Kurtz , Stoltzfus Win FFA Awards Good records and hard work have paid off for two members of the Twin Valley FFA Chapter. Richard Kurtz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Mahlon Kurtz of RD2 El verson, has been named the state winner of the Fish and Wildlife Management Proficiency Award; while Frank Stoltzfus, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Kurtz VAN DALE SILAGE UNLOADERS hree Models to Meet Your Requirements Frank Houck also of RD2 Elverson, has been named as winner of the Livestock Production Proficiency Award. A total of ten such awards in various areas will be presented at the Mid-Winter Awards Con vention of the Pa. FFA Association on Wednesday January 9, 1974 in the Forum Building of the Pa. Capitol Complex in Harrisburg. The award will include a $lOO savings bond and a plaque. Both Rich and Frank are 1972 graduates of Twin Valley High School. Rich has served as chapter Chaplain and Reporter, besides participating in track, basketball, and cross country. Before starting vocational agriculture in 1968, Rich worked with his parents in their fishing lake and bait raising business. Not surprisingly, his first project in agriculture was minnow production, and he has continued to expand upon this area ever since. In five years Rich has produced and sold over 100,000 minnows from his own ponds, which has generated sufficient income to enable him to receive the Keystone Degree in 1973. An "open South".SOLAIR Barn added to an existing dairy barn. This building contains 110 free stalls and an automatic feeder and waterer. Solar heat coupled with thermo-circulation keeps the SOLAIR Barn exceptionally dry, assuring a minimum of odors and bacterial growth'. In rainy weather, the "sun sensor" automatically closes the louvers to maintain dry conditions. It Conserves Energy! ' There is a SOLAIR System fen DAIRY COWS, BEEF COW-CALF HERDS, COMMERCIAL BULL OR STEER HERDS r- *■ STT-- foRDER EArly AND SAVO J CALEB M. WENGER, R.D. 1, QUARRYVILLE, PA. 17566 | Plhm stmi iirfirmifiH on tk • foliowinf: I Solair Cow Bay □ Madison Silo Q J Solair Beef Barn Q Van Dale Feeder Q • Pamline Waterer Q Van Dale Unloader Q | lam interested in a franchise Q | lam interested in Agri-Leasing Q j NAME I ADDRESS NO. _ Frank Stoltzfus What’s in Rich’s future? - Fish. Frank has served Twin Valley in the capacity of Sentinel, Vice- President, and President. He has also served as President of the Berks County FFA and State wide Vice-President of the Pa. FFA Association. Frank has always had livestock projects as part of his vocational agriculture program. Beginning in ninth grade in a remodeled steer barn, he fattened 59 hogs. Since then he has raised almost 1000 market hogs. In his senior year, as part of the expanding farming operations of Frank and his Letters to the Editor McHale Replies In your December i editorial, “McHale’s Paper Bullets," you criticized our news releases and commentaries which opposed Nixon administration farm policies. You labeled them political and said it appeared that anything the Nixon ad- parents, the steer barn was again remodeled, this time more than doubling its capacity. Following his election as a state FFA of ficer, Frank decided to limit his farming operations. Entering into a management agreement with his parents, he became partially responsible for the overall management of the swine fattening operations which finish over 2000 hogs annually. In ad dition to his hogs, Frank has also raised horses, having a mare foal in 1971. After having breeding problems with the mare however, he decided to stick to pleasure horses and his hogs. What does the future bold for Frank? More hogs, and taking over the crop enterprises on his parents 240 acre farm!! Frank and Rich are the first Twin Valley members to receive state Proficiency Awards in the history of the chapter. jl i ZIR COUNTY Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 5,1974 — ministration was for, McHale was against. There is a basic ideological difference between the Nixon administration and that of Gov. Milton Shapp’s toward farming. The Nixon team is for big business control of farming, whereas the Governor and I are dedicated to the preservation of the family farmer. Call this political if you will. But I think the public has a right to know and choose between these ideologies as they become evident in the programs backed by the two administrations. Both the United States Department of Agriculture and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture regularly issue releases on crops, market con ditions and so forth, a practice you commended in your editorial. We both issue our views on farm policy - USDA through speeches by Secretary Butz and the un dersecretaries released to the media, and my department through my commentaries and news statements. In this way, the public benefits from the ex pressions of two points of view. When the Russian wheat deal was made, USDA gushed ef fusively about what a boon that was for American farmers. I saw it differently. I think the con sequences of this deal have borne me out. It was a boon alright, but for the six major grain com panies involved in the deal who made 13 times their normal profit. Many grain farmers sold too early to benefit from the price rise that occurred after the dealers had acquired the grain. Pennsylvania fanners, of whom the majority are dairymen, suffered extreme hardships from high feed prices that resulted from the deal. The public, reading USDA inspired news stories, directed their anger over the ensuing-high food prices toward the farmer. You may call it political, but I thought it was important to set the record straight as far as just how much farmers benefited. Grain is one of America’s most vital resources. How much we export, and to whom, affects world relations. Therefore, I believe our government should have a policy regarding the allocation of this resource. The Nixon administration has acknowledged openly that we must pay for oil imports with grain exports. If this is the case, then we should make sure we have this grain currency on hand when we need it. This was my thinking when I issued the statement about the Mideast cutback of crude oil to the United States. I also criticized the ad ministration’s termination of the Rural Environmental Assistance Program (REAP) last year. To me this was a fundamental example of Washington’s attempt to eliminate programs beneficial to small farmers. It is true that some of the conservation aspects of REAP were salvaged by the new farm bill, but here I would credit Congress rather than the administration which opposed the bill. You correctly noted that payments for lime will not be continued in the new farm bill. Perhaps you did not think this was important. But I did because the use of lime is essential to the application of fertilizers. I contended that the use of lime will decline and with it the productivity of our lands because farmers just cannot afford to take on the entire cost them selves. I believe the public should know the consequences of this particular action by Washington. James A. McHale Pa. Secretary 45
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