Farm program is cut back
By Anne Mohri
Staff Reporter
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln’s Agriculture College’s farm
management program has been cut
back due to lack of interest, said Larry
Bitney, professor of agricultural eco
nomics at UNL and an extension farm
management specialist,
Bitney said the the program was
cut back because of a decline in en
rollment last year. In the winter of
1984-85, 6(X) families were enrolled;
in 1985-1986, 3(X) families enrolled;
and in 1986-1987, 100 families en
rolled, he said.
The number of classes is being
drastically cut back, Bitney said.
Enrollment figures for this year’s
program now are unavailable, he
said, Bitney explained that the pro
gram is scheduled to begin after the
first of the year and dales arc tenta
tive. He said the lack of interest may
be caused by the “general intensity of
the farm crisis.”
There is a possibility that the farm
ers don’t see the program and its
workshops as a priority, that at this
point there is little a farm manage
ment workshop could do to improve
their situation, he said.
“A lot of people are working part
time off of the farm, or the wife is
working and they don’t have time to
attend our classes,” Bitney said.
It casts $2(X) to enroll in the work
shops, Bitney said, but “we have
never turned anyone away if they
couldn’t pay the fee.” The program
gives a type of scholarship to the
i
family so that it can attend the work
shops, he said. Often the farmer’s
bankers will help with the fee because
they believe the workshop will help
the farmer’s situation, Bitney said.
Although the enrollment fee is
somewhat high, the actual cost per
family is $1,000, Bitney said.
Through federal and state financing,
the programs are made possible and
the $800 difference is be paid.
However, Bitney said, the money is
runt ,ng out, which is another reason
for downsizing the program.
In the fall of 1984, Bitney
launched “Managing for Tomorrow”
as the start of a series of farm manage
ment workshops.
He said “Managing for Tomor
row” is designed to take a longer-run
look at agriculture. He said the staff of
“Managing for Tomorrow” works
with farmers one-on-one to help them
evaluate their present situation.
The workshop begins with a de
tailed sheet of the five previous years
of the farmer’s operation to deter
mine the downfalls, Bitney said.
From there, farmers are given op
tions, such as whether to buy, sell,
rent land or close down different
operations, he said.
However, Bitney said, at times
after evaluating a farmer’s situation,
he or she may be unable to come up
with any comparable alternatives.
After evaluating the operation, the
family is encouraged to develop a
reasonable set of goals, Bitney said.
The staff then helps the family
through a detailed plan that will help
them to attain these goals.
The workshop is “directed at not
just the farmer but the farm couple,”
Bitney said. He said that if it is a
father/son operation, they try to get
the mother and daughter-in-law in
volved. His reasoning for this was
that since “decisions that are made in
the business have an impact on the
entire family,” the family as a whole
should be a part of it.
Through the workshop the farm fam
ily learns to work together and com
municate about the operation; Bitney
termed this “Team Building.”
The workshops for “Managing for
Tomorrow” meet once a week for
four weeks, Bitney said. Then there is
a follow-up meeting with the family
on its farm. Later, Bitney said, a focal
point is chosen and families will go
there to meet again with staff mem
bers.
Since the fall of 1984, 1,000 fami
lies have gone through the “Manag
ing for Tomorrow” workshop, Bitney
said.
Of those 1,000, he estimated, 10 per
cent went under.
He said he has received much
positive feedback from the families
that went through the program and
from their bankers. For example, 87
percent of the bankers “felt that
people had made meaningful changes
in their record-keeping and manage
ment as a result of going through it,”
Bitney said.
Although the program is being cut
back because of lack of interest, Bit
ney said, “I’ve never worked with a
program that has been as effective as
this one because we’ve never had one
that’s been this intensive.”
-1
Mexicana
spices up
FarmAid
VENDOR from Page 1
Twelve people worked in the
stand with Jimenez. For the five
days before the concert, they
worked until 5 a.m. making burri
tos and enchiladas. Jimenez said
they started out with enough burri
tos and enchiladas to feed 10,000
people. But just in case, Jimenez
rented kitchen space for the day
from George’s Greek Gyros in the
Atrium.
Jimenez estimated that he sold
70 percent of the food he prepared.
The remaining food was donated to
the People’s City Mission in Lin
coln.
A percentage of Jimenez’s earn
ings will go to the university as rent
for the stand. Jimenez isn’t giving
financially to FarmAid, but he said
lie is contributing by promoting
Nebraska products.
Eric Gregory/Daily Nebraskan
Art Jimenez holds a sampling of his Nebraska-grown
Mexican-style food at his stand in the southwest corner
of Memorial Stadium Saturday during the FarmAid III
concert.
Test reveals the real Royko
ROYKO from Page 4
Although 1 am no longer a teen ager,
at least most of the time, I decided to
take the test anyway.
My answers were based on the things
1 had done through my 19th year. Since
drugs weren’t widely used then, I sub
stituted liquor in questions that dealt
with them.
Answering the questions was a real
nostalgia trip. Several times, I had to
sit back and chuckle at memories of
what it was like when I was fondly
known in my neighborhood as “the
wolfman," “the creep” and “stay away
from my sister, you!”
Then I added up the total points.
And 1 couldn’t believe the results. I had
scored 19. Nineteen? Even Jack Arm
strong or Andy Hardy would have had
higher scores than that.
1 figured something was wrong with
the test, so I asked a friend of mine,
who is about my age, to take it. He is a
rather straight sort, who came from a
decent neighborhood, and spent much
of his youth reading books, playing
ping-pong and working on a Junior
Achievement prqject
He got 35 points, putting him on the
edge of dissipation. He smiled and
said: "Someday, I’ll tell you about the
girl next door."
So I asked a woman in her 30s to
take the test. She is a proper sort who
attended parochial schools, and I’ve
never known her to swear, spit or kick
children. And she got 32 points.
"You want to tell me about the boy
next door?" I asked. She just winked.
It made no sense and left me feeling
depressed. Me a goody-goody? It was
impossible. In every neighborhood,
there is a youth who is so dangerous an
influence that all the parents tell their
kids that they can’t associate with him.
Well, I was so dangerous an influence
that my own brother wasn’t permitted
to associate with me. Respectable girls
blushed in my presence. In a survey
taken by adult reprobates in the neigh
borhood, I was voted Rookie of the
Year.
I’ve had that test in my wallet for
days now. Every so often, 1 take it out,
take the test again, and the results are
always the same.
So I have to face it and be honest
with myself I just wasn’t the young
man I thought I was. Just as that youth
ful home run wasn’t as long as we
remember, that touchdown run as spec
tacular, that winning basket from as far
out — my evil acts weren’t as loath
some as 1 prided myself upon.
In brushing away the webs of time, I
now realize that I sincerely wanted to
do all of those things. Me and Slats
Grobnik used to spend hours planning,
anticipating, slobbering.
But nobody would cooperate. Bar
tenders said: "Take off the false
moustache, punk, you ain’t no midget."
And girls said: "Try it again, goof, and
my brother will maim you."
I’ve since taken the test one more
time. And my answers were based on
what I would have done if I had been
given any cooperation, Boy, oh boy, oh
boy!
My score was 92. Even Mr. Hyde
couldn’t have done any better in Lon
don fog.
I feel good again. Maybe I didn’t do
anything terrible. But at least my
intentions were bad.
© 1087 by The Chicago Tribune
Royko la a Pulitaer Prise-winning columnist
with The Chicago Tribune.
r-1
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