Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / March 31, 1983, edition 1 / Page 22
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Garden/Farm No till soybeans ? _____ These soybeans planted by Kenneth Hendrlx were the first in Hoke County. They are shown here under irriga tion. The no-till method of planting is seen as a cost-saving measure for farmers. * Hoke Agricultural Extension News by Willie Featherstone, Jr. Agricultural Extension Agent Tobacco Disease Control Management is really the key to good plant production, including the control of diseases. Growers have learned how destructive diseases such as blue mold can be and realize that plans must be made in advance to manage this disease and others which might appear. Proper drainage is an extremely important consideration because most plant bed diseases are favored by poor drainage condi tions. This applies to problems such as damping-off, blue mold, and anthracnose. A Look Ahead Three new varieties from the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service will be available for growers in 1984. Each of these varieties has met standards re quired for release and seed will be increased for each of them during the coming season. Tobacco Pathology Extension Newsbriefs NC 50 is a new variety with good yields and high quality. It is resis tant to Granville wilt, black shank, and root-knot nematodes (Meloi dogvne incognita). Many growers may want to look at this variety to see where it can fit into their pro duction plans. NC 567 will also be available in 1984. This variety offers resistance to mosaic and tobacco cyst nematodes, along with black shank, Granville Wilt, and root knot (M. incognita). NC 567 will provide growers with an additional choice, especially if they have chronic problems with mosaic. It is believed that this variety offers higher quality than that currently available in mosaic resistant varieties. NC 22-NF is being increased for grower use next year. This variety is a so-called "non-flowering" variety - which was predicted for you in the first issue of Newsbriefs in 1981. The variety is highly photosensitive which means that flowering is delayed until days become short in the fall. Obvious ly, the advantages from a variety such as NC 22-NF are the elimina tion of premature flowering and easier sucker control. Management will be the key in successful production of NC 22-NF. Topping and other cultural practices must be done as with any conventional variety; otherwise, quality will be down and growers will not be satisfied. All of these new varieties will be in extension disease tests this year and in tests and demonstrations conducted by extension agrono mists. A significant amount of each will be planted at various parts throughout the state. It would be helpful to gain ex perience and information on each of these varieties to better select your varieties for the 1984 season. A STUDY IN CONTRASTS. Hugh M. Hefner launched Playboy magazine while he worked on the staff of Children s Activities maga zine. ATTENTION Mr. Tobacco Farmer FOR A WINNERIN 1983 DESIGNATE VICTORY WAREHOUSE *708 UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT Carthage, N.C. R.P.BrimJr. 947-5273 Nelson Parrish BURGLAR ALARM - Don't Leave Home Without It CALL Prevention, Inc. Mike Steadman Vita at 864-5330 M?sf?r Charge AFFORDABLE "STOP CRIME BEFORE IT HAPPENS" c TfBMt ? Licensed "Bonded JtKRU No-till Planting Helps Farmers by Sam Warren, District Conservationist With inflation eating away at farmer's profits, he has to double crop when possible to squeeze maximum yields from the least cash outlay. The most profitable , double cropping method behind small grain is no-till soybeans or "stubble-cropping" Research and farm experience has shown an average of $15 per acre less investment stubble cropping than the conventional method of burning, disking, or bedding land for the late soybean crop. Yields have averaged about the same to often better, due to the moisture conservation and plant ing days earlier. Extension Service experts say that a bushel per acre in yield is lost each day planting is delayed after June 15. Also, the no-till method allows narrow 15-20 inch rows which have been proven to boost yields and reduce weed problem by earlier alley shading. Soil Conservation Service studies show that each year in North Carolina, soil erosion on cropland removes more than 47,000 tons of soil. About 5 tons per acre per year is considered to be a tolerable soil loss, but the average annual soil loss for all cropland is 7.64 tons per acre. These losses may take centuries to replace. For the nation as a whole, SCS has estimated that wind and water have damaged 50 million acres of America's best cropland so badly that it is no longer useful for crop production. Another 100 million acres has been severely damaged. Some conservationists feel a psychological stigma is attached to the acceptance of conservation tillage. In general, the savings of fuel, equipment and man hours outweigh the added expense of her bicides. To better help farmers overcome the expense of modify ing their planters, cost-sharing is available from ASCS for S10 per acre. If you need more information, feel free to call on the Raeford SCS or Extension Service. Crop Vulnerability Increasing By Susan Talanda Experts esiimate that about 12 cultivated crops stand between the world and starvation. The barriers between these major crops and crop disease epidemics are eroding at an alarming rate, say scientists at North Carolina State Universi ty. Crop vulnerability has increased to the extent that "conceivable en vironmental changes could reduce food production enough to cause unprecedented shortages and famine even in the present genera tion," said Dr. Gene Namkoong, professor of -genetics and forestry at NCSU. Genetic diversity in crops is nature's barrier against crop epidemic, he explained. But genetic diversity is now threatened by genetic wipe-out ? the extinc tion of plant varieties crucial to future crop survival and improve ment. By growing many varieties of each crop, you get a wide range of genetic resistance to pests, disease and environmental changes, Namkoong explained. But because crops of uniform size, shape, col or, etc. are easier to process, more uniform crops are being produced world-wide. Uniformity of pro duce often leads to genetic unifor mity. The greater the genetic uniformity of our crops, the greater their vulnerability to a single pest, pathogen or adverse change in climate, Namkoong said. "If this process continues unabated, we place man's future in jeopardy," said Dr. Major M. Goodman, an NCSU statistical geneticist. "At one time, crop rotation formed geographical barriers to crop epidemics, but in modern I agribusiness, single crops are grown in dense fields stretching across entire states. There's noth ing to stop disease from spread ing." Although hundreds of plants become extinct each year, those most critical to world hunger are corn, wheat and rice, which make up 68 percent of the world's seed crop, Goodman said. The United States is the largest producer and exporter of corn, and yet we grow only three out of about 250 races. Current corn hybrids are bred for one trait -- high yield, said Dr. Paul H. Harvey, NCSU professor emeritus and chairman of the Na tional Corn Research Coordina tion Committee (NCRCC). Although the hybrids have some resistance, pests and pathogens adapt rapidly to overcome resistance, he added. According to a 1982 NCRCC study, diseases and pathogens must be guarded against continually if we are to avoid epidemics such as the 1970 Southern corn leaf blight. When this epidemic hit, 80 per cent of the U.S. corn crop was genetically similar. About 20 per cent of the U.S. crop (15 percent of the world's corn supply) was lost in the blight. "If a similar epidemic had started in the Corn Belt, or had hit the Corn Belt earlier in the season, it would have been a disaster," Goodman said. It would have crip pled the U.S. corn and livestock in dustries (90 percent of our corn crop is fed to livestock), and it would have caused starvation in countries dependent on U.S. corn and cornfeed imports. "No other grain crop con tributes more to the economic well being of the nation than corn," the NCRCC study says. In 1981, foreign markets purchased one third of a record 8 billion bushels of U.S. corn. Another major U.S. crop --wheat-- is increasingly vulnerable. A few varieties of < wheat are used over and over in the United States, said Dr. Charles F. Murphy, an NCSU crop scientist. Our dense, highly fertile wheat crop creates ideal conditions for pathogens such as glume and leaf blotch, but no good genetic source of resistance has been identified, he said. In a major outbreak of such a disease, there would be no resistant strain to substitute, as t there was in the 1970 Southern corn leaf blight. Murphy said. Goodman agreed that for some crops, there isn't time between the onset of a crisis and the next planting season to develop resistant strains or shift to alternative crops. Thus, he said, a second crop could be damaged, increasing food shor tages even more. Because wheat grows under quite harsh condi tions, there are very few alternative < crops for wheat farmers. The introduction of genetically similar high-yield grain seed in Third World agriculture makes crop vulnerability an international problem. According to a recent issue of "High Technology" magazine, "There has not been another crop epidemic of the same magnitude as the 1970 Southern crop leaf blight, but a similar < epidemic in other crops -- for ex ample, the high-yield rices in Asia ? could be a disaster causing widespread starvation." "A 5 to 10 percent drop in pro duction of a major crop in India, for example, would cause mass starvation on a scale of 10 to 40 million deaths," Namkoong said. Countries like India don't have the capital to buy food on the common market if crops fail, he said. The JIM HUNT Record Subject: Out-of-state Campaign contributions Jim Hunt Said: Out-of-state campaign contributions create "obliga tions you ought not to have."' Jim Hunt Did: JimHunt(& hiscronies) started a Political Action Com mittee and flew to New York City and Atlanta to raise out-of state special interest money to defeat Jesse Helms ? 1 What "Obligations" Does Politician Jim Hunt Now Have To These Out Of-State Liberal Special Interests? A Few of Jim Hunt's Out-of-State Contributions ? Herb Mabry (AFL-CIO Union Boss) Atlanta 1 ? Robert McNamara (World Bank Chairman and Foreign Aid Advocate) New York M ? Mrs. |ohn D. Rockefeller, III ? New York4 ? Ted Sorenson (McCovern lor President Delegate) New York ? Andrew Young (Former UN Ambassador who said the Ayatollah Khomeini was "a saint") Atlanta" ? Bert Lance (limmy Carter's Budget Director-forced to resign due to financial scandal) Atlanta2 ? Sol Linowitz (Negotiator of the deal paying Panama to take our canal) New York44 Total Money Raised: New York plus Atlanta ? $165,000 M OUT-OF-STATE GROUPS PLANNING TO SPEND MILLIONS TO ELECT JIM HUNT ? PROPAC (closely allied with AFL-CIO ? FUND FOR A DEMOCRATIC MAJOR - Union Bosses)*" fTY (Ted Kennedy's PAC)U ? INDEPENDENT ACTION (left-wing ? BLACK PAC (Ultra-liberal Julian PAC) 10 Bond's PAC)" 1 Citu#** 164/12 ? Mmwhi l*rml/77/77 2 AtUnu Comtm/oo* 1/1 1/1 J 9 Kalaig* and Ob nn?r inon I lii?t^ ind Ob?"?' I H/1) Campaif m and ffeciiom. Sprinf 1M2 4 f InvHatton Y1 ? T?ma? 2/VSJ 1. Human 11/W79 12 lit Vhaaa Tbm*i 1/2-4/1) 4 Human Fv?nn 1/1*/77 11 Arfama CooMftufion 1/242 . vnm Democrats for Jesse f?d lor by KWmt kx Wnttt M*f t Vtftim, Trtuurr
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
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March 31, 1983, edition 1
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