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Show EF The Salt UkcTrtbuc Sanday, July 24 J Experts Fear Demand for Color TVs, Video Recorders Erosion So Great That New Sales Set Records the same Of Croplands total Press - Americas percent compared Commodity Glut affair By Norman Black Writer Associated WASHINGTON Misleading? - At a time WASHINGTON (AP) when the United States is drowning in a sea of surplus farm commodities, experts are concerned about what they see as a real problem of declining productivity for American agriculture. 'The fact that we have a commodity glut today does not mean that we have no resource problems, said Neil Sampson of the National Association of Conservation Districts. It means our resource damage rate is being covered up by far more dynamic factors in the market equation, Sampson said. Erosion, of course, is the main culprit, and the public debate over how to stem it has heightened in recent months. More Than Offset Losses in productivity, however, have been more than offset in recent decades by record harvests largely made possible by improved crop varieties, increased use of irrigation, fertilizers and pesticides and good weather," say Andy Walker and Judy McBride of the Agriculture Departments Agricultural Re- search Service. Degadation of productivity, however, is an accelerating and process, they point out. This years losses contribute to in- creasing losses in the years to follow. With wind and water destroying more highly fertile topsoil every year than can be naturally regenerated in decades, Congress is awash with legisltive proposals aimed at turning the erosion problem around. Crops Take Heavy Toll But the crops themselves, even when grown with sound soil conservation practices as a guide, take a heavy toll on the soil. Last years record wheat harvest took 7 million tons of phosphorus from the land. Hawaii exports from its soil about 2,200 tons of potassium each year in its pineapple crop alone. And scientists at Agricultural Research Service facilities across the nation are spending more and more time in the search for solutions to that kind of decline in soil fertility. Their efforts, ultimately aimed at Improving farm profitability, are focused on determining the exact fertilizer needs for specific crops, developing methods for the most efficient use of fertilizer, energy and water resources and finding the best way to manage fertilizers and naturally occurring nutrients to improve crop yields and quality. Stress Factors World propulation growth, the leveling off of crop yields, the conversion of prime farmland to uses, the entry of marginal lands into production, the rising costs of fertilizers and other problems are placing great stress upon the productivity of the soil, service officials say. In Lincoln, Neb., for example, ARS soil scientist John Doran found that by changing the application method for nitrogen fertilizer on farms using reduced or zero tillage, fertilizer needs can be cut at substantial cost savings while soil productivity is maintained or increased. Dorans findings could add impetus to farmer adoption of reduced or zero tillage, considered one of the n best practices available Under zero tillage, farmers today. do not regularly cultivate the soil but plant and fertilize in one pass. ll Fields No-ti- ll fields are very rich in that make the topsoil s, more active. Those however, tend to immobilize nitrogen into forms that plants cannot readily use. That causes inefficient use of nitrogen if sprayed. But Doran says that by applying nitrogen fertilizer just three or four inches below the surface, or dribbling it in narrow zones on the surface, more of it will be available to the crop. That would cut down nitrogen fertilizer needs by 15 to 25 pounds per acre, and, if forecasts for use of conanti-erosio- with television coupled love with a resurgent economy is producing an explosion in demand for color TV sets and video cassette recorders, new sales figures show. So great is the demand that manufacturers have set sales records during the first half of 1983, even though the first half of any year is normally slower than the second. Theres definitely a boom under way, said Allan D. Schlosser, a spokesman for the Electronic Industries Association, the largest trade group. What were seeing is an explosion in video cassettee recorder sales and new records for color TV sets. Sales of video cassette record ers, or VCRs, which can be used to record TV programs or to play back videtaped movies, spurted, more than 100 percent during the first half of 1983 compared with the same period last year, the ELA said Wednesday. The EIA regularly charts the weekly sales of electronic manufacturers to retailers. While no figures are available on how many TV sets or VCRs are actually purchased by consumers each week, the EIA tabulations provide a good industrywide perspective, Schlosser said. And we can assume these products are finding their way into the homes of consumers, or retailers wouldnt keep buying, he added. According to the EIAs count for the first 26 weeks of 1983, VCR sales to retailers jumped 113 per cent compared with period in 1982, to a of 1.6 million. During June alone, VCR sales rose 147 with the same month last year, from 140,786 to 348,414. VCRs are emerging now as a mass market item, Schlosser said. It took color television 11 years to sell a million units in one year. It took only six years for VCRs to reach that plateau, back in 1981. And now its exploding. If we assume sales for the entire year will reach 3.5 million, and I think thats conservative, there will be between 9 million and 10 million VCRs in use across the country, he added. As for color TV sets, manufacturers sold a record 6.1 million new sets to retailers during the first half of 1983, FR. cp m b (FOR YOUR APPLE) $ WORTH jil! with purchase of Micro Pro Word Star or Info Star MicroPro now helps you expand the capabilities of your or HE) computer with a FREE CPM Board. If Apple (II, you already have CPM, MicroPro will give you $100 off Word Star or infostar to install on your Apple Computers. 11 Expires August 31 Sm us lor CPM on thtCommodofsM We Carry Software For: Cost Dental Insurance Due to Rise Reduced patient flow and higher overhead charges will have most dental insurance plan providers paying more for the coverage. ' Dental insurance premiums, say officials of several major health in- -, surers, rose an average of 7 percent to 9 percent last year. Much of the increase, they say, was fueled by higher dental service fees. Higher dental fees, they note, were in most cases caused because dentists and other dental service providers sought to supplement the reduction of patients by raising fees esor encouraging some patients pecially those with dental insurance to have more expensive, coverage services performed. Commodore 64 VIC 20 Franklin Compaq and many more Apple TRS 80 IBM PC Atari Tl Kay Pro Eagle PC With the economy as it is, dentists probably are seeing more insured patients and may be more aggressive in getting them to have more work done, explained Joseph Walton, director of marketing for the Connecticut General benefit plan division of the Connecticut General Insurance Co., a unit of f 10--7 Moru-F- d. Sat. 4720 So. Highland Dr. Cottonwood Suare Softwaire 10--6 Store" 272-942- 5 Cigna Corp. You wont be Interested in a condominium unless you are interested in . '9 ...Golf. Were right ...Water Sports. 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