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Show Agriculture Day highlighted! at Vernal Chamber meeting The importance of agriculture to the local area was stressed by three speakers at the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce Directors' meeting Tuesday Tues-day noon. Since Monday, March 10, was proclaimed pro-claimed as Agriculture Day in Utah by Governor Scott M. Matheson, the Vernal Ver-nal Chamber featured the event on Tuesday. Charles Gray, chairman of the Chamber Agriculture committee, conducted con-ducted the program and gave information informa-tion indicating the impact agriculture had on the local economy. Feature speaker was Ben Lindsay, marketing and development director for the State of Utah and former Uintah County Extension Agent. Lindsay said that the gross income received by agriculture had a multiplying multiply-ing economic turnover in business of 3.5 times. This means that the farmer brings br-ings in 3.5 times more business than he handles because of other related businesses. According to Lindsay Uintah County has 18,500 acres of hay annually worth about $8.6 million, 1,100 milk cows equal to $1.7 million when times by the 3.5 turnover, and 25,000 range cows that generated about $26 million for the area. Lindsay said there was great potential poten-tial in agriculture and that the range land in this area can carry many more animals. Don Jorgensen, Ouray farmer, outlined outlin-ed the progress being made by the Uintah Uin-tah Basin Hay Growers Association in the Ouray Valley. He said ten years ago there was nothing in the Ouray Valley and now we can get four crops of hay with four tons to the acre. Last year 7,000 tons of hay were harvested and this year we are expecting 20,000 tons in Ouray all due to the availability and use of water. We expect to evenutally harvest 100,000 tons of hay in the basin, Jorgensen stated. "We have buyers from California and even Japan visiting our area wanting to purchase our hay. We expect to have an $11 million operation," Jorgensen stated. Lewis Vincent, a Jensen feed lot farmer, explained how he had automated his operation to where it is now a $1.5 million a year business. "We have added a one-half million dollar automated sprinkling system where we can water 1,000 acres and never touch a shovel," Vincent stated. "One of our problems has been finding fin-ding ways to market our feed. The newly new-ly organized Hay Growers Assn. has helped a great deal in this respect," said Vincent. We are set up to where one man can feed 700 cows without ever getting off the tractor. Because of the difficulty in getting workers, we have to automate as much as we can in labor-saving devices," Vincent pointed out. The present situation of high operation opera-tion costs and interest rates along with inflation means that the farmer will . just have to get more for the products he sells, Vincent remarked. "This is the worst situation I have ever witnessed and I'm scared about what is going to happen in the future of agriculture because of our present inflated economy," Vincent concluded. |