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Penn?.* otate University '
Vol. 18 No. 37
FARM TRENDS
A summary of market
and commodity news
tor the past week
A Long Struggle for H.B. 1056.
House Bill 1056, the measure which would provide
preferential tax rates for Pennsylvania farmland, was the
subject this week of a public hearing at Millersville State
College This was the second in a senes of four public
meetings to be conducted by the House Ag Committee,
chaired by Representative Francis Kennedy The public
hearings are no easy task for the committee members, but
their real work will begin when they get ready to take the bill
onto the House floor Some definitions will certainly have to
be sharpened, some compromises may be in order Chair
man Kennedy is still hoping for a ten-year rollback clause, in
spite of opposition from some farmer groups like the Penn
sylvania Farmers Association
Hog Prices - Don’t Bet on Where They’ll Stop.
The excitement at Tuesday’s sale after the FFA Hog Show
didn’t stop when the grand champion porker went for $1 51
a pound Buyers twitched their eyebrows and nodded their
way to a 60 8-cent per pound average selling price
Rumors of black marketeermg in beef cattle were rum
bling through most of the major markets in the country,
including Lancaster. Small buyers have suddenly become big
buyers and tots of people, including IRS agents are won
dering what they’re doing with the extra production Some
restaurants and food chains are reportedly willing to pay
higher than legal costs for beef and sell it at a loss just to
keep their share of business until the September 12 price
freeze deadline In the west, beefmen are reportedly selling
more meat to Japan, where beef retails as high as $l4 a
pound
Learn to Live with Feed Costs
Two weeks ago, soybean meal plummeted to $l5O a ton,
and there was some feeling feed prices might follow meal
back to what many consider "reasonable” prices. This week,
cash meal price fob Decatur was again pegged well over the
$3OO mark Local feedmen see soybean meal prices hovering
around $250 to $3OO for at least the winter. New factors
operating in the market place are blamed, at least in part, for
keeping prices high even in the face of increased supplies
These factors include a ready market overseas, and in
creasing use of plant protein in consumer food products
Top Hog Brings *1.51/lb.
FFA Show Pigs
Average $ 60.80
Barry Wissler had good reason
to smile on Tuesday as his grand
champion FFA hog left the sale
ring during the 12th Annual
Lancaster County FFA Swine
Show and Sale Wissler had just
head the auctioneer say, “Sold 1
For $1.51 to Walter M. Dunlap
and Sons ”
His 215-pound crossbred champ
earned a check totalling $324 65
The Ephrata High School junior
figured out his expenses on the
hog the day after the show, and
found that they added up to
$74 61 His expenses included
feed costs, the cost of the pig and
all other costs Wissler bought the
pig from his father, Glenn, who
by Dick Wanner
Black Market Beef?
(Continued On Page 25)
operates a hog farm near
Ephrata
Wissler’s net of $248 24 was
higher than the total price paid
for last year’s champion hog
owned by Marlin Smoker and
Richard 0 Bollinger, also of
Ephrata High School They split a
check for $229 60 for their hog
This year’s reserve grand
champion was shown by Mike
Grube of Warwick High School
His 210 pound porker was bought
at 81 cents per pound by Lan
caster Stock Yards
A total of 195 hogs were sold by
35 boys Thirty-nine of the hogs,
however, were not eligible for the
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 4, 1973
(Continued On Page 25)
Committee Listens All Day. . .
Tax Critics, Backers
At Millersville Hearing
“I’d say the chances are ex
cellent for getting a ten-year tax
rollback into a preferential farm
tax bill,” Francis Kennedy told
LANCASTER FARMING on
Wednesday Kennedy, a Butler
County dairy farmer, is a
member of the Pennsylvania
House of Representatives and is
chairman of the house
agriculture committee He and
all but three members of his 23-
member committee were at
Millersville State College all day
on Wednesday to conduct a public
meeting on House Bill 1056
H B 1056, if enacted into law,
Farm Calendar
Saturday, August 4
Twin Valley FFA Barbecue,
Kurtz’ Fishing Lakes
Monday, August 6
Great Dallastown Fair, August 6 -
11
Tuesday, August 7
6 30 p.m Fulton Grange
Swimming party, home of Mr
and Mrs Earle Gilbert Sr.
Port Deposit RD., Md.
Lancaster County Farmers
Association meeting, Farm
and Home Center
(Continued On Page 4)
Lancaster Farming Photo
Barry Wissler, an FFA student at Ephrata, is shown here with
his 215-pound crossbred hog which took best of show
honors Tuesday at the annual FFA Hogs Show. Walter M.
Dunlap and Sons, Inc., bought the hog for $1.51 per pound.
will allow farmland to be taxed
on the basis of its value as far
mland, rather than on the basis of
its value on the open, speculative
market. Such a move would tend
to keep farm tax bills lower than
they otherwise would be,
especially in rapidly developing
areas near urban centers
Under the provisions of the
proposed law, a farmer would
enter into a contract with his
county government to keep his
land in agricultural use for a ten
year period In exchange for
keeping his farm in open space,
the county would see that the
farmer’s taxes were computed on
the basis of his farm’s value as a
unit of agricultural production.
, At the end of the ten-year period,
the farmer could, if he chose, sell
his land at its speculative value
without any penalty
If, however, he sold his land
before ten years had passed, he
would be compelled to pay a
penalty The penalty would
amount to the savings the farmer
realized through preferential
taxation, plus five percent in
terest, compounded annually, on
the amount of the savings.
For example, say a farmer’s
tax bill would be $2OO a year if his
$2 00 Per Year
tax were computed on the land’s
value as a speculative com
modity And, say that he pays
only $lOO a year under the
provisions of H B. 1056. Over a
period of five years, that farmer
would save $5OO in taxes. If, at the
end of five years he decided to
sell his farm to a developer, he
would have to pay a penalty
amounting to the $5OO saved plus
five percent interest If he held
onto his farm for ten years before
selling, however, he would pay no
penalty at all
While it’s generally agreed that
a penalty provision is necessary
if any preferential tax law is to
work, the ten-year rollback has
been criticized by many people,
farmers among them, because it
was felt to be too long a period
However, Francis Kennedy, for
one, has said that he feels the ten
year rollback is one of the bill’s
strong features, and he’d like to
see it stay in Donald Hershey, a
Manheim farmer and chairman
of the Lancaster County Farmers
Association said, in testimony
before the committee, that he too
favored the ten-year rollback.
His view on that point differs
substantially from that of the
Pennsylvania Farmers
(Continued On Page 14)
In This Issue . . .
Page
Markets 2-4
Sale Register 29-30
Farmers Almanac 6
Classified Ads 33-35
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 20
Kimberton Fair Results 13
Berks County Dairy
Princess Contestants 36
4-H News 12
4-H Calendar 7
Lebanon County Plowing
Contest Preview 19
Lebanon Fair Schedule 9
Galen Buckwalter Benefit 25
Weed Control
Field Day Mon.
The Southeast Research Center
(Research Farm) at Landisville
will be the site of a Weed Control
Field Day Monday, August 6
beginning at 1 30 p.m
The field day this year will deal
with weed control of No-Till and
conventionally planted corn,
soybeans and tobacco Dr
Nathan Hartwig will be in charge
of corn pesticides. Dr Richard
Cole will cover soybean her
bicides, and John Yocum will
discuss tobacco weed control Dr
Bill McClellan, Extension weed
scientists, will be involved in all
three areas under observation
There are numerous plots to
show in these three areas
Farmers, custom spray
operators, salesmen, etc , are all
invited