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Parmesan Cheese - Tossed Green Salad
Choice of Salad Dressing — Hot Garlic Bread
Page 2-The Agriculturist-April 13, 1982
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Agriculture Means Business
...editorials
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You’ve no doubt heard that
“orangejuice isn’tjust for break
fast anymore.” With the changes
that agriculture is going
through, a new motto for the
farmer might soon be “a farmer
isn’tjust a farmer anymore.”
A farmer must be a business
man, manager, producer and a
good ’ole boy.
The businessman-farmer
often buys computers to help
him with his farming operation.
The computer not only gives vit
al information about weather,
current commodities exchange
prices, budgets, break-even
prices and cost of production,
but it also helps the farmer fi
gure taxes and do financial
analysis.
As a mananger, the farmer
must know about range control
practices, common diseases and
their cures, and budgeting time
and money.
Production consists of know
ing what to plant, when to plant,
how to grow, when and how to
harvest. Or, in the case of anim
als, how to care for them and
what or where to go if something
goes wrong.
Farmers are slowly but surely
going broke, and the good ’ole
boy image is going down the
tubes with the days of profit.
People not involved in agricul
ture have never considered agri
culture an industry, not really.
Farmers, like everyone else in
the job market, want to make a
profit. But with rising interest
rates, high fuel costs and sky
rocketing production costs, it’s
getting harder and harder for
the farmer to make a buck.
Farms are getting larger and
fewer, and there are relatively
few new-comers. Father Farmer
is sending his son to college to
major in business or some type
of agriculture. But rarely is the
son returning to the farm to con
tinue where dad left off.
If Father Farmer doesn’t have
a son, he might sell out and he
and Mama move into the big
city, or he hires someone to take
over.'
Producing more is almost a
sin in agriculture now-a-days.
The government is urging far
mers to set aside land for conser
vation, rotate crops and use
energy more effieciently.
After all, the more the farmer
produces, the more there is on
the market. And the more there
is on the market, the lower the
price goes... unless, of course,
the harvest isn't successful be
cause of disease or bad weather
or insects.
In any other business, if loss
follows loss, the entrepreneur
gets the heck out. He sells and
moves on. If farmers sold out
alter the first unprofitable year,
we would now be eating saw
dust, dirt or boiled tree bark.
But farmers can’t do that!
They have a solemn duty to feed
us, regardless of whether they
make money or not. After all. we
certainly can’t be expected to
feed ourselves, can we?
Farmers may not be the best
businessmen in the world, but
they deserve a .... of a lot of cre
dit lor facing their many ene
mies and not throwing in the
spade, --kit and val-
By DOYLE GOUGLER
There is an old joke about the
quickest way to empty a building
full of Aggies. Yelling “fire!” is
expedient. But to stampede
them to the exits, yell
“grammar!”
Grammar is a seven-letter,
naughty word to too many stu
dents. It conjures up memories
of severe old battle-ax English
teachers, sentence diagram
ming, complex rules and other
horrors. Or, sadly, maybe the
word produces no memories at
all.
Every semester when I teach
Journalism 350, I sermonize on
the beauty and the power and
the dignity of precise, simple
English. There is real pleasure
and satisfaction in honing a sent
ence to a fine edge and in know
ing that the effect is grammatic
ally correct.
Each word, 1 tell the HO to 90
students (who are already tun
ing me out), must do a job in a
sentence. If a word does not per
form a specific service, cull it.
Continuing my ranting, I tell
them that much of their future
career success will depend upon
their ability to communicate
clearly and effectively in writing.
And the best way to write exactly
what is meant is to use proper
grammar, punctuation, spelling
and simple hut accurate wnk
By this time, half the class
asleep and the other halfsatiffi
tion span has spanned out.
Yet there are students nk
will rise and challenge thentf:
for skill in grammar. Is iu«
possible, they ask, to coramuit
cate quickly and clearly witte
being a whiz in English?
Yes, it’s possible,andit’sdoU
with some frequency. But thin!
how much easier a conimunt
tions job is when the writeriii
confident and skilled smithyd
words and sentences. And wb
about the pride of turning out!
well-sculptured sentence?
Grammar needn’t be sw
and complex. There is noned
to memorize many rules. Gw
mar is nothing more than lit
way words work together it
sentences. If the words don!
agree among themselves, ih
sentence seldom says what tin
writer intends. A writer usual
can produce a concise though
he will pause and analyze lkt
words and how they relafeit
eac h other.
All this doesn’t ineairtb
everyone should be a larigua?
snob, an attitude almost as tire |
some as the language slob.jusn [
little more thought and care®
sentenc e structure and Ip j
more appreciation forsimpli
would work wonders.
THE AGRICULTURIST
Editor: Kitty Fraley
Assistant Editor: Valerie S. Clark
Production Editor: Scott Hill
Advertising Managers: Cathy Anderson
Ann Ramsbottom
Photo Editor: Michael Raulerson
Faculty Advisor: Doyle Gougler
The Agriculturist is a publication by the Agricultural
Communicators of Tomorrow at Texas A&M Univer
sity. Agricultural journalism students are responsi
ble for writing, photography, editing, advertising
sales and layout.
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Cover picture courtesy
of James Vance.