m
J.
12 THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1981
National
Help with management decisions
Computers benefit farming
Pj United Press International
w Jack Scarth and his son, Pat,
yj wanted to plant sunflowers on 260
rn acres of their Panhandle farm last
pjyear but a microcomputer told
them soybeans would be better.
The computer’s decision made
them an extra $20,000.
‘‘We could have run those fi
gures up with a calculator but we
probably wouldn’t have,” Scarth
said. “And it wouldn’t have been
with the same speed or accuracy
the computer provided.”
Rising production costs, which
mean smaller profit margins, and
the fluctuating prices for agricul
tural products have placed an in
creasing importance on manage
rial skills for Texas producers. And
farmers are finding out more and
more that such skills can be ac
quired with a computer.
“Without our computer, we’d
have grown sunflowers instead of
soybeans last year,” said the youn
ger Scarth. “Sunflowers looked
like the best crop for those acres,
but using the crop budget prog
ram, the computer said soybeans
would bring $88 an acre more than
sunflowers.”
After less than a year, the
Scarths have saved far more than
the cost of the $7,000 computer.
The Scarths’ computer, which is
linked to an agricultural computer
network established by Texas
A&M University, includes a video
display terminal, a printer and in
formation storage capabilities.
The family purchased their
computer after seeing a demon
stration by Dr. Ray Sammons, a
Texas A&M extension service eco
nomist from Amarillo. The pilot
program developed by Sammons
has paid rich dividends to the
Scarths, who farm a 2,000-acre
grain and livestock operation at
Texline and Stratford in the Texas
Panhandle.
Sammons is now conducting
“hands on” computer demonstra
tions for farmers and developing
programs to help them in their
management decisions. The prog
rams include crop, livestock, irri
gation and land price budgets,
which enable producers to predict
profits or losses on the basis of
current information about his or
her own situation.
“Agriculture produce prices
were fairly stablized until the mid
1970s,” Sammons recently told a
group of farmers gathered in Lub
bock for his demonstration. “But
since 1975, prices have started to
fluctuate and can change more in
one week than they would have
over several years.”
He told the group that to main
tain a standard level of living, pro-
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if
ducers must grow faster than infla
tion and that better managerial
skills could be attained through
the use of computers.
He told the group that farmers
in the future will use electronic
transponders to locate animals im
planted with special sensors and
that the computer will “flag” an
animal that has not moved for sev
eral hours — pointing it out for
special attention.
He said computers will measure
the amount and temperature of
milk obtained from dairy cows and
— by recognizing each cow by a
neck chain — develop a feeding
schedule based on each cow’s pro
duction.
Sadat’s death reminds
first lady of own tragedy
United Press International
WASHINGTON — First
Lady Nancy Reagan told aides
as she watched the reports of
Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat’s assassination, “It brings
it all back.”
Mrs. Reagan, who tried un
successfully to reach Sadat’s
widow, Jihan, Tuesday before it
was known that the Egyptian
leader had died from his
wounds, Wednesday called the
wives of two of the three Amer
icans who were wounded in the
shooting as they sat on the re
viewing stand in Cairo.
The first lady was able to
reach Helen Agenbroad, the
wife of Marine Maj. Jerald
Agenbroad stationed at MacDill
Air Force Base, Fla., and Lil
Loney, wife of Air Force Lt.
Col. Charles Loney stationed at
Bolling Air Force Base in
Washington, D.C., an aide
said.
She was attempting to reach
Patty Ryan, the wife of Air
Force Capt. Christopher Ryan
stationed at Stuttgart, West
Germany.
Sheila Tate, Mrs. Reagan’s
spokeswoman, said the first
lady talked for a few ininutesto
each woman “to express her
concern and relief that they
were okay.
“She said one of the women
told her, T really identified with
you yesterday.’”
The comment was a refer
ence to the March 30 attempt
on the president’s life.
Mrs. Reagan, who watched
televised accounts of the
tragedy Tuesday, told her
aides, “You tend to relive your
own experience” as the events
unfold.
"It brings it all back.”
i
“A computer is a good place to
play the ‘what if game,” he said.
“You can find out what will hap
pen if prices go up or down, or if
there’s a drought or flood.”
Sammons said farming had
changed drastically since the last
generation and that “with diffe
rent times, you need different
tools.”
Haig warns foreign powers
against intervention in Egypt e
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Secretary
of State Alexander Haig Wednes
day warned foreign powers against
attempting to intervene in Egypt’s
political affairs in, the uncertainty
created by the assassination of
President Anwar Sadat.
During a nationally broadcast
news conference, Haig reaffirmed
the commitment of the U.S. gov
ernment to working with Egypt in
seeing the Camp David peace pro
cess successfully implemented.
In the absence of Sadat, who
signed the accords with Israeli
Prime Minister Menachem Begin
in 1979, Haig said the United
States will maintain its role in the
peace process and its full support
of the Egyptian government.
Haig characterized Sadat’s kill
ing as an isolated assassination plot
by Islamic “religious fanatics’
within the Egyptian military
rather than a broadbased coup.
However, he warned other na
tions against exploiting the politic
al instability that might exist in the
aftermath of the killing.
“We view with great concern at
this juncture any effort by an ex
ternal power to manipulate the
tragic events of the last 24 hours,”
he said.
While he did not specify any
nation or political faction that
might seek to profit from the assas
sination, the Reagan administra
tion, like Sadat, has been con
cerned about the designs of neij
boring Libya and its radical leat|
er, Col. Moammar Khadafy, i
northern Africa.
Only last week, Sadat sentl
vice president and likely succes
sor, Hosni Mubarak, to Washin|
ton for high-level talks that in
eluded discussions of a building
confrontation between Libyan
forces and U.S.-and Egyptian
backed Sudanese troops alongtk
Sudanese border.
Haig said U.S. efforts to achieve
a lasting peace in the volatile Mid
dle East “must not ignore the
threat offerees inside and outside
the region, forces whose interes leas a
are antagonistic to every countn an a
in the area.”
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