European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse Geneva by Hanns Neuerburg associated press a no vix Tami j 1 unless you Are born . We re terribly Short of moisture through Here a Barrett said. But it s riot just the drought stress it s seat stress whenever we get above 85 w l. Frost executive vice president of the Lov sides is National bunk the largest in the stale with s of s956 million takes a longer View. We have our Ighut and crap scares be said beaming Confidence dark blur suit and Vest. But Iowa will continue to p. We can t think of anything we d rather have our � on than a powerful Iowa farm Bureau just says it outright Jef culture is the Basic Industry in Iowa and by this it sides the milling marketing packing and machinery fee output of the toil. Others like to Point to the rat number of insurance companies this Side of Ford the publishing houses and the manufacturing to throughout the state that May have started with n and harrows but expanded into appliance and resin pens. Vet it was the farm Boom thai Wal zit Low Rath the 1973-75 not seem with bout As much at u a tracker passing the Wankee exit on Fen Tatt so. It b different this time with the farm Jot Rui end consumer sectors All turning Down to to. Slink the recession hit Here first said Frost the Fer. Barrett the Fanner like his populist forebears i lot on interest farm Loans got to 14 percent and the prime at i Jet used my own capital he said. But the Youngano it i getting to them. There s no segment of Tat that can close off quicker than a Farmer. There s Ontive to work at 20 percent or the past year Iowa has suffered from an unusual to cution of overproduction last fall Low farm prices to interest rates the Shock of the soviet Grain Emp abrupt decisions by Farmers and Consumers to feuding followed by scathing heat and drought. Hate s John Deere and Massey Ferguson farm Bent plants Winnebago motor Homes. Rath pack Fri Fratori from the Amana colonies and Maytag a and dryers they Veall been severely hit. A tee Are the chronic problems of deteriorating Asp mation and reluctant capital investment. Two a onto Grain moving systems the Milwaukee a Ltd tie Rock Bland line lie snarled in bankrupt As cautious banking and insurance Community is criticized for failing to invest enough to indigo Raj wine. A Placid Prairie City. Suburban West Des i growing but the downtown still seems dowdy whole area seems overlaid with a discount store g. At the Silver Saddle lounge Western music a to country disco. The women Wear Halter tops men Wear hats and according to Jeff Rossiter a 20, 1980 Andre Gay. 35, males his living fishing intake Geneva Western Europe s largest body of fresh Wales. His father was a Fisherman and Sowas his Gay s offspring May not be Able to main Tain the legacy. Our Trade is dying out. There is not much Hope that pollution will be agony has deepened in the past few years As hauls of the l.-. Be s most popular fish dwindled. Five years ago the total catch of Lake Perch was 1,500 Gay says. Last year it was 25 tons again for the Lake. In the first four months of 1980, the haul was just 15 kilograms 33 pounds. The catch has picked up a bit since but not much Lake Geneva known in French locally a tie Leman takes up an area of 225-Square-mile9, about the she of the City of Chicago. It it shared by both Switzerland and France. As president of the professional fishermen s Syndi Cate the organization on the Swiss Side of the Lake Gay has seen membership Tumble. In less than a decade it has shrunk from about 100 to fewer than 20 who must struggle to make a living in this wealthy country. Perch have traditionally accounted for 95 percent of their revenues. But overfeeding threatens the fish with extinction phosphate from household detergents and fertilizers has caused a proliferation of Lake Plankton the Perch s principal food. As a result Perch grow faster reaching adult size and being caught in the nets before they Are mature enough to reproduce. In other words the children Are caught before they can become parents. The Swiss have proposed using wide mesh nets but the idea has run into opposition on the French Side and the Swiss Are reluctant to go it alone. Fried baby Perch has been a Staple in French tourist enters on the Lake while the Swiss have been specializing on filet de Perche files of full grown Perch. Nowadays virtually All Perch served in Swiss Lakeside restaurants Are imports from places As far away As Canada Finland Denmark and even from the soviet Union says expresses the belief that if there was an International agreement on wide mesh nets the Perch Popula Tion would Start maturing and increasing in number again within one or two years. Another problem also due to what experts refer to As inc eutrophic Avion excessive nourishment of the Lake due to phosphate h the fat growth of algae. Within 10 minutes a net that weighs three kilograms 6.6 pounds is towing 30 kilograms 66 pounds of gae says Gay the most important Job is to control he said he has endorsed a petition prepared by Aquaviva a nationally organised ecological group pledged to preserve Swiss lakes and Rivers and by a Sam French association for the Rescue of Lake Geneva Aqua Viva president Ernst Hirt a Reserve colonel in the Swiss army and former director of the Federal sports school says the petition to be submitted to the Swiss government will Point out it is five minutes to during the past two decades the Lake has deteriorated every year Hirt said. Every year some 1,500 tons of phosphate Are poured into the Lake which has a self cleansing capacity for Only 350 tons. The remaining annual 1,150 tons accumulate. Experts Are also worried by the growing amount of Mercury at the Bottom of the Lake preferred feeding ground of the Perch. Hirt estimates that some 35 tons of my Scurcy Are now deposited in the Lake Wastewater Resi dues from Industrial plants. In addition Cutrophia tin has caused mounting deficiency of oxygen in the Lake which la up to 93 1 feet deep. The lowest level of the Lake Between 10 to 25 meters 30 to 75 fee can be considered dead because of com plete Lack of oxygen Hirt explained. He said it is imperative that purification plants around the Lake both on the Swiss and French Side be fitted with equipment that effectively checks phosphate pollution. He added that funds for the extra equipment should come from the detergent Industry because they Are the ones who cause the pollution and made Money with 27-year-old brakeman on the Grain hauling Chicago & North Western you can walk in Here single at 1 55 and Lake someone Home by closing at 2." when Horace Crestey said co West Youngsun Lona is where be Young men went. Today Low is More Middle West than Weil More Fertile Prairie ban arid pumas bracketed by the Mhz Beppi and the Missouri Rivers. In economic geography the great Divide is the 98th Meridian. To the West lie the High Plains perpetually damned by drought yet pampered by Man into the world s most productive wheat and ranching toe East lies Iowa where Rich Black foam has Long lured the plow and the nation s unique agr state has based in Economy on annual sales of almost s10 billion in crops and livestock. Iowa is first in Corn and hog production second in soybeans and cattle. But efficiency comes at a Price and technology has upended farm economics. Never has so much been produced by so few. The Small scale family Farmer has fled to the John Deere Plant in Waterloo or the Maytag factory in Newton leaving the Small towns to shrivel in the 1980 Cenus shows less than a \ percent increase in state population Over the decade and the typical Farmer is older bigger and big family farms Are what now flourish farms like those of Harold l. Barren 4 sons a farm that can finance a $90.000 Massey Ferguson Combine that har wits eight Corn rows at a time a farm that can afford the 70 percent Price increase in fall applied fertilizer to s38 an acre a farm that can pay $250,000 for 400 head of cattle to fill the confinement barn and s100 a Day to fuel a tractor for work from Dawn till dark. Bat these remaining banners Cal Bough sustained by efficiency and corseted by co Ops and govern Nat programs still fret Cher the vagaries of weather and Export policies and hey see Tubeo Elres As the Hap less Flat link in the Long food Chain. People Call them Gloam and Dom sessions said lil la Barrett and there s a lot of it around the breakfast but Harold Barrett says you can t be a Farmer unless you Are born optimistic. The american Fanner today relishes his crucial role in providing farm exports of $35 billion of offset the 160 billion Cost of imported Oil and although he often feels maligned his importance has Long been 150 Yean ago Henry Clay called for an Amer ican system of protective tariffs accompanied by a vast expansion of farming and farm income to sustain Domestic manufacturing. What better Security can you have for goods on credit than the Fertility of the american soil he demanded. Today that Fertility finances Toyota from Japan As Well. As Oil from the Middle East. In Corn soybeans and wheat 1979 was a phenomenal year for yields and output if not for prices and National farm income. Yet it is the yields that make the real Fanner proud and Barrett gave these numbers la com id Low Fanner could break a last Yew m 125 Bose web an acre and make Good Money with yield of 150 bushels. Barrett s com Yium was Iso a nobels and in some Fields be Hamster what be called a Cea Lional 204." thu year he b talking of 75 bes beb a acre. It s that hot South wind he said ripping an aborted ear from his i tuned com. The Beans Are wilted but on the North Side of his Fields things look better and there is nothing to do but wait for the Harvest and see How things turn out. The stars and stripes Poge 15
