn per acre. *Farmers built flatboats to float their 3 surplus farm produce down the Ohio River to Cincinnati or even New Orleans. *The excess cattle were taken to Eastern markets and wool was sold by the ton to Eastern Manufactures. Hugh Coffman An Ideal Medium for Plant Growth is composed of: 25% Air, 25% Water (Combined = 50% Pore Space), 5% Organic Matter and 45% Mineral Matter. Say What? Approximately fifteen years ago a couple of my students told me of the following fight they had witnessed in the cafeteria. They witnessed a boy sitting at their table innocently eating his lunch when unbeknown to him a young man approached him from behind and hit him full force with his fist in the side of his head (temple area) knocking the seated student to the floor. As he was flailing on the floor trying to regain some stability the attacking student came after him again with fists flying. While knocked on his back, and still stunned, the student instinctively put up his foot to try to hold off the attacking student. Eventually the attacking student was stopped by others. Note: In some schools if you defend yourself when attacked you are 4 suspended along with the attacker. Even if you swing in self defense and make no contact – the retaliatory attempt earns you an automatic suspension too. Later I learned that the principal had conducted a lengthy discussion about if the young man’s foot came forward, while he was down on the floor, the action might constitute an aggressive action on his part that would then result in a suspension for him as well. This is unreal – what increased liability threats will do! Cattle Trivia The 4 (ruminant) cattle stomach compartments are called: Rumen, Reticulum, Omasum and Abomasum. Health Care/Family Doctors One day at lunch more than 30 years ago, I had the following discussion with my family doctor concerning his health care/patient frustrations. He explained his dilemma over the growing number of welfare patients that were attending his clinic. He had no problem with them personally, however, he had noted two trends. First, the steadily increasing number of welfare patients and secondly the frequency with which they would come in with the most insignificant cases 5 as compared to the regular paying patients. He also told me that it would generally take at least 6 months to get his payment from the government and then he would only get about two thirds of his actual costs reimbursed. Also, the required documentation was mounting. His concern was that he could only see so many patients per day, and therefore he had no choice but to increase the charge per visit. This indirectly caused the paying customers to absorb the added costs of the welfare patients. Imagine if we multiply this alarming trend by more than thirty years of expansion and increasing bureaucracy. He was also frustrated that his time spent with paying patients was more limited because he was also trying to see more patients per day to help with the loss of income. Another doctor, who retired just a few years ago, told me that he actually made more profit when he began practicing by charging $5.00 per visit (which included any prescriptions) than he did in his later years of practice. Note: Health care costs force most farmers to have at least one spouse work off of the farm to secure health insurance for their family. 6

Stacy
family farm since 1899
Bill and Janet Stacy
Goodrich Road., Oak Grove
Marietta, Ohio 45750
www.stacyfarm.com

Florida Farm Bureau Marketing Divison
Roy W. Singleton Director/General Manager
roysingleton@ffbf.org 352-636-6161
7705 US Highway 441 Leesburg, FL. 34788

These advertisers support The Agricultural View and the promotion of agriculture however they may not necessarily agree with every point of view within the newsletter. Please partonize these sponsors. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you wish to contribute: (You have two options) 1.General Donation (Make checks payable to: Ralph D. Coffman – The Agricultural View 2.Placing an ad in two issues for $15.00 (*See details below) The ads will be 1” by 2” (basic label size). Clearly print the ad content (written only) and your name, phone number, address and return it to me. The ad will be an insert page with the following statement: The following advertisers support The Agricultural View and the promotion of agriculture however they may not necessarily agree with every point of view within the newsletter. Please patronize these sponsors. Ralph Coffman coffman_ralph@yahoo.com Thanks for your support, 566 Elk Run Road Beverly, Ohio 45715 Ralph ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Washington County Farm Business Planning & Analysis Program History – Doug Mercer The Washington County Career Center Farm Business Planning & Analysis Program (FBPA) had its beginning in the fall of 1971. High school Vo. Ag. Teachers: Ralph Sawyer (Marietta), Ed Barnett (Waterford), Bobby Anderson (Frontier), Bill Tackett and Dean McCoy (Warren), Gary Moore (Fort Frye) and Hugh Coffman (Warren H.S. Assistant Superintendent) met with State Supervisor of Vocational Agricultural Welch Barnett from the Ohio Department of Education. They thought such a program would complement their already successful adult farmer program classes, including the 100 Bushel Corn Club, and be quite useful to the farmers of the county. I was hired as the full time FBPA teacher to begin on July 1, 1972. It was decided that the program would be funded through the Wolf Creek School District with my office at Waterford H.S. and I would be under the supervision of Superintendent Harry Cooper. Any cost in addition to that funded by the State Department was to be split by the five school districts. The program operated under this arrangement until July 1, 1974 when the Washington County Career Center took over the program. Superintendent Harry Cooper and David Barrett the Director at the Career Center agreed that the program should continue to be housed at Waterford H.S. but funded by the Career Center. The arrangement continued for 19 years until August 1991 when my office as was moved to the Career Center Campus in the old Washington State Community College building. The FBPA program had an enrollment of 40 farms during its first year of operation. Securing enrollment was a joint effort by the county Vo. Ag. teachers and myself as they contributed a great deal to the early success of the program. The Ag. teachers were able to give me immediate credibility with their farmers. Current members that were in the first class of 40 farms are Charles and Mary Campbell, Dan Zimmer, Joan Zimmer, Paul and Mary Zimmer. During the past 37 years the program has provided instruction for well over 200 farms in Washington County. On-farm instruction occurred throughout the year with classes being held in the winter months. Some of the major topics included principles of record keeping, depreciation, farm income tax laws, estate planning, using credit effectively, working with computers including filling out the computer analysis and then properly interpreting the printed analysis. The analysis was the final product of the record keeping showing the strengths and weaknesses of the farm business including a detailed costs analysis in the farm’s various enterprises. The first farm records analysis were completed in the winter of 1974 by using the records from the previous year. All 40 farms submitted their records for evaluation. These early analysis were mailed to The Ohio State University and generally took 3 weeks to get the results back. This all changed in the 1986 record year when OSU discontinued their program and I was faced with 48 analysis to conduct and no available program. I spent many weekends and evenings at home developing an analysis program of my own using the spread sheet Lotus 123. We still use this program today. We could now enter the records on site in the computer and print it out the same day greatly improving efficiency. I also developed a data analysis chart summary ranking farmers from lowest to highest in numerous efficiency categories. My system secured the privacy of farmers as only they would know their individual numbers in each column. This summary is not only diagnostic but also appeals to the competitive nature of Americans enticing a greater desire to improve efficiency. The analysis is used as a reference statewide. In 1977 the first FBPA banquet was held at the Career Center with Farm Credit as the sponsor which continues today. Initially, and for many years the sponsorship was under the direction of Ken Schilling and more recently it continues under the direction of Steve Reed and Melinda Roberts becoming Partners in Education with the FBPA program. This support and dedication to the program has been, and is, essential to the program’s success. In 1999 I retired from teaching FBPA full time with Marty Clark replacing me as the full-time instructor and I continued to work part time. Marty has done a great job during these past ten years including excellent work in refining and promoting the computerized record keeping system. All of our FBPA clients are on the computerized system as compared to approximately 50% of farmers nationwide. In 2007 the FBPA Foundation was created to provide scholarship assistance and encourage support for the program. In February of the same year the FBPA Advisory Committee and 62 of our clients were instrumental in presenting to the Career Center’s Board of Education the importance of the continuation of a full-time FBPA program in Washington County. The FBPA program is unique and even though it has been recognized as the top FBPA program in Ohio it will only survive with the continued support of the agricultural community in Washington County - Doug. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------From the View: Gross Farm Income for the 39 FBPA farms submitting an analysis in 2008 was over 14 million dollars. We wish to thank Doug for his years of exemplary service and a special thank you to wife Nancy and children Tom and Jan for their sacrifices (of Doug’s time) to allow him to help so many farmers.  Good luck in retirement Doug & Nancy . Doug’s awards will be listed in October Issue #5.
Issue #5 – October Issue #6 - December I will then assess the View’s future – Ralph