american revolution. >> good morning and welcome to "u.s. farm report." i'm john phipps. chip flory and the guys at "pro farmer" filled it from the corn belt. i've got the details. the initial reaction to crop reports is initially to nitpick the details or assumptions but most of us can walk out to our own fields and see the proof. there are bad spots but once again farmers in other places failed to make my crop more valuable. another one of my marketing plans shot. al is on his way back from the crop tour so i'll be working solo. let's get started with that crop tour summary. the fourth down trip started off monday and continued through thursday. now it includes an eastern and western spring. in all they visit fields in

seven states representing 70% of corn and soybean production. in the east they were surprised by the lack of disease and insect pressure. >> yes, we have seen some isolated cases to where we might have some gatherings of japanese beatles, things like that. in a few isolated locations. but really, over all, when you pull up to these been fields that seems to be one of the things that spikes our scouts. now height may be a variability in here but over all you're not seeing those spots out in the field of those big yellowed areas that are a sign that we have got some disease problems that are potentially cropping up. >> in all, more than a thousand samples of corn and a thousand samples of soybeans were collected this week. as a result, the "pro farmer" team has generated a productionest for both crops. the "pro farmer" productionest sits at 12.8 billion bushels of corn on an average yield of just over 160 bushels to the

acre. the "pro farmer" guide says these estimates are based on a normal finish to the growing season. for soybeans, the "pro farmer"est sits at 3.15 billion bushels on average yields of 41 bushels to the acre. yields in all of the eastern corn belt and iowa were all lower than the usda's august projections. late planning planting in addition to a late summer put the crop at risk for white mold. for detailed reports covering both legs of the tour including a state pie state break town head online to agweb.com. crop watch this week starts in the parks of south texas. this dried up stock tank or pond is on the mcfadden ranch near victoria, texas. bob mccan says it has never gone dry during any other

drought in texas. now to the southeast. the usda says corn harvest is well under way. as of monday, 14% of the corn was harvested, 83% of the crop is mature. in pennsylvania, the western been cut worm has moved into the state for the first time. this invasive pest can cause serious damage to corn growers. it was first spotted in july near lake erie but now it is in seven counties in the northeast part have the state. when we come back, al and our round table of crop scouts check in from austin, minnesota, the final stop of the 2009 "pro farmer" u.s. crop tour. the discussion begins this 2 minutes, please stay with us.

"u.s. farm report" coverage of the 2009 "pro farmer" midwest crop tour is brought to you by pioneer hybrid. helping you fit the right

product on the right acre. science with service. delivering success. at your "pro farmer" midwest crop tour our guest is mark bernard who is a certified agone mist. we have roger bernard, an editor for "pro farmer," chip laurie who is editor of "pro farmer" and our goal this evening is to find out what the "pro farmer" midwest crop tour found out. and, chip, i'm going to start with you. >> all right. >> let us know. >> okay. over on the western tour, in south dakota, we came back with a crop that was basically steady a year ago. the thing that concerns me there is south -- usda on august 1 had to say it was up 6% from last year. i don't know. maybe they pushed it just a little bit too hard in south dakota. but when we got into nebraska we found a corn crop up 12% on yield from a year ago. usda was up just 2%. the usda has got to do a little bit more work and find a few more bushels in nebraska. they have got a record con

yield in nebraska. i don't think there's much question about that. we moved into iowa, wrapped up with roger and his crew coming in from the east. we finished up with a yield that was up 7.5% from a year ago, 181 bushels per acre. usda on august 1 was up 8.2%. you know what, that's close enough. you got to almost call that a match. usda was up 1.8%, ohio, i'll just hit that number for you here real quick, ohio was up 7.4% from a year ago, usda was up 22.2%, indiana was actually down 4%, usda was up 4% and illinois was basically steady with a year ago, usda has them down 2.2%. >> all increases except a couple. the eastern, was it all that good, roger? >> well i think when you look at that eastern crop, you know, ohio, we were in a crop last year that was really really far behind. so it was nice to see what we

saw out there in those fields. maybe it's not home all the way by any stretch but it is a lot further along than it was a year ago. indiana has got a lot of issues that have faced that crop this year. it went in wet, turned dry, that cool july kind of helped it get through, but as things got here into august it started losing some ground. there's some tip back on a lot of those years we pulled out of there. get into illinois you wanted to see some of those big numbers come out of there but we just didn't find a whole lot of them. but i'll tell you what, we cross that river and all of a sudden it was like [ singing [ in iowa we started pulling those big numbers out of the state. it was like, ah, there we go. it was really wild. crossed that river and, boom, it changed. >> we have got some maturity issues up in south dakota we need to be aware of. some of that corn up there needs another 40, 45 days. >> they don't have that. >> and may not have it. you get down into nebraska,

northeast nebraska it's a little bit behind, but it's okay. southeast nebraska is okay, it's gonna make it. west central, or i'm sorry, south central minnesota there is a pocket in there that, boy, it's got to hustle if it's gonna make it before that first frost. >> mark, what, whenever you're looking at the eastern corn belt, i know you were over there and this kind of stuff. roger said it really looked good compared to last year. last year was not a good year for that. you think it's going to be that good. >> i think it's going to be much improved. i don't think it's going to be quite as good as what we murder. like i said before in one of the previous interviews, the cavalry might of have got there too late. the crop does look better, no question about it, not a lot of disease or insect pressure, but it is not a bah tee contest. what goes over the scale will count. >> talking about disease this year, cool temperatures, is that what helped that do you

think? >> well i think, when we looked at the been fields, that's really where we saw the lack of disease and insect pressure out there, ohio, indiana into eastern illinois. i think that, you know, the relative dryness really kept some of those disease issues at bay. when we got into western illinois it started to pick up some of those, things like sds. white mold. a few in western illinois. once we got into eastern iowa that really started to show up. >> that minnesota crop has got some disease issues too. >> it does now, that's apparent in some of the samples brought back in after we came in off the tour. there's some white mold showing up, that's definitely concerned with all the free moisture we have had under that ca nopey, it could take things down a peg from what we have murder today. >> we're not talking about the south american disease in beans and this kind of thing. so you're really not concerned about anything that's gonna take large areas out. that hail storm in iowa probably took more out than

anything. >> oh yeah, there is some unbelievable -- i got more hail damage than i don't remember a year when we have had hail damage like this. this is stuff usually reserved for nebraska and stuff like that so it really took a chunk out of that iowa crop. >> you had three major episodes of hail roll through different parts of that state. seemed like they are all clustered near highway 20 so it was kind of weird that way. you get out in those fields and you really feel for the guys that have been hit like that because it's going to be rough on those individual fields. >> when we come back we're going to be talking about more detailed yield information. whenever we turn back, "u.s. farm report" in just a moment.

"u.s. farm report" coverage of the 2009 "pro farmer" midwest crop tour is brought to you by pioneer hybrid.

helping you get the right product on the right acre. science with service. delivering success. >> at the "pro farmer" midwest crop tour our guests are mark bernard, roger bernard and chip flory. we have been talking about what they actually discovered when whenever they made the test in the field. the test is very complicated, we're not even going to go into that at this point in time. but you had to go out in the field and find out what was going on. i guess what i want to do is i wanted to find out if there is anything unusual that you have seen this year in growing conditions, the way the farmers are going their crop or that sort of thing, the eastern leg first, then we'll go the western leg because every year you learn something new about the way producers are doing their crop. >> sure. one of the things that is very apparent as we're on these tours, the mobile around them we're seeing the plant populations, more ears, and

that's where a lot of these bushels are coming from. you have got to have ears if you're going to get bushels bottom line. >> increase in yield. increase in yield, increase in population. >> to me, guys just got to get out there and find out what's out in their fields. when you pull up to a field, boy it looks nice. but you got to get out there in it to find out what you have got. that has to be underscored by what we see. you pull up and see a been field, the pod counts either are there or else they aren't. same as when you get in those corn fields, start pulling those ears out of the fields and take a look at them, boy that looks pretty good, get out of there and do the counts and calculations it's like, huh, you know. you just got to get out there and see really what's out there in that field. that takes time just to go out there and do it. >> chip and i talked to you privately. you talked about south dakota. you keep going back to south dakota. something must have tuck in your mind. >> yeah. that's actually how much water there is and how good of yield

potential they have up there. the other thing, the real surprise for me, is the fact that the nebraska crop, the dry land corn crop just knocked the ball out of the park for the second year in a row. it's just -- it's unbelievable that they have done that. it is not unusual to go through southeast nebraska, look at some dry land corn, come out of there with a 50, 60-bushel yield. >> on dry land corn. >> dry land corn. i look at that and say "you know what, this year that's not too bad, that's a good yield on that." this year the best dry land field that i had in nebraska was in the miami aha river valley and it was 200.9 bushels per air, 200-bushel try land corn in nebraska. it was just absolutely astounding. i don't think i got down to -- i got down to 100-bushel but there's years when dry land corn, that's the best yield that you will find in nebraska on dry land corn. the -- everybody likes -- >> eye i got to say something about nebraska people. you say "what do you get on

your irrigated yield" and they get about the same every year. >> that's exactly right. everybody likes to talk about nebraska irrigated corn yields. >> right. >> they are always going to be in that 180 to 220 range. >> right. >> they are almost always in that range. the swing the dry land crop in nebraska and it is outstanding this year. >> is there anything that the people who are watching this show today need to realize whenever they start making decisions about either next year or this year in terms of marketing and this sort of think about our crop? >> well i think, you know, the finish is really what's gonna be tell tale this year. i mean we saw it last year. over all, the u.s. crop did have a pretty good finish but ohio did not. you know, as we saw, 160 on august 1 last year, down to 15 in the final yield result. if we get a poor finish to this crop there are portions of what we went through in the eastern corn belt that are going to be hurt because that crop is behind, we have been watching

it all season on those progress rating from usda and it bore out when we went out into those fields, so that finish is going to be critical and you know, guys can't get too ag!o?vzy this crop is. >> okay. i think the most important thing to realize is that we didn't change the total supply that much from what we saw on this crop tour. i think we took about, let's call it roughly 500 million baubles from the eastern belt and moved them to the western belt. our total supply isn't changing that much. it might not have a big impact on futures trade but it might have on the cash trade. the illinois basis market should be a stiff market this harvest and in through the winter. out west, with that big supply, we're gonna see some basis pressure out there. ethanol is going to help chew up some of it but if we were going to put extra bushels some place i wish we were putting them next to a river where we could get it on a barge, to the gulf and out of the country.

>> we all wish that we have a good, long season to harvest this crop. >> yeah. glow if we get an early frost all of us are gonna be in trouble. >> that's right. >> we have seen this plenty of times. >> absolutely. >> right? we'll be back with more in just a moment. pbs finances blanche [ applause ]

welcome back to "u.s. farm report." you might think after seeing this graphic most of the summer that we haven't really changed anything. we have. every single week we have added or subtracted some areas. but it hasn't changed a lot. basically the worst area of the country is from san antonio toward the coast and towards mexico. where just an extreme and exceptional drought continues. the other bad area across the corn belt is across the western up of michigan. that area has expanded a little bit and there's an extreme drought area in western wisconsin. that area has actually gotten

worse. other than that we're talking pockets of it that are dry. parts of the west coast, washington, oregon, montana seeing some dry areas as well. >> let's check out the situation then as we head into this week. a trough lingering across the eastern school board. remnants of bill will be moving into the north atlantic northward with this jet stream. as you can see this trough is going to quickly diminish so we'll see a warmup between for a couple days over the great lakes, maybe a shot of chilly air later next week. other than that you'll notice very little movement, the jet stream staying pretty pharmaceutical north, that means you kind of stay in your summertime mode for most of those areas. here is the monday map. we do see a stationery front for central texas. that could be good news for some spots in texas although it's usually hit and miss in this situation. high pressure over the great lakes will keep it dry in that area, another cold front bringing some scattered showers

and thunderstorms into northern plains to the central rockies. that will scoot through the great lakes and into the northeast by wednesday stalling out with an area of low pressure over the central plains states on wednesday and then scattered thunderstorms back into the desert southwest. by friday that storm system is moving into the mid-atlantic area and that will cause a bit of rain the way it looks. scattered showers along the north front. we'll be back with a longer range forecast.

as i visited with grain producers at cargill pro pricing meetings in minnesota, iowa and nebraska this week the sober conversations reinforced my own misgivings for financial projections for next year. enormous soy and corn crops and

struggles at ethanol plants are all problems to be overcome even as they reduce demand. at the same time our productivity continues to surprise to the upside. thanks to technology and technique with a huge boost from benign weather, back to back to back bumper crops are becoming an expectation. for older producers there is a lingering unease arising from memories of mountainous surpluses and below-cost prices. it would seem the great recession has finally found its way to all our farms. these perceptions may not be wrong but they are likely over blown. there are many positive elements on the horizon as well such as strong demand from china and glimmers of hope from dairy and other livestock industries. the larger problem, i think, is our impatience or at least attention span. in a colored of constant communication, fast food and downloadable products the concept of wasting for months or even a year or so to work through a massive inventory of

grain seems positively anti- delifeient. we'll have to dial with it. nature will not be hurried. besides, after 10,000 years, i think it's safe to say we're in a long-term profession. commen us-fa as always, we want to hear from you. send comments to info@usfarmreport.com. or leave us a voice mail by calling (800)792-4329. coming up in our next half hour, one family's special relationship with a famous cattle breed. stay with us, the second half of "u.s. farm report" is coming right up. today on u-s farm report... u.s. farm today on "u.s. farm report" ...

>> pork producers ask for help. >> it increases slowly on american farms. >> boat owners remain reluctant to embrace ethanol blends. >> an american revolution. "u.s. farm report." report...i'm john phipps. good morning. welcome to "u.s. farm report." i'm john phipps. notice the interaction between our top two news stories this morning. first, the crop tour news verifies what we all thought as we drove past corn fields this summer. it's not a bad crop. then, listen to the struggles of pork producers as they bleed red ink due to a plunk in exports and high feed costs. the link is when hog producers look at possible lower corn prices some hope appears. corn farmers aren't so thrilled. i think some short term pain

for my crop prices may prevent longer term agony caused bye roads in food demand. regardless, i'm ready to let the market work to sort out the price. with al on assignment i'll be doing the news today. the u.s. pork producers is asking the usda for help in a quarter billion dollars in aid. they are asking them to purchase $50 million of pork for a variety of programs. the council would like to see that purchase made from the fiscal 2009 budget which ends september 0th. in addition they want the usda to make a separate $50 million purchase on october 1st, the new fiscal year. organization executives say producers are losing about $54 per live hog. analysts predict things could improve by the end of the year. but, until then, producers need to run a tight ship. supply has just not been cut enough.

we have to cut further that supply. we do that by cutting sows more and the reality at this point is we're not going to get back to sustained profits probably until the spring of 2010. that's another three quarters of the year away. and that means we have got to cut this herd more. that's what the industry can do. >> he says the mild summer and the forecast for a big crop this year will mean lower grain prices. that will lower the cost of production for pork producers. the numbers of u.s. farms with internet access is growing. 59% of farms now have internet access. that's up 2 points from 2007. the most common service is dsl with 36% followed by dial-up with 23%. in the last survey nearly half of all farms with internet service were using dial-up. 13% accessed the internet by

wireless and 11% have cable internet. the results of the 2009 "pro farmer" u.s. crop tour seem to reflect what they said in the august production report. it's a year of big crops in the year's midsection. 75 crop scouts spread throughout the corn belt from ohio to nebraska to collect samples of the soybean crops. "pro farmer" analysts are forecasting 12.8 billion bushels of corn on an average yield of 160 bushels an acre. in soybeans they expect to see 1.5 billion bushels on an average yield of 41 bushels an acre. but they say that's assuming a normal finish. for a complete look at the tour and a breakdown of data state by state go to agweb.com. the 2009 farm some she son is just about here and we want to invite you to join us for a couple events we'll be hosting in in decatur illinois.

the first up is a taping of our round table, al will be joined by bob undertaker back, alan sued land, and brew baker. it guess going 12:30. the next day al will talk policy and production with sue martin and chip floor re. that begins 2:00 at the versatile tractor exhibit area. the first 100 visitors for our wednesday program will receive a free cap from versatile. that's it for the news. time now for the forecast from meteorologist mike hoffman. boy, a chilly shot of air this weekend for august, for the great lakes and the northeast. and by the time we head into the first part of the week the trough will still be over the eastern great lakes in the northeast, lingering rain in parts of maine, again the remnants of bill, will be scooting off quickly into the north atlantic. but it will have affected parts

of the northeast, no question about that, by that time frame. here is conditions over the center of the country. sunny and warm this that area. sunny and stormy along the central rockies, along the gulf coast. checking out wednesday. still a little bit of a trough in the northeast. another ripple coming through the northern plains states, cool again over the northern parts of the great lakes. there will be some areas of showers and thunderstorms with this system, across parts of the corn belt as you can see there, and then by friday the trough kind of redevelops it again in the great lakes in the northeast although it looks like this ridge is going to expand farther east as we head into next weekend. scattered areas of showers and thunderstorms from the mid- atlantic, eastern ohio valley into texas, and back into parts of the west. i'll check the longer range forecast, for next week, august 0th through september 5th, below normal temperatures, basically from the middle mississippi valley on east from the eastern school board near

normal, then into the higher elevations especially out west, parts of the northern plains, probably above normal as well as the areas of texas under the drought. you're going to stay above normal as you have been. next week's precipitation alarming area below normal. from texas all the way up into the western great lakes and back into the northern rockies, a.i. above normal for the southeast. longer range forecast, below normal temperatures for parts of the dakotas, minnesota, near nor mal for most of the corn belt, south texas, most of texas and the west above normal temperatures and the outlook for precipitation above normal. the central valley and the rest of the eastern school board, below normal for the drought areas of texas. john? >> thanks mike. when "u.s. farm report" returns we're off to kansas to meet a young man who won't let a disability limit his dreams. "spirit of the heartland" is next.

back in 1873, beef angus cattle were introduced in the united back in 1873, an gus beef cattle were introduced to the united states. they are now well established and a popular breed for many ranchers. in conjunction with the american an gus association we're going to introduce you to the people who raise this breed. it's not only about the agriculture but the families and their heritage. in our first report we learn about' remarkable young man

named clinton laugh land. >> clinton is a very special person. you know he, when he was first born he, the doctors really didn't give him a fighting chance. as a matter of fact they said he had him dressed in cabbage patch doll clothes, that's how small he was. now he is walking with a cane and sometimes life throws you something that, you know, maybe isn't the fun estimator the best or easiest and you just got to take it and go on and do the best you can with it and make the best out of everything. and clinton defines that. he does make the best out of every situation. >> it's been an interesting journey to walk these years with him because of his unique personality. and his -- it's just almost like he has an aura around him. there was one day that he did,

only once, that he asked his dad "why am i like this" and his dad said to him"well, clinton, everyone has their struggles in life, this happens to be what yours is" and he accepted that. >> if i would have had a completely, quote, "normal child," you know, i would have never been able to see things in a different light and appreciate the little things in life. >> my nickname is the governor because i have always been very interested in politics and, just, i've always felt that i could be involved in that in some way. i'd like to -- my end goal is to become a lobbyist for an agricultural organization and be able to kind of spread the good word about agriculture because i feel like agriculture is becoming a very large

minority and many people don't understand the needs of agriculture and what it represents to this country. >> the thing that i love the most about being in the angus business is being able to be a part of a larger community and being able to take part in something very special because of the people that are involved in the industry and the great breed of cattle that we can produce. >> you know, enjoying green grass and enjoying leaves on trees and, you know, having the opportunity to ride a horse and look at black cattle when you want to, and you know, there is a lot of little things that people take for granted that clinton taught me, as his father, that, you know, be gracious for what god has given us.

i love him. he is my kid. angus association for bringing us the story of >> our thanks to the american angus association for bringing tuesday story. why boaters find themselves in the middle of the great ethanol debate. >> enter at simple and true challenge.com for a chance to win a one-year lease for a versatile tractor. versatile, simple, reliable, easy to maintain.

welcome back...if you're a corn grower looking to expand your agronomic welcome back. if you're a corn grower looking to expand your expertise farm journal the here to help. hosted pie farm journal agone mist ken theory it will be held monday, august 31st. that's a day before the farm progress show kicks off. it will stay place at the corn campus just outside pluming

dale, illinois. call (800)909-3681 to register. if, equation for the nation's corn ethanol has become a big part of the financial equation for the nation's corn growers. the environmental protection agency will decide by december 1st if more ethanol can be blended with gasoline in the u.s. there has been no shortage of opinions of hiking the blend to 15% will have. the corn industry, not surprisingly, supports it. the livestock industryst opposed. as steve grant from afill i can't tell tv station reports it is making waves in his part of the country. >> reporter: when gas prices were heading toward $4 the message from corn growers was adding ethanol to fuel was saving drivers at least 10 cents a gallon at the pump. but the argument to boost ethanol blends to grow the biofuel supply isn't washing well with the nation's $40 billion boating industry. hydro tech marine is always

busy with tune-ups because of et mom's detergent action. >> anything that it cleans off goes through your fuel system and eventually goes right into the engine. >> reporter: and the most popular modification to most boat mothers these days is a big filter. >> we sell a lot of these right now because, as i said, it's about the only line of defense you have against ethanol and water separation. >> reporter: at nick is a small engine repair they have quit counting those $100 lawn mother fixes from cheap gas. it will mess with mowers, chain saws, atvs and gas engines. >> gas engines aren't built as good so it becomes a problem. >> reporter: until they settle the e15 fuel question boat manufacturers and dealers are telling owners to follow the operators manual and keep their fuel tanks topped off. check that fuel supply on a regular basis. >> right at 10% which is the

maximum you're allowed to put in. >> reporter: ethanol supporters say moving up to e15 would create 130,000 new jobs. but boat manufacturers with millions of craft on the water say e15 could be dangerous and sink a lot of existing warranties. this is steve grant for "u.s. farm report." me back, it's time for tractor tales and >> thanks steve. when we come back illegal immigrants time for tractor tails and our "country church salute." >> miss any of today's show? head to usfarmreport.com to watch the program online. "u.s. farm report," the spirit of the countryside.

red and white colored the red and white colored the landscape in texas. ih red and white that is. we caught up with a collector in mckinney, texas, who showed us his antique treasure.

[ sound of tractor starting. >> i bought this tractor, a 1468, up in kansas at bellville, kansas, right at the north part of kansas. this tractor was used at a local co-op. they pulled some kind of a fertilizing unit with it, that farmers could rent this tractor, and fertilize for a few hours or a day putting their fertilizer on. it's got under 3,000 hours on it, which is very unique, and it's got a four-post roms top on it which is very rare. most of them either had a two- post or a cab. i would say most of them probably had a cab with air conditioning back then. this is a 1468 which they put a v8 in. they got the engine from the truck division, a dv550, a very unique-sounding engine and pretty solid v8. they made 'em for about four or

five days. the other day i pulled myself, the skid roeder out of the pond, but things like that. other than i went and got the biggest tractor because i was stuck pretty bad. this is my favorite tractor. it has got all the bells and whistles and large tractor. it's about 150-horsepower. and does a very good job. >> this engine, the dv550, made by the ha international harvester truck division runs on four cylinders when it is not doing any real work or load, and then it switches to eight cylinders so, they were the very first people before even cadillac came with that notion of saving gas on four cylinders and then switching to eight as loon soon as you got a load. there's not that many around, and there was never that many made, and i don't know, even know of another one in texas. >> our first church on the "country church salute" is the

well much united church in well much, oklahoma. it was then the oklahoma-indian territory. they are now in their third church home. 100 members still follow the guidance of john wesley as they pursue many outreach efforts in their community and be i don't know. our thanks to pastor lee hilliard. our second church is the arming on the cristian church in arming on the, illinois. they'll celebrate the 180 anniversary this weekend. the present building was completed in 1906 featuring three stained glass windows. the congregation supports ministries such as a monthly gospel jamboree and a strong visitation program. they recently started a ladies day out as well. our thanks tobecky lloyd, the pastor's wife for the information. as well we would like to hear your information. it can be sent to the addressen the screen. stay with us, the mailbag

is next.

closed captioning is brought to you by optimum brand innovations, science with service, delivering success. time now for our weekly look inside the farm report mail bag... my comments >> time now for our look inside the old farm report mailbag. my comments last week about

getting rid of petting views split our viewers right down the middle. there's this voice mail from colorado springs. totally wrong about the petting zoo. children need to learn animals are not to be afraid of. petting zoos are good. which was followed by this message from john in ohio. good point on the petting zoos. this gives pete a lot of ammunition. good work. is this really a farmer saying not having a petting zoo is not good. who does he think he is. very disappointing. i agree petting zoos should be eliminated but my favorite was this one right in the middle. it's time you people got civilized and realized petting zoos have nothing to do with it. okay. i think it's safe to say that the search for consensus continues on this issue. but i will add one other factor i alluded to in my comments last week. whether you support the idea of petting zoos or not the increasing awareness of even

faint animal to human disease transmission has put insurance companies on edge. for public organizations human- animal contact is becoming seen as an avoidable risk and at least two school members have told me they have ended petting zoos at the advice of their insurance agents. is it me or have insurance companies become the final authority for proper conduct these days. please, let us know what you think. feel free to contact us directly, send e-mails to info at u.s. farmreport.com. or call (800)792-4329 and leave us a voice mail. for al and mike, i'm john phipps, saying thank you for watching "u.s. farm report." be sure to join us again next week. we'll be working to do even better.

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