Conservationist
IConthHMd From Page 11
make conservation more
profitable and more livable,
and still do a good Job of
saving soil," he told a group
of visitors to his farm on
Thursday morning. “My
fields are terraced. The
terraces carry runoff water
from my cornfields into a
grass waterway, and from
there it goes into a stream.”
FERTILIZE Your WHEAT With
ORTHO UHIPEL FERTILIZER
OTHER ANALYSIS AVAILABLE
20-10-10 13-34-10 _ 16-16-16
AVAILABLE IN BULK OR BAGS
CALL TODAY AND PLACE YOUR ORDER
pennft
711 Rohrerstown Road
Lancaster, Pa. 17604
Lancaster
299-2561
York
854-7867
"We’ve been told that we
must plant our crops parallel
to the terraces. Until this
year, that's what I did. But I
had a lot of point rows, and I
ran down a lot of my com
when it came time to harvest
my crop. I didn’t like that,
but I figured that’s what I
had to do to be a con
servation farmer.
"But you know, I started to
think about that, and I
• UNIFORM COATED PELLETS - for
even drilling
• CLEAN AND EASY TO HANDLE will
not clog up drills
• CONTAINS FAST ACTING AND
LONG LASTING NITROGEN AND
PHOSPHORUS
• HIGH ANALYSIS - less handling
and fewer stops while planting
Red Lion
244-4511
decided that those terraces
might do Just as good a of
holding back the water if 1
planted up and down the hills
and right over the terraces. I
think I was right.”
Stauffer’s audience had
more than a casual interest
in his technique. All who
listened' were area and
district conservationists and
conservation technicians
from around the state. They
were in Lancaster County for
an annual training session
field trip. Other stops in their
tour were the Stauffer
Homestead near Blue Ball,
the Carl Herr farm in the
southern end of the county,
and the Pequea Valley
Winery. One of the day’s
most improbable sights had
to be Aaron Stauffer flanked
by state conservation
director Benny Martin on his
right, and area conservation
director James Olsen on his
left. The trio were walking
down a steep slope against a
backdrop of corn rows
running straight up the hill
behind them.
After the tour group had
left, Stauffer explained of the
details of his experiment to
Lancaster Farming. On his
67 acre farm, Stauffer rears
some 33,000 broilers an
nually, and fattens about 100
steers. For the past five
years, he has grown' nothing
but com and a few acres of
tobacco. He shoots for 20,000
com plants to the acre, and
said he averages 160 to 185
bushel yields.
“Plowing with the slopes
was purely an experiement
this year,” he pointed out.
“I’m working very closely
with the SCS, and if anybody
else would want to try it, I’d
JOIN PENNFIELD
AT THE NEPPCO
Oct. 20-22
Philadelphia
Marketing Manager
Poultry Division
Area Manager
Aaron Stauffer, right, points out a The gentleman at the left is a staff
feature of his radical corn planting conservationist with the USDA in
program to state conservationist Washington, D.C.
Benny Martin on Thursday morning.
advise them to contact the
SCS before they do anything
else.”
Stauffer pointed out that
conservation plans prepared
by the USDA’s Soil and
Conservation Service are
designed to take into account
a farmer’s complete
program. A fanner who has
terraces now, but is also
strip cropping, may not be
aide to go to an all com
program without some
changes. Perhaps another
terrace or even more than
one may be needed.
Planting with the slope has
two big advantages, Stauffer
feels, and they’re ad
vantages which could find
more money in the Stauffer
bank account at the end of
CONVENTION
Area Manager
JOHNL RENSHAW
Area Manager
Lancaster Farming, Saturday. Oct. 12.1974
the year. “Your big savings
come in equipment time and
run down crop,” he said.
“Today it costs $45 an hour -
at least - to run one of those
big self-propelled forage
harvesters. When there are a
lot of point rows, it takes a lot
more time to get a crop in
than when the equipment
can just keep going in a
straight line. Plus, with point
rows we were running over a
lot of crop. This year, we
didn’t lose nearly as much.”
Terrace maintainence will
be increased, Stauffer feels,
but this is a minor point
compared to the other
savings he’ll realize. He
pointed out a spot where the
tractor wheels had dug into
the top of a terrace. “We
were pulling a big wagon,
and it was loaded down too
much to take over that
terrace. We learned a lot this
year about a few things we
should maybe do differently
next year. But I think we're
going to stick with the basic
idea, planting up and down
the hills.”
Read
Lancaster Farming
For Full
Market Reports
Area Manager
RUSSELL LATSHAW
Area Manager
». s V '
♦ v*~
jhIK
MEREDITH SHANKS
Area Manager
5