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Show WHAT IS HOT-HREADY ? • LAT9C cftccas or pcpperon) ptzzM hot out of the oven and rcat*/ wften you arel No need to call ahcddi No need rn wait) No llmttl Com and pick-up a large chcctcior pcppcronl pizza for lust f*e bucksl AggieiifeWi Agriculture Week at USU: 2006 Wednesday, Sept. 27, the college will celebrate Ag Day on the Quad from 11 a.m-1 p.m. The ''Drive for Goir golf tournament will be held at Birch Creek Golf Course in Smithfield beginning at 6 p.m. The Punt, Pass and Kick Contest kicks offatRomney Stadium at 10 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 27. The College ofAgriculture Awards and Honors Reception will begin at 5:45 p.m., followed by a banquet at 6:30 p.m. in the TSC ballroom. LARGE PIZZA oo Career Services Presents Grad School Fair Wednesday, October 11,2006 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. TSC, 2nd floor, Sunburst lounge ist of schools visit www. usu ,edu/career • i.onv 1 -. >•, <•)'.'. . ! 7 . ' 7 Take The Lead With An Our employees take inbound calls to assist DirecTV customers with product and service inquiries. If you can provide excellent customer service and you have basic computer skills, Convergys wants to talk to you! • Part-time Evening Training • Variety of Schedules, 20 to 40 hrs/wk • Excellent Tuition Reimbursement •'-•' Competitive Pay Earn up to $2.00/hr Extra on Weekends FREE DirecTV System & Programming Fun, Casual Environment Join the global leader in customer care, human resources and billing services today! Walk-ins Welcome! 1525 North 600 East Call: 435-750-1414 up anywhere near our farm, the land, equipment, cattle our property value would and sometimes even the triple," Cardon said. house," Cardon said. With increasing presExpensive equipment sures from larger dairdoesn't help, either. ies, more and more Utah "A decent, used tracfarmers are forced to leave tor will cost you at least behind their business and $30,000," Cardon said. livelihood. "A new one will run you "Every town used to have $100,000. It's like buying a house." a dairy or two, but now the only dairies up and runAnd with fluctuations ning are the big businesses," in the market, many Utah Bailey said. "They run the farmers lose out in the end. dairy 24 hours a day with "A small change in the top-of-the-line equipment. market price can make a Little guys just can't keep huge difference in your up with them." milk check at the end of the month," Cardon said. "Our The increasing cost of family has lost up to $3,000 land is also a factor in deterring many from enter- in a month just because the price dropped on us." ing the farming profession. As homes move farther out Cardon plans on pursuinto farmland, the selling ing a law degree after his prices increase dramatitime at USU. He doesn't cally, Cardon said. Not intend to return to full-time surprisingly, many farmers dairy farming. sell their land to developers "Debt and farming go rather than to other farmhand-in-hand," he said. ers. "You're always worried about how you're going to "The price of land is pay off a loan. going crazy," Bailey said. "Land that used to cost "You just can't expect to $500 an acre not too long make a decent living raising ago can cost as much as cows," he said. "It's hard to $3,000 today." Fewer people make a stable income, and I choose to enter the profesdon't want to deal with the sion, given the hefty startheadache." up costs. ~jcox@ccusu.edu "If subdivisions sprang From page 4 Inbound Customer Service Representatives • • • • ENDANGERED From page 4 almost 200 farms from the last Census conducted in 1997"Some farms are really quite profitable," Godfrey said. "They are usually the exception, though, and not the rule." While most Utah farmers might be getting by, the state's independent dairy farmers are just giving up. "We've lost about 50 percent of our dairymen in the last decade," Godfrey said. "But we haven't lost any cows. "Dairies have become much more concentrated in the hands of fewer hands," ' he said. "A lot of small dairies are dropping out." Cache Valley residents may have noticed the change, as the county ranks number one in the state in the number of milk cows. "Our family goes to bankruptcy auctions all the time," said Drew Cardon, a graduate student studying economics. His family owns a dairy farm in Benson, on the west end of Cache Valley. Many of the valley's dairymen have gone out of business in recent years, he said. "When a farm goes under, the bank will sell off • CARNIVOROUS PLANTS Industry Pro - U p to $3500/yr The final day of Ag The Ag Complex groundbreaking ac- week is Saturday, tivities begin Friday, Sept. 30. Rodeo Sept.29, at 1 p.m. at events.begin at the fairgrounds at 9 a.m. USU's South Farm, At 1 p.m. the Ag3580 S. Highway gies take on Idaho 89/91 in Wellsville. in a football game A college rodeo in USU's Romney begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Cache County Stadium. Events confairgrounds, 400 S. clude at 7 p.m. with the college rodeo at 500 West,Logan. the Cache County fairgrounds. this day, the most effective and efficient form of booger removal. I'm also a big fan of their tan, which I sport today. Like everyone, I know when the whole world goes to crap farmers will be the only ones with food. Guys like me will be stuck eating tasty HTML markup. Mmmm ... bold tags. So I decided it was time to do a little research and learn the truth about agriculture and the college thereof. Keep in mind while I'm telling this story, "research" and "proof" are very subjective words that should be read with an open mind. For the record, so are "guilty" and "crimes against humanity/nature." It turns out the College of Agriculture is working to improve the crops grown around the world. Now that we as a species have created such horticulture masterpieces as seedless watermelon, tangerines and Twinkies, is there really anywhere else we can go with farming? I don't know, but I know what they should do. I thought of it when I saw that show the "Little Shop of Horrors" (I thought it was "Whores," don't ask) and combined what I learned from it with what I've learned from Mario and it hit me. This is what USU needs to put us on the map: Giant, meat-eating plants. There is it. I just blew your mind. No underwear involved. Think of the possibilities of such a product. Since we are what we eat, it only follows that if we feed one of these right, we'd have fruit that tastes like bacon. Farmers would save a bundle on scarecrows. It's not just the agricultural advantages that excite me. Imagine the home applications. It would be the ultimate pet for guys like me. I'm bad with plants. I'm bad with animals. But since two negatives make a positive, a plant/animal thing would be perfect. I'd keep it outside during the summer and snuggle it for warmth in the winter. I would name something fittingly threatening like Boaz the Destroyer or Mr. Watson (after my junior high vice principal). ; They best thing about a1 4-foot tall intelligent carnivorous plant is it would basically take care of itself. When I forget to feed it, it could just rely on its natural photosynthesis. If I forget to water it, it could just drink the blood of the innocent. Everybody wins. Except the innocent, but they're used to losing, because they're losers. So Ag students, if you're reading, stop wasting your time making soybeans that are more resistant to infection and make something the world could really use: plants that will eat the neighbor's annoying dog. You'll be glad you did. Geek on. Steve Shinney is senior in computer science and is banned from the local nursery. Comments and questions can be sent to steveshinney@cc.usu.edu. CONVERGYS ••••• Outthinking. Outdoing. Applications also accepted on-line www.convergys.com Converges Is an EOE/M/F/D/V DIRECTV. The Bombshell Exchange: 37 West Center Street, Downtown Logan: 753.3626 ,.--,.. m?rpT^nm.1tomb^iiw.ch3P^ »BfiIKG THIS AD IN FOR A FREE PAIR OF FLIP FLOPS« Friday Night Activity: Ice Skating Sept. 26th 8:30-11:30pm Eccles Ice Rink 2825 N. 200 E. - Come and enjoy Ice Skating and Food catered by Fire House Pizza! All admission, skate rental, and food is free. So don't wait, come skate! |