BRANO SEED CORN PIONEER 1 brand products are sold

I !

Ill rf 1

or

/

^

y ^{JB r}

W ^hen

^it

^comes

^to

baseball

. ..well,

my Dad and

I

don't exactly

see

eye

to eye.

But we do agree on some

things.

Like which seed corn

is

the best

for

our farm. And

that's

Pioneer® brand hybrids.

Over the

years,

we've found

that

Pioneer hybrids always seem

to

come out on

top.

And with

that

kind of record, we plan on sticking with Pioneer

for a

long time.

Yeah, my Dad sure knows

^i ^^his seed corn. Too bad

1

l^^x^B ^{he doesn't pick}

^his

^rbaseball teams the

-(

same way.

r.

- At least

we ^{agree on}

our seed corn.

vf

i

Living,

Learning & Planting

A new

vo-aginstructor fora

new

vo-ag high school.

Chicago's First

Vo-Ag School

By

Michael Wilson

Farmers

^{are proudof}their ability to

make

their land produce in abun- dance. Butone midwestern farmis

now

producingsomething

much more

valu- ablethancornorsoybeansorcattle.It's

growing

young

agricultural leaders for the future.

The

"Chicago High Schoolfor Agri- cultural Sciences," located on an old farmonthesouthwestsideofthe nation's second-largest city, has captured the attention ofageducation and industry leaders

who

areconcerned bya potential

"braindrain"in agricultural training.

The

high schoolisappropriatelybuilt

on a 72-acre plot, which local citizens refer toas Chicago's last farm.

The

ag science

program

has beencalled oneof themostexciting

new

ideasinvocational education: for one thing, its non-"pro- duction ag" curriculum is further evi-

dence of increasing emphasis on high-

skill, high-tech agricultural training. In addition, the school'sstudentsarefrom urbanbackgrounds, continuingthetrend of vocational agriculture education in non-rural areas.

The

schoolopenedinearlySeptember with ¹40freshmenstudentsandwilladd anadditionalclassofthatsizeeachyear.

During the students' first

two

years, studies

encompass

broad, exploratory

Dr. Ellen Summerfield is the principal workingto bringagricultural education toChicagoareastudents.

it/Am

areas,fromagricultural mechanicsand career counseling to marketing. In the finaltwoyears, specializationwillbein

one of four areas; agribusiness, food

science,agriculturaltechnologyandhort- iculture.

Some

students with special interestscanbuildan independentstudy inanyagriculture-related field.

Garry

Raymond,

the school'smaster teacher, has the responsibility ofcoor- dinatingthenewly-established teaching

staff,whichincludes threevo-agteachers.

"It'saconceptthat'stime hascome,"

says theseven-yearvo-ag teacher from Hampshire, Illinois.

"Urban

agriculture

is something that's very necessary. It's

generating alotofsupportfromaround the nation."

Mr.

Raymond

says school planners studied otherurbanvocationalagricul- ture programs, such as those at Phila- delphia,

New York

and Miami. Experts at the University ofIllinois College of Agriculturehelpeddevelopthe school's curriculum.

Students

who

successfully complete four years ofcourse

work

will qualify for several options: to enter the

work

force, enter a

community

college, or entera

two

or four-yearuniversitypro-

gram

tostudyagriculture.

"We're trying to determine

how we

canbest meetthe needs ofthe Chicago agriculturepopulation," says Mr. Ray-

mond.

Chicago and Minneapolis, for example, are considered hubs of the nation'sfood science industry.

To

be eligible, eighth-grade students had to have achieved test scores at or abovegradelevelinreadingand mathe- matics; have

good

academicand atten- dancerecordsⁱⁿseventhandeighth grades;

and have an interest in agricultural sciences, says Dr. Ellen Summerfield, the school's principal.

The

final requirement, an interest in agricultural sciences,iswhat

makes

this school different from others, says Mr.

Raymond.

Whileothersubjectssuchas English,scienceand

math

are alsotaught at theschool, itsprimaryfunctionisto teachagriculture.

"This is what

we

call a 'magnet'

school, onethat specializesinaspecific area,"explains Mr.

Raymond.

The

Last

Farm

The new

agriculturalscience

program

didn'tappearovernight,though.^Ittook

lotsof

work —

and convincing

— on

the part of concerned local citizens

who

wanted to see "Chicago's Last

Farm"

turned into something useful for the surrounding

Mount Greenwood com-

munity.

Many

wanted the farm pre- served.

And

so the battle over what to

do

with the farm began in 1980,

when

the owners,theChicago BoardofEducation, proposed sale of the land. After

much

debate, a petitionwith 9,000 signatures and heated letters in local newspapers, theboard

was

convincedthatpreserving the farm and opening the

new

school would bebestforeveryone.

Fortunately, the decision was

made

easier by the fact that the farmland already had a school building

on

the grounds.

"We

plan to take sections of landeachyearand developa nursery, a three-hole golfcourse

and

eventuallya grain and livestock facility," he says.

"We

alsoplanto leavealarge

amount

in fruitandvegetable production. Eventu- ally we'll open

up

asection for student plots,where each student maintainsan areaandisresponsibleforplantgrowth and profit." Inaddition,the sevenagri- culturalclassroomswillhaveaccesstoa greenhouseforhorticultureandfloricul- tureclasses.

A

3,000-square-foot green- house will be completed by

November

of this year and other building will follow.

FFA:

Providing Diversity

The

school will also be one of the newest FutureFarmersofAmericachap- ters. Mr.

Raymond

hopes the goal- settingactivitiesof

FFA

willbeanother motivating factor behind his students' agtraining.

"Agricultureischanging," hesays."It

must changetokeepup.This schoolwill address those

new

changes

—

^itwillbeon

theleadingedge of technology. •••

The\orionalFUTURE

FARMER

^SMmMMiSmMMM

Que ^Place InTheWgst

You Don't Ride\bur Horse

I

9*W*t

^helengthofastakeropearoundthe I

m

^{Ic^luc'4}

^wa

^{Sonbelongstothecook.}

I

M. ^And

^{y°udon't"devourhorseinto}

Imm^J

hiscircleIt'saserious ruleyou

breakatyour

own

risk.

Thecook's short fuseislegend.

He

has reason.

Up

^twohours before the hands.Cook withdriedcowchips.Clean, load,hitch,

moveoutahead, thendoitallagain. He's

where"touchyasa

camp

cook"camefrom.

Hisstaplesaremeat,biscuits,coffeeGood workwithbeansisaplus,sweets amark

ofgreatness.

Thecookisa prizedcommodity.

A

good cowboynever questions the cook.

And

he

neverrideshishorseintothekitchen.

Thechuckwagoncook...and AbileneBoots.Legendsof

the

New

West.™

%i-

fe

TffW.',

'''.&

Jmtp

I

mm

l^etMIs0K

\ew ⁱⁿ A ^{g riculture}

Easy,on-the-goslicer

gang

adjustment^is

now

availableonGlencoe SoilSavers.Featuresofthe

new gang

adjusterincludeadjustment

up

to 10-inches above the

ground

tool, choice of hydraulic or ratchet jackadjustment,easyinstallation,^3'2-inchdiameterheavy wall tubing pivot shaft

and

greaseable bearings. Available as optionalequipmentforall

new and

existingstandardandstretch7, 9, 11and13shankGlencoeSoilSavers, Portable ElevatorDivision,

920EastGroveSt.,Bloomington,IL 61702.

Lightweight and whisper quiet is

how Honda Power

Equipment describes itsnewest entry into theportablegenerator market.Itweighs152

pounds

and hascarryinghandles makingiteasytotrans- port.

The EX2200

is

powered

by Honda's

OHV GX140

enginethatshuts

down

automatically before theoil leveldrops belowa safe operational level.

Alsofeaturessimultaneous

AC/DC

output.

A new

feeder/mixer wagon, the

Ag-Bag Auger

Blender, thatfeaturessixareasofmixingactionhas been

added

^to the line of forage machines by

Ag-Bag

Corporation, Astoria,

OR

97103.

The new wagons come

ina190-bushel, 260-bushel

and

320-bushel capacity.

An

optional Eaton scaleisavailableforweighingfeedsinandout.

Left,

DairyTRACK,

acomputerizeddairyherd

manage- ment

system for on-farm use, has been introduced by Control Data Corporation's Agricultural Products and Services Division.

The

system maintains accurate indi- vidual

cow

andherd recordsforproduction, reproduction, health

and management. DairyTRACK

also produces barn sheets so producers cantrack

and

record events suchasheatchecks, breedings,preg checks, freshenings andvet checks. Itrunson the

IBM PC and

compatible computers and is availablefordual floppy orhard disk systems. Theiraddressis1450Energy ParkDr.,

Box

26, St. Paul

MN

55108.

The

NeptureHi-Prosubmersible

pump

fromA.O. Smith Harvestore Products, Inc. ispart of a completereception

pitsystemforliquidmanure.For topefficiency,the

pump

can be

moved

toserve

more

thanonepit.

Powered

by 20

h.p. motor, the 550-pound

pump

can

move

up to 1,000 g.p.m. of liquid manure.

The pump

is available in two versions,including

one

for 6- to 8-feet

deep

pitsand one forup to10-feetpits.

50 The\ationalFITlRE

FARMER

We ^{can both profit}

from the ^fruit of our labor.

We'reSeald-Sweet Growers, anagriculturalcooperativeinFloridasince 1909,Aslong-timesupportersofthe FutureFarmersofAmerica,

we

wanttotellyouthateverytimeyousellour sweet.

juicynavels, grapefruitandoranges aspart ofyourfund-raisingefforts,

we

allprofit.

You'll profitbecausetherecognizedquality ofourpremiumfresh citrus

makes

foraneasier sale andgreatercustomer satisfaction.We'reFlorida'sonlynationallyadvertisedlineofcitrus.

You'll profitevenfurtherbecauseyou'llbestrengthening theposition offarmers-exactlythepeopleyouaspiretobe Tolearnmoreabout

how we

canbothprofitfromthe laboroffarmerscall

Tom

Cowan,TollFreeat1-800-237-7525.

Andremember,

when

youdobusinesswith us.everybodygains.

Seald-Sweet Growers, ^Inc.

Tampa,

Florida (813)

223-7441

orTollFreeat1-800-237-7525