Luke Nolt and friend check out the sprinkler father, Harveyl who works full-time at a lumber
irrigation system in use on the Nolt farm at Ephrata Harvey Nolt has been using irrigation on his
RD3. Luke handles most of the farm chores for his tobacco for the past 20 years.
Irrigation Pays Off
For Tobacco Growers
[Continued from Page 1]
can supply more complete information on stream
regulations. *
About the tobacco crop itself, Yocum said it’s looking very
good this year. “Tobacco farmers should have an excellent
year if we have enough moisture to keep the crop going
strong the rest of the season,” he noted.
One farmer who’s been irrigating tobacco for about two
decades is Harvey Nolt, Ephrata RD3. Nolt was also one of
the first area growers to switch from 38-inch to 30-inch rows
for his tobacco crop. He’s been growing tobacco since 1944 on
his 40-acre farm.
Nolt’s son, Luke, demonstrated the sprinkler system this
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week for Lancaster Farming. A pump powered with a tractor
PTO draws water from the Conestoga River which flows by
the farm. A six-inch main line feeds the water into five-inch
sprinkler lines which shoot arcing streams of profit onto
Nolt’s five-and-a-half acres of Pennmill 69 tobacco. Just
across the lane from the tobacco field there’s a patch of
celery planted so it gets sprinkled, too. In dry weather, Luke
said, they try to irrigate for about two hours a day. They also
fertilize their crop with 12-12-12.
Along with most growers in Lancaster County, the Nolts
market their tobacco in straight-stripped form. “The little
extra we get for sorting it isn’t worth the effort,” Luke said.
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Here’s the power end of the tractor’s PTO drives the pump which
tobacco irrigation system on the draws water from the Conestoga
Harvey Nolt farm, Ephrata RD3. The River.
Checking the operation or irrigation equipment isn’t a job for someone
who minds getting wet.
A healthy looking, profitable tobacco crop is the
end result of irrigation.
“We sold our crop around the middle of March for 51-cents a
pound, which is about what everybody got.”
The Notts sold their crop to a buyer who came around to the
farm, a traditional way of marketing that’s been going on for
just about as long as there’s been tobacco here. Would he like
to see an auction where buyers had to bid against each other?
“I think it’d be a good idea to at least try an auction,” Luke
said. “We try to grow good tobacco, and maybe we’d get a
better price at an auction. I’d like to see how one would work,
anyway.”
In addition to tobacco, the Notts grow corn, rye and wheat
to feed to their steers and hogs. They grow out about 80 hogs a
year and around 50 steers, which they sell through the New
Holland Sales Stables.
Luke handles most of the' farm chorse, since his father
works full-time at a nearby lumber mill.
L«.nc»«ter Photo*