FARMERS & CONSUMERS Tommy Irvm, Commissioner Georgia Department of Agriculture Market Bulletin Volume 65 Bill Pttcbtd Budget Restrictions Handicap Agriculture Why are we so lucky in the USA for always having a more than adequate food supply? There are several reasons but the one reason that must stand out in thinking peoples mind is the Land Grant College System. This system has in large measure been responsible for this nation's abundant agriculture and is the model being used by countries around the globe, and by governments trying to provide adequate food for their people. U.S. consumers have the most varied, abundant and cheapest sup- ply of food of all nations. Our consumers are the direct beneficiaries of the public investment by state and federal I governments to I this system. We note that (this administration in its austere budget for FY80 raised funding for HEW by (Our guest columnist this week is W. M. Prichard, President, Ga. Soybean Associotion, P.O. Box 228, Louisville 30434.) eighteen billion dollars and gave HUD an increase of 18 percent. This same austere budget whittles away at agricultural research and extension. Agricultural research and cooperative agricultural research have been cut by 48.46 million dollars. Extension Service funds have been cut by 5.9 million dollars. The grant research funds at a 15 million dollar funding as a substitute for continuing funding from state and federal sources are a hoax and a fraud. Productive agricultural research cannot be built and maintained on grant funds. Much of the grant funds will be frittered away on short term research and by many who neither have the expertise or motivation for obtaining long range agricultural goals. The public will be the loser in this propagandistic approach to agricultural research. The world has enough land resources to feed an expanding population for many years. These resources can only be developed by science, technology and capital. As the Director of an Egyptian 60,000 acre desert reclamation project told (Continued On Page 8) FOR SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISEMENT INFORMATION SEE PAGE 2 Wednesday, March?, 1979 Number 10 QQ consumer line... Swine Diseases Worry Growers, Health Officials I just learned from my mechanic that the repairs required on my car were the result of water damage from gasoline I purchased two weeks ago. Effective Treatment For TGE, B.H. Savannah No Cure For Swine Fever We checked the complaint out immediately, but during the two week delay another shipment was delivered which contained no water. Please call in your problems as soon Two deadly swine diseases are causing concern among swine growers. The two diseases are reported on the increase, one in Georgia, the other still faraway but spreading on a worldwide scale. as possible for investigation. The disease already present in Georgia is TGE [transmissible gas- ATTENTION READERS: troenteritis], a virus that kills new- When buying plants and other products by mail, please beware of false born piglets. TGE causes high mor- claims that sound "too good to be true." A Pennsylvania company has tality in pigs less than two weeks recently agreed to return to senders all orders for plants generated by false old. All ages are susceptible but advertising following action from the U.S. Postal Service. If you were taken, death seldom occurs in hogs over please contact our office. **** five weeks old. Detecting TGE is difficult. Veteri- A local distributor for a national company wants me to try some of their narians think that many piglets are soil inoculant. I have bought other products from him for home cleaning, simply born with the disease. etc. that have been great but I am puzzled by this soil inoculent. Is it really Sudden vomiting dehydrates the going to take the place of fertilizer? R. B. small animals causing death within a few hours. (Continued On Page 8) Vaccinations for the disease are available but health officials also Best Precaution Is Prevention have discovered that pregnant sows can be fed infected digestive tracts from slaughtered hogs and thereby For Garden Diseases & Pests develop an immunity to the disease. This treatment, when administered correctly, is almost 100 percent ef- Once your garden plants become infested with disease-causing organisms, there is no treatment, so