Pago 6
The Nebraskan
Friday, July 26, 1985
Professor chosen to head
development projects
By Michael Hooper
Staff Reporter
BeginningAug. 15 Dr. Louis Picard, a
UNL political science professor, will be
director of the U.S. AID Technical
Cooperation Project with the National
Association of Schools of Public Affairs
and Administration (NASPAA).
While on a two-year leave of absence
from UNL, Picard will direct about 12
projects focused on human resource
development, education and training
in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Picard, 42, will be headquartered in
Washington D.C., but 25 percent of his
job will involve travel to Third World
countries and throughout the U.S.
Picard's upcoming post had been
vacant for six months, but a new
technical cooperation agreement was
signed in March between AID and
NASPAA, which reopened his position.
AID funds NASPAA while NASPAA
currently administers applied research
in the areas of development manage
ment in the Third World nations.
Picard was "asked to apply" for the
job because of his extensive experience
for the past 20 years in development
administration. In 1979 Picard joined
the UNL faculty with government and
teaching experience in Third World
countries. He has taught at universities
In Africa, including Uganda, Zambia,
Lesotho, and Swaziland.
For underdeveloped countries, like
Ethiopia, Picard said their main needs
are basic education and training in
technical skills to "increase productiv
ity in agriculture and rural industriali
zation." Some successful countries
NASPAAAID has helped are South
Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and India,
Picard said. He said the countries are
doing "very well in agriculture and
industrialization," patterning them
selves after the Japanese.
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Andrea HoyThe Nebraskan
Dr. R. H. Hanson, UNL professor af agricultural economics speaks to about 175 Nebraska
high school youths at the 1985 Nebraska Agricultural Youth Institute Thursday. Hanson
spoke on "Keeping on friendly terms while farming with family members." The five-day
institute concludes today.
Although, he said, South Africa will
not be one of the countries his upcoming
job will deal with, because of its present
anartheid tfnvernment. Pirard's resfiarah
- bureaucracy as a controlling mech $400,000 IU bOTldS aVVTOVed
oniom n QniitK Africa will nntinno '
WUOllI til UVUbll 4 Ul IV (A VVIUUIUV
on a limited basis. He is currently
writing a book on South Africa, said it
will be some time before it's finished
because of his new job responsibilities.
anner board policy amended
Picard said he is looking forward to
his new job over-seeing aid to Third
World Nations. His wife, Lene Gaemelke,
will be with him in Washington D.C. in
January, he said. Mrs. Picard is working
at UNL on her Masters Degree in early
childhood development, he said, and
she should finish in December.
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By Kip Fry
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska Union Board approved
the purchase of two new spaces for
banner boards Wednesday. The board
also approved a new banner board pol
icy for city and east campuses.
One banner board will be located in
the main lounge near the big screen
television and the other on the south
wall of the Union Square. The extra
banner boards were approved because
of the high demand for the existing
ones.
Under the new policy, organizations
will be able to reserve a board only
twice a semester. They also will not be
able to give it to another organization,
after first reserving it for themselves. A
reservation for the banner board will be
forfeited if the banner has not been
posted by Tuesday at 3 p.m. of that
week, and banners should be approxi
mately the size of the marquee. During
ASUN elections: a political party will
be able to reserve a board only once
prior to the election, the president of a
party is the only one who can reserve a
board, and he or she must secure a slip
from the ASUN office stating that the
party is registered.
The new policy should help to alle
viate several problems that have
plagued them in the past. Union boards
officials said some organizations have
reserved spaces and then don't use
them. Some reserve it for the entire
semester and others give it to another
organization. Another problem is that
of the 270 recognized student organiza
tions, only a few consistently use them.
"The lounge ought to be a living
room in the students' university home,"
said board member Robert Stowers, an
associate professor of architecture.
"Signs and posters I wouldn't put
that stuff up in my living room."
However, member Robert Brandt re
butted this by saying that the lounge is
a communications center.
"There is a vibrancy to know what is
going on," he said.
In other business, the board un
animously approved $400,000 for bonds
including $100,000 for Phase II of the
Union Bookstore project, which will
fund the expansion on the Union's west
side.
"This is the largest sum of money
ever allocated," said Union director
Daryl Swanson.
The Board also decided to close City
Union Room 334 for studying so it can
be used exclusively in the future for
meeting rooms.
"There will be considerable interest
in this from the people who use the
room for studying," Swanson said, " but
the opening of the Crib may change
this."
Union officials may also add more
tables to the lounge area to take care of
the decreased union studying areas
until the renovations on the west side
of the buidling are completed in the
spring of 1987, Swanson said. Studying
in The Crib, though, may be hurt by the
mid-day programs offered during the
school year, he said.
Ag land values take a dive
A dramatic 28 percent drop in Nebra
ska agricultural land values over the
past 12 months is the largest annual
decrease in the state's history, even
surpassing Depression Era losses.
A report released this week by two
University of Nebraska-Lincoln profes
sors shows land values, which started
to decrease in early 1981, plummeted
in 1984 and early 1985, dropping an
average of 28 percent from April 1, 1984
to April 1, 1985.
In the last four years, agricultural
land values have dropped a total of 40
percent to 50 percent statewide.
"The speed of decline in the last 12
to 18 months has never been witnessed
before in Nebraska," said Bruce Johnson
who prepared the report with Ronald
Hanson. Both are UNL associate profes
sors of agriculture economics.
"The reality is that the wealth of the
farm owner is continuing to erode his
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net worth reducing capital for farm
operations, collateral for credit and
savings for future use. The implications
for the individual farmer as well as the
state are critical and unfortunately
there are no strong signs that values
will soon rebound," Johnson said.
Previously the largest annual de
crease was in 1932 when land prices
dropped 22 percent.
The average annual decrease in land
value for types of land were: irrigated
land, -28 percent; dry cropland, -26
percent; and grazing land, -36 percent.
"An excessive supply of land being
placed on the market by owners in
financial trouble, coupled with a con
tinued extremely weak demand by
potential buyers, has driven land values
sharply down," he said.
"The market is very perilous and
hard to predict right now because of
the number of other factors influencing
price," Johnson said. Those factors
include inflation, real interest rates,
farm income and the export market.
In nominal terms, current land values
are comparable to values reported in
the 1970s prior to the boom period, but
in real terms adjusted for inflation,
current land prices are equal to those
of the mid 1960s.
"The impact of the current financial
crisis across Nebraska cannot be over
estimated," Johnson said. Just three
years ago only 14 percent of all survey
responses mentioned financial stress
as a reason for selling farmland. This
year 60 percent of the respondents
cited it.
Results also showed that farm expan
sion was still the primary factor for
buying land, but for the first time in the
survey's eight-year history, lower land
prices also were a primary motive.
Over the last four years ending April
1, 1985, the net worth of Nebraska's
farming sector has fallen by more than
$15 billion, mostly becasue of the drop
in land values. In short, this represents
half the wealth this sector had in 1980,
Johnson said.
The UNL report is based on two sets
of statistics, one perpared by the United
States Department of Agriculture for
the period from April 1, 1984 to April 1,
1985, and the other prepared by Johnson
and Hanson for the period from Feb. 1,
1984 to Feb. 1, 1985. Johnson and
Hanson surveyed 200 persons in the
agricultural land market. Although in
dependently prepared, both reports
arrived at similar figures. In the study
ending Feb. 1, Johnson and Hanson
found a 23. 5 percent overall annual
decrease in land values for all types of
land across the state.
Nationally, USDA statistics incidate
that states showing the largest de
creases ag land values are in the Great
Plains and North Central Region
states which depend on exporting their
farm products. These are the areas
most affected by the current drop in
the overseas export market.
Nationally, the decrease in Nebraska
is second only to that in Iowa. According
to the USDA, states with the highest
annual and four-year percentage de
creases in land values were: Iowa, -29,
-49; Nebraska, -28, -46; and Illinois, -27,
-42. Decreases in other Midwest states
include Missouri, -23, -38; South Dakota,
-26, -33; Colorado, -10, -9; and Kansas,
-20, -29.
Cash rental rates for farmland also
are decreasing, although at a rate
considerably less than the decrease of
land values. From 1984 to 1985, rent
rates decreased 10 to 15 percent,
Johnson said, pointing out that annual
cash rents as a percentage of the
market value for land have been increasing.