FARMERS & CONSUMERS Tommy frvin, Commissioner Georgia Deparfmenf of Agriculture Market Bulletin Volume 66, Number 23 FOR SUBSCRIPTION AND ADVERTISEMENT INFORMATION SEE PAGE 2 Wednesday, June 11, 1980 Soybean Bags Pulled Wood Energy Offers Solutions I recently attended the World Bioenergy Conference which brought some 1400 people to Atlanta from more than 40 different nations. The conference featured reports and talks by bio-energy experts from all over the world. Many of these were of interest but none seemed to cut to the heart of the matter for America as well i as the keynote ad- dress by David Freeman, Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority. I was so impressed by his comments I would like to share some of them with you. Although assigned a small role in our energy future by some critics, organic power has the potential to replace a great deal of our energy needs in this country. Wood is our most abundant and easily accessible bio-energy resource. It is estimated that even without counting wood harvested for conventional forest products, about 560 million tons are available each year for energy production in the United States. That is the equivalent of nual energy requirements, two and a half times the energy we are now half times the energy we are now getting from nuclear power and twothirds of what we get from coal. If only one-third of our wasted wood growth in the U.S. could be harvested and converted to energy each year, we could obtain as much from that source alone as from all of the hydro-electric dams in the country. While oil imports have made us a political hostage and an economic cripple, our forests could be supplying us with the energy equivalency of half all our oil imports or nearly 10 times what we are now getting from bio-energy sources. Any program for development should include four main points: a There must be a strong effort to produce liquid fuel from wood in large quantities and at costs that are competitive with gasoline: b We (Continued On Page 12) June 9-14 is Fresh Approach Week sponsored by the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. Governor Busbee proclaimed the week and is pictured with Joe Cerniglia, officer of the association. The purpose of the event is to recognize good nutrition through fresh fruit and vegetables in the daily diet. Back Yard Farming Raising Furry Animals Hairy Business at Best Ever thought of raising fur for a living? Mink is back in style and prices are up. Unlike synthetic fur, the real thing isn't made from polluting petro chemicals. It is very warm, and it's stylish. Some mink fetch over $100.00 each. Last year the average price paid for ranch raised mink was $40 while costs for efficient producers were only about half that. One year old mink produce four to Consumer News Featured Inside This issue features special articles of interest to consumers including information on budgets, mail order purchases, meat quality, clothing, consumer services provided by the Department of Agriculture and more. Save this information for future reference. Articles begin on page five. (This is the third of several articles on back yard farming. These articles were pre- pared by experts at the Cooperative Exten- sion Service. For more information, contact the writer at the address listed or your local county agent.)______________ six young in a litter and a mink is ready to sell when six months old. A number of people call the Georgia Cooperative Extension Service to ask about raising mink. I try to discourage them. Mink are nasty creatures. Mink bite with enthusiasm, stink, need solitary confinement, easily die of over-heating in hot weather, and suffer from over 40 kinds of parasites and diseases. Female mink may neglect or kill their young if disturbed by strange noises. Fur prices fluctuate wildly due to the whims of the fashion industry and may decline sharply without notice. Costs for getting started are high (Continued On Page 12) For Label Violation The Georgia Department of Agriculture has issued a stop-sale order on 3,185 bags of soybean seed from an Indiana firm, according to Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin. Irvin said the bags were not labeled as to the variety of seed or purity analysis as required by Georgia law. He said the seed apparently was shipped by an Indianapolis, Indiana wholesale seed distributor called CDA. The bags, 2,976 of which were labeled as CDA KD-40 and 209 of which were labeled Vegas-100, are the first shipments of this brand name discovered in Georgia. Through investigations, agriculture officials learned that the soybeans were actually seed mixtures which had been produced in Indiana then bagged together from four "corn-belt" varieties. They were not adapted for planting in Georgia. The seized soybeans were offered for sale in Georgia for $18.50/50 Ib. bag. Adapted varieties of soybeans which can be planted and grown in the state cost approximately $10.00 750 Ib. bag. Irvin added that all the soybeans seized by the Department had been released to a local firm for crushing into oil stock, but he urged all farmers to be aware of the situation and use caution in making purchases. Suspected mislabelings may be reported to the Department's Consumer Services Division at 1-800282-5852. Samples and records from the Department's investigation have been released to the federal seed act authorities for further action against the firm. Horse Edition Coming Soon The special horse issue will be published July 2. This issue will include, along with our regular ads, notices for horse shows planned for July, August and September. In addition to horse shows, this issue will include notices for horses standing at stud, boarding facilities and the "Equine Everything Else" column. Deadline June 18. Page 2 THE MARKET BULLETIN Wednesday, June 11,1980 we