The Michigan FFA Foundation, which administers the Endowment, recently awarded $55,015 in grants to 24 entities across the state. The number of grantees is nearly double last year's total.

The Glassbrook FFA Endowment funds agriculture and natural resources education and leadership initiatives for traditional and non-traditional K-12 programs. Funding is not limited to schools nor FFA programs.

A grant review committee appointed by the Michigan FFA Foundation's board selected recipients based on criteria, such as financial need, targeted population, and the proposed project's uniqueness and sustainability.

"This year the Michigan FFA Foundation received a total of 33 applications, so the grant review committee had the challenging tasks of narrowing down its selections from all these quality applications and determining how to best utilize the limited funding available," said Kate Powers, executive director of the Michigan FFA Foundation.

"In the end, the committee's selections represent a wide gamut in terms of the types of recipients and educational objectives," said Powers. "As in the past, it's been a pleasure for the Michigan FFA Foundation to facilitate the Glassbrook FFA Endowment and help fuel continued youth education and leadership in the areas of agriculture and natural resources."

The 2004 Glassbrook grantees include several high schools and career and technological centers, as well as a county Farm Bureau, county 4-H Fair Association, high school FFA, school district, a Michigan State University research and teaching facility, and two conservation districts.

The awarded programs range from teaching Allen Park students about how pizza ingredients are grown, to planning and installing a perennial garden in Charlotte, to constructing a pavilion to be used as an animal health laboratory in Ionia.

Pauline Glassbrook, a former state employee of the Michigan FFA office and a longtime FFA supporter, established the Endowment eight years ago with a $100,000 donation. In 1996, the Michigan Department of Agriculture provided a $500,000 matching grant. Currently, the endowment is worth more than $1.5 million.

While Thomas will be missed, he leaves a legacy of superior leadership, said Wayne H. Wood, president of the Michigan Farm Bureau Family of Companies.

"Larry has been an extremely valuable part of the Farm Bureau leadership team and has contributed tremendously to the growth and development of Farm Bureau Insurance during his past 15 years as executive vice president," said Wood. "Larry has believed strongly in investing in Michigan's future through high-quality insurance products, top-quality employees and agents, and partnerships with respected Michigan organizations."

Wood added that for the first time this year, the Michigan Farm Bureau Family of Companies will exceed over half a billion dollars in annual property-casualty premium.

"Thanks to Larry's guidance and vision, our Life Insurance Company has been named one of the 50 best life insurance companies in the country, based on the security and outstanding financial performance of our company in 12 out of the last 13 years. In fact, we are one of only a handful of American companies to have earned this distinction so consistently," he said.

Thomas, of Portland, began his Farm Bureau Insurance career in 1967 as an accountant for Farm Bureau Life. He was promoted three years later to accounting supervisor, and was eventually promoted to assistant controller in 1973 and to controller in 1978.

He became a member of the Farm Bureau Insurance corporate staff in 1987, when he was named vice president and corporate controller. Thomas was named executive vice president of Farm Bureau Insurance in 1989, upon the retirement of CEO Robert Wiseman.

Thomas is only the third person to hold the executive vice president position since the founding of Farm Bureau Insurance in 1949 - a testament to the stability of the company and its leadership.

Thomas' commitment to service extends beyond the Farm Bureau organization. He serves on the boards of directors of the Insurance Institute of Michigan and the Life Insurance Association of Michigan (LIAM), and has previously served as president of LIAM.

However, with the lessons learned from 2000 fresh in their minds, growers have realized that fire blight infections are something they can't eliminate with today's limited weapons.

"We've learned that fire blight is expensive to control and that newer trees are more susceptible," said Rodney Winkel, a Watervliet-area fruit grower. "We can prune the younger trees heavier or pull them out if the infection gets into the trunk system, but I learned that after you take a hit like we did in 2000, you can't try to save the whole orchard."

Another lesson learned in southwestern Michigan and on the Fruit Ridge, northern Kent County's prime apple growing region, is that fire blight is developing immunity to antibiotics that used to control it.

"One of the more serious things we've learned is that some fire blight bacteria is resistant to Streptomycin," said Phil Schwallier, Michigan State University Extension's (MSUE) horticulture and marketing agent at the Clarksville Horticulture Experiment Station.

"Next year we'll be able to use Apogee, a growth regulator that reduces vegetative growth and will, hopefully, slow down fire blight. We're fortunate to have that, because in 2000, it was introduced too late," said Schwallier. "Mycosheild is an antibiotic that controls fire blight, but this year, it's too late to spray. I think growers on the Ridge did a good job of controlling the infection this year during blossom, but we had a hail storm July 21, and when you have a trauma event like that, infections typically don't show up until two weeks later."

Despite the July storm and the expected infection, Schwallier predicts that apple production on the Ridge will decrease by only about 1 percent.

Things may be a little worse in southwestern Michigan, said Mark Longstroth, district Extension horticulture and marketing agent with MSUE in Van Buren County, although production losses likely will not be as serious as in 2000.

"It will be nothing like 2000," he said. "The crop is spotty, but the frost we had during bloom is a more significant factor than fire blight."

Still, no one is discounting this year's infection.

"The problem is that as a grower, I'm trying to guess the market, and the more marketable varieties now are the most susceptible to fire blight," said Winkel. "The galas and honeycrisps are in the most demand, but they get infected. It makes it difficult as a grower to try to guess, and so far, I haven't found any varieties that are both resistant to fire blight and in great demand."

TAP assistance in demand
In response to the 2000 infection, growers, the apple committee of the Michigan Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Association, Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB) and the Michigan congressional delegation all worked together to make federal Tree Assistance Program (TAP) funding available.

The existing TAP program made $9.7 million available in 2000 to pay growers for tree losses and to help farmers replant. The funding was made available specifically to compensate Michigan apple growers for fire blight-related losses between 2000 and 2007. To date, the program has paid out nearly $1.2 million in claims and has $9.24 million in requests still pending, said Dale Allen, conservation chief with the federal Farm Service Agency.

Allen said by statute, individual farm payments through TAP are limited to $75,000. But with the fund reaching its limit three years prior to the program's expiration, an effort may be needed to try to extend the program and ensure adequate funding, said Sarah Black, MFB national legislative counsel.

"Farm Bureau policy supports the Tree Assistance Program and adequate funding," Black said. "The farm bill authorizes the appropriation of money necessary to carry out the TAP program, and we will continue to work with legislators in implementing the law."

"These funds will help producers with animal operations meet state and federal regulatory requirements by helping them apply conservation practices in their comprehensive nutrient management plans," said USDA Secretary Ann Veneman. "EQIP helps producers optimize overall environmental benefits as part of agricultural production."

The states receiving the additional funds are Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Michigan's allocation is $305,500.

In allocating these funds, the Natural Resources Conservation Service considered factors such as the number of concentrated animal feeding operations, number of animal units and cost of animal waste systems.

Contact: Sarah Black, (800) 292-2680, ext. 2025 or Scott Piggott, ext. 2021

This USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) program protects productive agricultural land by purchasing conservation easements to limit conversion of farm and ranch lands to nonagricultural uses.

These FRPP funds were reallocated to states that requested additional funding. In distributing the funds, NRCS considered the conversion of farmland, the conversion of prime farmland and states' requests for additional monies to complete specific projects. Michigan's share is $207,655.

"These funds will allow more farmers and ranchers to keep their land in agriculture," said USDA Secretary Ann Veneman. "This program helps to ensure that productive land is protected, and encourages farmers and ranchers to use conservation systems that improve environmental health."

Contact: Sarah Black, (800) 292-2680, ext. 2025

The 2002 farm bill provided $6 million for the Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program for the 2002-03 school year. A total of 25 elementary and secondary schools located in Indiana, Michigan, Iowa and Ohio, and seven schools in the Zuni Pueblo of New Mexico were selected to participate in the original pilot. The pilot evaluation showed that the program was popular with students and administrators, improved student eating habits, and raised student preference for and awareness of a variety of fruits and vegetables.

The recently enacted Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act made the Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program permanent. Effective Oct. 1, 2004, $9 million will be made available for the schools that were part of the original pilot.

The act also provides for the expansion of the program to Washington, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and two Indian reservations in Arizona and South Dakota.

USDA, as well as the National 5-A-Day Partnership, will provide educational materials to participating schools. Each of the participating states will be given funding for the program that will begin operation during the 2004-05 school year.

Contact: Sarah Black, (800) 292-2680, ext. 2025 or Ken Nye, ext. 2020

Turning to Table 2, the second cutting of hay was near completion for most districts. Corn growth had slowed due to the lack of heat. The soybean crop continued to advance, with most fields setting pods. Wheat harvest neared completion. Meanwhile, fruit development was typically seven to 10 days ahead of normal throughout the state, while the harvest of many vegetable crops progressed over the week.

This information is available from the Michigan Agricultural Statistics Service. A free subscription can be established at http://www.nass.usda.gov/sub-form.htm.

Table 1: Soil moisture for week ending 8/8/04
Stratum	Very Short	Short	Adequate	Surplus
Topsoil	9%	30%	60%	1%
Subsoil	4%	26%	66%	4%

Table 2: Crop Progress for week ending 8/8/04
Crop	Inches	Inches	Inches	Inches
Corn, height	64	59	68	73
	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5yr. Avg.
All hay, second cutting	70%	64%	79%	76%
Corn, Silked	71%	67%	78%	86%
Dry beans, blooming	80%	37%	57%	73%
Soybeans, blooming	82%	60%	82%	88%
Soybeans, setting pods	44%	28%	42%	56%
Winter wheat, harvested	97%	89%	95%	99%
Peaches, harvested	31%	24%	N/A	N/A

Agriculture employs more than 24 million American workers - 17 percent of the U.S. work force - to produce, process, sell and trade the nation's food and fiber.

Technology is increasingly used on today's farms and ranches. USDA statistics show that 48 percent of U.S. farms have Internet access and 58 percent have general access to computers. A survey of young farmers and ranchers shows that 92 percent use a computer and 88 percent have Internet access.

Each year, Americans consume nearly 3 billion pizzas. That means each person eats about 23 pounds of pizza every year. In fact, 350 slices of pizza are eaten every second!

It was 1911 when the first county Farm Bureau was formed in Broome County, N.Y.