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Show Agriculture Farm and garden news fromlocal and national writers Jrban Sprawl Takes Over, Aerial Spraying Disappearing By JOSEPHINE ZIMMERMAN Farm-Garden Editor In another five years, I doubt if ll be able to use a planein this val *y for spraying Says Rex oodhouse, of Spanish Fork, in a re they've beenin the revious years itees are down from normal. ‘They're lefiuitely down from the average year Healso has done some weedcontrol spraying recently, dropping weedicides he notes, but nt interview. Heis one of four aerial to control Bur Buttercup, and has tay pilots at the Spanish Fork Air ort It's tough. The areais getting con- planted grain by airplaine. The plane spreads a 45 to 50-foot swath of chemical. He knows howthe crops are growing ken over Utah County: in fact, I don’t Someof the wheat was hit by frost You can tell becauseit is too white He has requests lately for night sted with homes, Urban sprawl has telieve there's a full 40-acre cropfield ft in the county."’ he declares. Woodhouse says federal restrictions rohibit sprayingof toxic chemicalsfor eedor insect control within 500 feet of ny house ‘Our business is coming to an end ast; we've stayed in it primarily for serial fertilizer spreading, more than nsect or weed control.” Woodhouse keeps track of spraying to protect the bees, which are only active during the daytime. ‘It’s not too bad, but you have to knowwhere the fields are.” he com: ments. One of the planes is equipped with floodlights on the undersides of the wings, then he has spotters on the ground with flashlights to indicate the field boundaries. “It's good because mostof the other business. This year, the team expects insects are moreactive at night. The to spray 60,000 acres of cropland and spraying is usually done between mid50,000 acres of mosquito breeding night and 4 a.m.” Teas. Rexis philosophic about the dangers The companyhas four specially-built of aerial spraying, commenting, and equipped spray planes, and four “There are a few who don't makeit.” men to operate them — Tom, Allen, But he added, ‘‘My dad walked away and Rex Woodhouse, and Dennis from it when he wasin his 60’s.”” Argyle. One plane has been equipped with Rex predicts grasshopper problems double wingsto give the aircraft more will overtake the entire area this year. lift and increaseits carrying capacity. I've never seen them like this."” All of the planes havea valveto eject Hesays he sprayed an area near the the load of chemicals in an emergency. Nephi airport where the grasshoppers Rex says he ejected chemicals once, were ‘‘100 to a plant.” when hefirst started spraying. “I got Ih someareasof the state, Mormon overtoo close to the mountain with the crickets are appearing by the millions. load and couldn't get the plane up, so I Rex says one area in the south where dropped the load fast and got out of he sprayed had crickets so thick ‘it trouble.” made you dizzy to watch them move He uses the type of chemicals or across the side of a building; it looked materials the people he contracts with like the whole wall was moving.” want,to do the job, and those approved Alfalfa weevils are worse than by federal regulations. agriculture in the valley becauseof his Rex Woodhouse checks aerial spray plane. Sprayjets and nightlights are on the wings. AnimalRights Resolution Posed Wheat‘Lodging’ Reduces Quality WASHINGTON(UPI) — A Cleveland congressman has introduced a resolution to establish a committee that would address the growing controversy over animal rights — the treatment of livestock and poultry produced for food But Agriculture Secretary John Block plays down the importance of the issue. “T don’t think that the animalrights issue is a very big or importantissue,”’ Blocksaid in a long-distance interview with a group of radio broadcasters. The resolution introduced late last week by Rep. Ronald Mottl, D-Ohio, would establish a 16-member Farm Animal Husbandry Committee to address the issue of treatment of animals on farms “I hope that by the creation of the Animal Husbandry Committee, a meaningful dialogue will be established betweenall farminterests and thosein- “We had the potential for one of the best grain cropsin years,” Ralph Horne, USU Extension Agent for Utah County, reported, * ‘but the grain is lodging (falling) seriously.” Horneestimated that at least 30 percent of the wheat haslodged. ‘‘It's the worse year I've seen.”” Heattributed the condition to the early, wet spring which cause the grain to have good, but spindly growth, followed by the dry period. Somefields are still standing, while others are down andwill be difficult to harvest. Hesaid the fallen wheatis difficult to pick up, and some of the wheat grains get cracked and broken in the process, resulting in a low quality harvest. Henoted that someof the wheatsuffered from the late frost. ‘‘You can see the fields or portions of fields that werehit in that last, late storm.” Hornesaid the alfalfa copehad a high yield this year, but wereof low quality becauseof attack by the alfalfa weevil. dividuals and groups concerned with the growing use of the newfarming techniques.’ Mott! said Animal rights activists criti modern livestock production techniques, including confinement of animals in small spaces so some of them never ven- ture outdoors. Theyalso criticize a resulting need to add more an- tibiotics to livestock feed to prevent spread of disease in such close quarters Producers counter that animal welfare activists unreali lly attribute human qualities to animals. Said Block: ‘‘I think livestock producers are very humanein their treatment of animals Six thousand hogs a year are produced on Block's large farm, but he doesnot use someof these modern techniques. In fact, his litters are born outdoorsin a woods rather than indoors. Where's the soap? “Itis one of the worst years for weevil; we advised the farmers to cut their hay early because ofthe insect,” The extension agent reflected that Utah County “had spring in January, February and March, then had winterin April, May and June.”’ Thelast frost hit wellpast the time whenfrost normally were over, he In new decoratorbottles to Ralph Horne Inspects Wheat brighten up your kitchen or bath Choose brown, blue or white. said. Big Fruit ave 25° Harvest on the macaroni and cheese kids like best. ALL BOOTS: So your hands can get goodandclean, feel soft and smooth So there’s never a mess at the soap dish So you can get hundreds “It tastes Chester.” That's what kids said when they picked KRAFT Macaroni and Cheese Dinner over a group of “no name”brands. In a taste test with 200 schoolkids,kids picked KRAFT Macaroni and Cheese by a margin of 2 to 1. “No name” brands of washings fromabottle and save money just can't compete with the cheesy taste of Kraft. And as momsknow,a bargain isn't a bargain if kids don't like it KRAFT Macaroni and CheeseDinner. Kidslikeit best. 25¢ 300] 0 205) New Jergens Lotion-Enriched Soap. @.8 Qo Save 25° KRAFT Macaroni and Cheese Dinners. 25¢ The namepeels off. too ROT nO SOGUOO ODOR"00000000000000000000009 when you buy o4—-7"4 o7. or ©2-14'2 o2. packagesof Ge itech over2000 por of boots Whythe soap? New Jergens® Lotion-Enriched Soap —with just the right amountof Jergens Lotion, Every time you washup, you wash onlotion. The state agency says the Utah apple crop should total 54 million pounds this year, up about 4 percent from the 1980 apple harvest. The 1981 Utah tart cherry crop should reach 10 million pounds, up 22 percent from last year. And this year’s pear output in the state is estimated at 7.6 million pounds, up 27 percent from 1980. “A significant reduction in tart cherry production in the Great Lakes states will give Utah cherry growers a bigger share of the U.S. market this year,” the service said And the United States apple harvest will be down 9 percent, which also looks good for Utah's apple growers, according to the state agency Whats the soap? 21000 110425 Me, Daal in 5 3oO 6 Q crim c i s e n ica tee iceBH ioe ||e Q 6 oO 19100 100585 g 3 STORE COUPON DOCUUOOODHUUUUUDODODODODOOOOGGGH0GC9000 o 25% OF SALT LAKE CITY (UPI) — Utah’s fruit farmers are looking forward to bumper 1981 harvests of apples, tart cherries and pears, according to the State Crop and Livestock Reporting Service. And the farmers should receive good prices for their fruit, since the nationwide outputwill be downthis summer. IDO 00000000000000} Forecast |