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Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, March 22-24, 2006 A-15A The Park Record Utah farms growing in number SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Utah's farms grew in size and number between 1995 and 2005, even as the state's population was one of the fastest-growing in the nation, according to an analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Agriculture officials said most of the farmland increases are due to how the federal government defines a farm. Changing land values and uses, they said, increasingly mean thai many larger suburban lots are counted as "farms," even if they have just one horse, a cow or a child with an ambitious 4-H project. The new federal data show thai Utah ranks second in the nation for the percentage of land added to agricultural uses between 1995 and 2005. That's up 1.8 percent, or 200,000 acres (an area about three times the size of Salt Lake City). Utah is one of only seven states that saw any increase, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data analyzed by the Deseret Morning News. Nationally, the amount of land used in farming decreased by 4 percent, or 38.9 million acres, about the size of Georgia. Experts said some more increases may come from land that is newly farmable because of improved irri- gation systems. Some increases also may be attributed to farmers who sell out in urban areas and then buy much bigger replacement farms in rural regions. "But anyone who argues that we haven't cemented over our farmland in Salt Lake, Weber, Davis and Utah counties has been up too long in the night," says Bruce Godfrey, a professor of agricultural economics at Utah State University. In 2005, Utah's had the nation's fifth-fastest growing population. USDA surveys report that Utah had 15.200 farms last year, up from 13.400 in 1995. Also, they say Utah farms covered 11.6 million acres last year, up from 11.4 million acres a decade earlier. Randy Parker, chief executive officer of the Utah Farm Bureau Federation, said a kink in how the federal government defines ""farm" may have led to including larger suburban lots in the counts. The federal definition of a farm, which has not changed since 1974, is "any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the year." Parker said that with rising prices over time, ""it is much easier now lo produce $1,000 worth of products now than it was in 1974," or even 10 years ago. Rick Kestel. director of the Utah field office for the National Agricultural Statistics Service, noted that landowners don't need to sell any agricultural goods - only produce $1,0(10 worth to qualify as a farm. Some communities, attempting to keep open space, have zoned for large lots up lo five acres in certain areas, Parker said. If these property owners keep a horse or two, or a cow or other animals for 4-H club projects, it might be counted as a farm. The USDA data, for example, show that 63 percent of Utah farms produce from $1,000 lo $9,999 in products, the lowest of five economic sales categories measured. Only 2 percent of Utah farms are- in the top sales class, producing $500,000 or more. The average size of farms and ranches in Utah has also dropped over the past decade, from 828 acres to 763 acres. Some fanners in urban areas are selling out lo finance larger spreads in rural regions, Dairv farmer Scott Day and his father. Henry, just sold their dairy farm in now-urban Draper. It was the last surviving commercial dairy operation in Salt Lake County. Day said thai as new houses surrounded the farm, operating farm equipment on busier roads was more difficult. And there were some complaints about dairy smells. So the Days sold to developers. With profit from their 26-acre farm. they were able lo buy 160 acres in rural Payson. where they plan to expand their herd from 2(X) to 600 cows and buy more modern equipment. "Wilh new technology, we can milk and take care of 600 cows with the same amount of labor that it took before for 200 cows." Day said. Utah has the highest-in-thunalion percentage of farm families who depend, at least in part, on nonWHY YOU SHOULD BUY THIS HOME! farm -income to make ends meet. according to agriculture statistics. Despite losses of urban farmland, the Utah Farm Bureau Federation said agriculture contributes $1.5 billion to the economy each year. Parker said that number jumps to S3.5 billion - and KX).(XK) jobs - when production, processing, transportation and oilier farm-related industry is included. Read and REAP! \ Three ousted from Bush town-hall meeting By HOWARD PAIMKRATZ MediaNews Group Wire Service A White House staff member was responsible for asking three people to leave President Bush's town-hall meeting in Denver a year ago, a U.S. Secret Service agent said during an internal investigation of the event. The Secret Service was investigating the complaints of the three people, who said they were ousted from the Bush event last March because their bumper sticker criticized his foreign policy. According to a Secret Service report obtained by the Denver Post under a freedom of information request, the agents present said it was "staff who asked the individuals to leave, not them. When the trio - Leslie Weise, Alex Young and Karen Bauer - asked the agents why they had to leave, (he agents said that they had no control over the situation. A Secret Service agent told them "there was nothing they could do because the event was hosted by the staff and was a private event." The three were was asked to leave because the staffers had identified them as "potential protesters," the report said. The report quoted one agent as saying he was told "by a While House staff member that three individuals had been asked to leave the event and they did so without incident or protest." A second agenl posted in the parking lot said he saw the three "being, asked to leave by the staff. New laser technology used to detect disease By DAVE CURTIN Medt'&News Group Wfi Boulder. Colo. -' University of Colorado physicists have developed a highly sensitive chemical analyzer that could be used in security screenings for explosive or biochemical devices or to test a patient's breath for disease. The device also could provide unprecedented data at environmental monitoring stations or reveal the precise composition of Mars' atmospheric gases, said Jun Ye, lead researcher in the project published Friday in Science magazine. The new technique uses infrared laser light in different colors - or frequencies - to identify trace levels of various molecules simultaneously. Atoms and molecules leave an identifying "signature" when they absorb light. "It's like being able to see every single tree of an entire forest," Ye said. "This is something t h a t ' could have* tremendous' induslrial and commercial value," Chemical analysis now requires samples to be shipped to a lab for processing. The new technology adapts a spectroscopy that identifies chemicals based on interactions with light. The new system uses an "optical frequency comb" - an ultrafast laser - as both the light source and as a ruler for precisely measuring the interactions of light with molecules. Ye and his colleagues work for the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, operated by CU and the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder. The technology provides a novel combination of a broad range of frequencies (or bandwidth), high sensitivity, precision and speed. Hie staff had identified the three individuals as potential protesters and asked them to leave." Weise and Young have filed a lawsuit alleging their First Amendment rights were violated. They said they were removed from the March 21*. 2005. town-hall discussion because of a "No more blood for oil" bumper slicker on their car. In their lawsuit. Weise and Young claim that it was White House event staffers Michael Casper and Jay Bob Klinkerman who detained them and ejected them from the event at the Wings Over Ihe Rockies Air & Space Museum. However. Casper and Klinkerman say they don't need to reveal who they worked for because of a "qualified immunity." Although Weise and Young had tickets to the event that focused on Social Security reform, they said they and had no intention of disrupting it. They were ejected, they said, because the White House had a policy of not letting people attend such events if their views differed from the presidents. Bauer is not part of the lawsuit. All three had obtained tickets through the office of Rep. Bob Beauprez. who supported Bush's plan for private Social Security accounts. The Secret Sen-ice launched the investigation to determine whether someone at the event had impersonated a Secret Service agent and concluded no one had. In dozens of pages of documents, the investigation points to "the staff" as being the entity responsible for deciding who saw the president and who didn't. The report also said the there are two kinds of White House staff - local and Washington. D.C.-based. Although the Secret Service agents told Weise. Young and Bauer that they couldn't help ihem. the agents did warn the trio thai they had to leave or be arrested. When the three said they had received the tickets from Beauprez* office, the agents advised them to contact Beauprez. 5652 NORTH KODIAK WAY Resort Comparison" SALES PRICE AVG. SINGLE HOME Aspen MORE EXPENSIVE $2.6M Whisltef 366% SI 23M 173% Telluride 5I.756M 247% Park City $710K 4 BR, 3.5 Bath, LR, FP, All Stainless kitchen with granite counter tops throughout house, Slate Master Bath and lots of storage. Lower level could be used as a rental. Includes swimming pool, athletic club and all yard maintenance. Completely carefree. Great Buy!! AM Bear Hollow regular single family homes and townhomes are sold out. Bear Hollow AVERAGE COST FtR SO FOOT* Single Fam. Home Condominium Get this one now. $290 $411 $725,000 Cc'nij05are4! i: 'i more expensive. With this S'ngle family home YJU get a detached hoise, 2<a\ -garage and greater appreciation rctential. BUY IN PARK CITY BEFORE IT CATCHES UP TO THE OTHER SKI RESORTS!! 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