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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 20, 1986)
(t, Hyundai, Kay ODD & ENDS | Cocktail, End 4 Monday, October 20, 1986/The Batta'ion/Fage 5 waiibb farmers paid to leave land uncultivated ; 29 s 4 Drawer Chest 'eg* Texas land joins anti-erosion project rnte lay!” Pieces ds town 6p.m. arsal, Pulaski oad By Mark Beal Reporter Busily eroded land from 2,918 Texas farms irecrntly accepted into the Conservation Re- pene Program brings the total Texas acreage inlhe federal program to more than one mil lion acres. In the program — an offshoot of the 1985 fann law — farmers and landowners with determined by the Soil Conservation Ivice to be highly erodible will receive com pensation for crops not grown if they agree to take that land out of production for the next lOyears. Bayments will be determined by bids made byiarmers to the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service based on estima tion' of the land’s expected yield and its pro- luction history. ■ he average bid accepted by the ASCS for as farms is $29.53 per acre, but has relched as high as $55 per acre for land in theRio Grande Valley. Of the 45 million acres of land expected to be included in the Conservation Reserve Pro gram by the end of its five-year sign-up pe riod, about 25 percent will be in Texas. Cur rently Texas land accounts for only about 12 percent of the almost nine million acres in the program nationwide. In addition to leaving their land unculti vated, farmers in the program will be re quired to take measures to prevent erosion by planting grass or trees. The costs for this will be split equally be tween the farmers and the government. B.L. Harris, soils specialist for the Texas Agricultural Extension Service at Texas A&M, says the Soil Conservation Service de fines highly erodible land as land with sandy soil, deep soil with a slope greater than 2 to 2'A degrees or shallow soil with a slope greater than 1 to HA degrees. Variations in the slope specifications take into account the amount of sand or clav in the soil. Harris says Texas has more acres affected by wind erosion than any other state. He estimates that 60 percent to 70 percent of all farms in Texas include at least some land which would be defined as highly erodi ble. “We have a unique situation in Texas, where the type of soil and climate come to gether to make it particularly susceptible to wind erosion,” he says. He says Texas’ cotton growers are hit par ticularly hard because of the loose soil re quired for that type of farming. In addition to incentives from the Soil Con servation Program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed rules to prevent farmers from cultivating highly erodible farmlands or converting wetlands to farm land by making those farmers ineligible for any money from the Agricultural Stabiliza tion and Conservation Service or the Commo dity Credit Corporation, Harris says. This would cut them off from disaster pay ments, storage facility loans, crop insurance, price supports, and income supports. He says these are funds most Texas farmers receive. Harris says that while the prograro—- the first to link soil conservation to government subsidies :— will result in conservation of Texas’ highly erodible soil, it also will result in Some loss of self-determination for farmers. “It will lead to the protection of fragile riat- ural resources,” he says. “That’s the good side. On the dark side, the program will re place the decision making of landowners by federal agencies.” Harris says landowners c5n find a descrip tion of the Conservation Reserve Program’s provisions in the June 27 Federal Register and can send their comments to the U.S. De partment of Agriculture. The USDA will ac cept comments on the program through Sat urday. JAES official: Agriculture has potential for growth >0Ut ities! By Jody Kay Manley Reporter [exas agriculture has plenty of lor growth, the director of the jT^as Agricultural Experiment Sta- H] said at a seminar Saturday in the Bnioiial Student Center. J)i. Neville Clarke discussed the [growth potential for Texas agricul ture in the presentation to members oftheTexas Farm Bureau. abilities U N l I M I T E GIVE A TASTEFUL GIFT pcorn Chocolates Gift Baskets wn & Country Shopping Center 37 E 29th St 268-4001 ■pEH/. ss Auto Service “Auto Repair At Its Best” General Repairs bn Most Cars & Light Trucks Domestic & Foreign QPEN MON-FRI 7:30-5:30 |o/V£ DA Y SER VICE /TV MOS T CASES CALL FOR APPOINTMENT 846-5344 Just one mile north of A&M On the Shuttle Bus Route 111 Royal, Bryan Across S. College From Tom's B-B-Q pawl KROY LETTERING • Reports • Flyers • Charts kinko # s 201 College Main 846-8721 nei; iCHULMAN THEATR15 irteentl nnual entB 1 lectori ontcst 2.50 ADMISSION II. Any Show Before 3 PM |2^Tuesday - All Seats }. Won-Wed - Local Students With 1 Current ID’s. [hurs. - KORA “Over 30 Nile” •DENOTES DOLBY STEREO 1 226 Southwest Pkwy 693-2457; ROCODIUE DUNDEE ra 13 DP GUN po inor East Mall 823-8300 Entry I ruthless people r »eadlinq rtoberSi 1986 [2002 E. 29th 1 STAMP BY MEr UGH GUYS po SCHULMAN 6 775-2463 ibian| LNGHAI SURPRISE re 13 CODE NAME: WILD GEESE r KKYS 105 Presents $ DOLLAR DAYS $ fthis Week's Features Are: KARATE KID H rc NOTHING IN COMMON re-ta Evans Lite] ALIENS ps-13 In addition, Dr. Zerle Carpenter, director of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, spoke on the long-range plans in agriculture. Clarke said the growth potential for agriculture includes support by higher education, a growing in-state market, a state population of 20 mil lion by the year 2000, a central loca tion for marketing, an extensive ru ral road network and port facilities. Texas has more than 60 impor tant commodities and a distributed extension of research, he said. He also said Texas needs support from the users of research: the polit ical, financial and technical areas. Clarke said initiatives being intro duced in agriculture include inte grated farming systems, biotechno logy, pest control, food quality and value added. An example of value added would be producing a better quality of cot ton rather than a higher yield. “We are trying to understand what the consumer wants,” Clarke said. Carpenter said planning groups in each county decide what the most critical issues in their counties are. About 4,900 critical issues were identified, and then reduced to a dozen major issues. The major issues included agri cultural diversification, water quality and conservation, leadership devel opment and economic development. The marketing of agricultural and natural resource products also was identified as a major issue. West Texas city plans acquifer rights lawsuit SAN ANGELO (AP) — Offi cials in this West Texas city say they may sue a Hill Country wa ter district to protect their right to pump water from an acquifer they helped develop. The suit Would challenge rules created by the Hickory Under ground Water District last year that control the exporting of wa ter from the Hickory Sand Ac quifer. City officials believe the rules may block San Angelo from using water it owns in the freshwater acquifer that lies under parts of Concho, Menard, McCulloch, San Saba, Llano and Mason coun ties. In July 1985, the Hickory Wa ter District established rules re quiring a permit to export water from the district, setting an appli cation fee, and giving the district board the right to charge a water user fee. Under the rules, San Angelo water officials must tell the dis trict how the water it exports will affect water quality and quantity within the district. The board also would have the right to deny a permit if it felt the exportation would adversely effect the ac quifer. The San Angelo City Council plans to meet with the water dis trict attorney Tuesday. You’ll get first hand experience in the court room right from the start. In three years, you could handle more than 3,000 cases in a wide variety of subjects from international to con tracts to criminal law. If you think you have what it takes to be a Marine Corps Officer and lawyer, talk with the Marine Corps Officer Selection Officer when he visits your campus. More than 190,000 Marines could use, your service. Heir looking fora fengoixl men. TO SCHOOL rets Meet Capt Mahany at the Memorial Student Center October 28 - 30, November 4 - 6 or call 846-9030.