VOL. 14 NO. 31
Barley Harvest Started Last Week
But Humidity And Wet Fields Cool
It For Farmers Ready To Go Now
“This week we would have
been in the barley harvest thick
and heavy,” said Merle Groff,
Lancaster R 4. “But humidity
and wet fields have held us up ”
Merle did beat the weather by
starting his new 11 ft. self-pro
pelled combine in his own fields
last week. “We started Tuesday
the 17th on a small field on the
south side of the hill that was
ripe sooner. We did most of it
Friday and Saturday, though,”
he said.
The starting date for Groff
who does over 200 acres of cus
tom work was the earliest he
can remember. He mostly tries
to get started by the 20th.
The barley in Groff’s bins is
in fine condition with moisture
content estimated at 13 percent.
Yields were also excellent, run
ning nearly 100 bushels per
acre. These yields were better
than Groff expected last winter.
But the good growing weather
Ralph Horchler
Leaves Pequea
Ralph Horchler, Vo-Ag Teach
er at Pequea Valley has accept
ed a position as sales represen
tative for Hamilton Equipment
Inc , an Ephiata farm and light
industnal equipment distribu
tor. Effective July 7, Ralph will
cover the Northeast pait of
Pennsylvania calling on dealers'
in an area bounded by Ene,
Pittsburgh, State College and
the Ohio line.
Graduating from the Union
Area High School and Penn
State as an agricultural educa
tion major, Horchler staited
work at Pequea Valley in Octo
ber of 1967. A native of
(Continued on Page 7)
Don't 1 Forget . . .
. . . The annual Conservation
Air Tour tomorrow. Flights
leave the New Holland Airport
all day and will be giving 20
minute rides to most any part
of the county you want to see.
Sponsored by the local Soil
and Water Conservation Dis
trict, the tour is to provide an
opportunity for countians to ob
serve the effects and need of
conservation practices. Tickets
are $3.50 and available at the
airport.
Rain date is July 6.
Farm Calendar
Sunday, June 29
All day—Lancaster County Con
servation Air Tour, New
Holland Airport.
Tuesday, July 1
1-3—FFA Activities Week, Penn
State.
900 a.m —Holstein 4-H dairy
judging practice, Robert
Kauffman Farm.
730 p.m —4-H Guernsey Club
meets, Margaret Shoppe
home, Lampeter
(Continued on Page 5)
brought the grain along to the
good yields.
Groff reported a lot of the
barley now down because of the
ra ins this week. And as of
Thursday the fields were too
wet to run the big equipment,
He is ready to go however, just
as soo n as the weather permits
Mr. and Mrs. Groff and their
three children Merle Jr. 7, Jo
anne 5, and J. Marlin 2, live on
a 75 acr e farm and feed out
about 175 steers and some swine
each year,
-ADJUSTING THE REEL FORKS on
his new 11 ft. combine is Merle Groff, Lan
caster R 4. Merle started combining barley
June 17 but the humid weather and wet
fields held him from continuing this week.
Potato Growers Vote No
On Self-Assessment Plan
Pennsylvania potato growers
voted 99 to 87 last Friday
against a self-assessment plan
for research, advertising and
promotion of potatoes and pota
to products A total of 792 bal
lots had been mailed to com
mercial growers The assess
ment of one cent a hundred-
weight on potatoes for human
consumption would have rais
ed approximately $50,000 from
growers with 10 acres or more.
Locally, Noah Kreider Jr, po
tato grower from Manheim, said
Tuesday, “Really, we were dis
appointed We were hoping it
would go through. I would guess
the people who were against the
program were sure to vote and
those who were for it or didn’t
Lancaster Farming, Saturday. June 28,1969
Frey Wins Young
Cooperator Contest
J. Mowery Frey Jr, 401 Bea
ver Valley Pike, was named the
Outstanding Young Cooperator
of the Inter-State Milk Produc
ers Cooperative from the list of
six finalists announced last
week.
Frey, who is the owner of a
nationally known Registered
Holstein herd of dairy cows,
farms 350 acres He and Mrs.
Frey will attend the 1969 Na
tional Milk Producer’s Federa
tion meeting in Washington,
D C. as part of the prize for
winning the Young Cooperator
Contest.
care did not return their vote
There is no question but that it
would have helped the potato
industry,” he said
The negative ballots repre
sented 53 percent of those
counted and 46 percent of the
production of the growers vot
ing.
The Pennsylvania Agricul
tural Commodities Marketing
Act, which permits raising
funds through self-assessment,
requires that two-thirds of those
voting favor assessment and
that their production volume
amount to at least 50 percent of
Voters’ production.
Voting was done through bal
lots returned to the State Agri
(Continued on Page 6)
Farmers To Know Credit
Costs By New Lending Law
By Everett Newswanger
Lancaster Farming Editor
.
A new law goes into effect
July 1 that is bound to affect
almost every farmer and farm
related business in Lancaster
County Called the Truth-In-
Lending or Credit Cost Disclos
ure Law, it is designed to make
sure borrowers of money and
users of any other type credit
will be fully informed about all
the costs and conditions of any
credit contract.
The yields on the finished fields were ex
cellent at about 100 bushels per acre. Esti
mated moisture content of the grain waf
13 percent. L. F. PhoU
Local Teachers
At Conference
Pennsylvania has been de
scribed as “the land of the area
vocational school” by one of the
nation’s top educational voca
tional leaders.
In a featured address during
the annual vocational education
conference attended by more
than 1,000 Pennsylvania teach
ers and supervisors of vocation
al education in the Poconos last
.Continued on Page 7)
Poultry Federation Holds Meet
A local poultry industry rep-
resentative was awarded state
honors this week at the Penn
sylvama Poultry Federation an
nual meeting held at Holiday
West Motel, Harusburg
Hendrik Wentink, Vice-presi
dent of Miller & Bushong Inc*
$2.00 Per Year
It should be noted initially,
that the new law in no way
changes interest or credit rates.
simply forces lenders to put
in WO rds that “stand out especial
jy clear”, the cost of the borrow
ers > credit so he can compare
credit costs with other sources
anc j av oid the uninformed use o£
erec jit
The two main points that musfc
disclosed are: (1) the total
finanCe charge and (2) t he an
nua j percentage of that charge,
Items that must normally be
figured in the finance charge are
interest, loan fees, finder fees,
time price differentials, amounts
paid as a discount and service or
carrying charges etc All these
items must be clearly disclosed
stating the dollars and cents
total and the annual percentage
rate.
(Continued on Page 3)
Local Survey
Shows Increase
In Farm Loans
A smvey or local ci edit ser
vices and banks lending to faim
eis this week, levealed no de
ciease in faim boirowing and no
leal lesistance to highei mteiesr
lates In fact the local faim cred
it service including The Federal
Land Bank Association of Lan
caster and the Lancaster Produc
tion Credit Association have ex
perienced an increase in lend
ing this year to date, according to
Carl Brown, Manager
Brown sard the reported na
tional trend toward less farm
lending was not true locally and
reported about an eight percent
increase in local Federal Land
Bank lending and about 10 per
cent in Production Credit Asso
ciation lending “There is con
siderable demand for money for
new machinery,” he said. “I
don’t see any real new trend.
Everybody is in about the same
situation,” he sard.
Stanley Musselman, Ag Rep
resentative for the Lancaster
County iFarmers Bank said, “The
entire lending situation is quite
different now than in years past.
If a farmer wants to make im
provements around his farm he
may need money amounts of
$40,000 to $50,000 Therefore, we
are more and more looking at
the whole farm program of the
borrower We think a farmei’s
credit management now is as im
portant as his pioduction man
agement
“So far.” he said, “we have
(Continued on Page 5)
Rohrerstown, was named Allied
Industryman of the year at the
conference attended by 200
State poultrymen. Sharing hon
ors with Wentink was William
R Myer, Myerstown, who was
named Poultryman of the Year,
on Page 61