Parke Named PLAIA Head
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castrated a hog or sheared a
sheep. All present knew that
Parke, although he doesn't
have a farm background, is
an important figure in
Pennsylvania agriculture,
and has been ever since he
became executive vice
president of PennAg In
dustries Association in 1959.
During a pre-election
interview in his Ephrata
office, we asked Parke to
talk about his career and
about his perception of the
changing forces which affect
agriculture.
“When I was approached
about this job with Penn A
g was then known as the
Pennsylvania Millers and
Feed Dealers Association -1
was executive secretary for
the Pennsylvania Retailers
Association. The directors at
the time were looking more
for someone who understood
associations rather than
someone who knew a lot
about agriculture. And I
certainly f itted that
description.”
PennAg is an industry
association of firms dealing
in feed, fertilizer, seeds and
ag chemicals. The 469
member firms rely on their
association for employee life
and health insurance, news
about the things that affect
their business, a monthly
bulletin - “The Grist" - and
feed tags.
“We print a lot of feed tags
for our members,” Parke
explained, “mostly because
we review the wording on
those tags. The statements
on a dealer's feed tags must
comply with very strict
government regulations. We
know what those regulations
are, and so we can offer a
service that no ordinary
printer could hope to mat
ch.”
PennAg membership also
conveys the right to call on
the association for advice
about any area relating to
the very complex business of
keeping farmers supplied. A
grain sampling service is
also offered to members, but
it's not used nearly enough,
in Parke’s view.
“Grain sampling should be
part of a dealer’s regular
management practice,” he
said. Sam Sherk, who works
full-time for us, is one of the
very few USDA licensed
grain samplers in the state,
and the only one I know of
outside Philadelphia. His
work could help dealers
evaluate their sources of
supply, it could help them
find out what kind of grain
they’re getting at different
times of the year. Sam could
help them put money in their
pockets, yet he only gets
called out maybe 30 times a
year.
“We’re normally only
called in when there’s a
dispute between one of our
members and a supplier.
First they call their lawyers,
then they call us so we can
get the samples to show
whether or not the grain has
been damaged by heat or
something else.”
Another association
function is lobbying,
although this is a duty that
varies considerably in its
demands on Parke’s time.
The most recent lobbying
issue, and one which did take
a lot of time, was the subject
of rail abandonments in the
Northeast. PennAg mem
bers are keenly interested in
rail transportation, because
trains are the key to survival
for many of the firms sup
plying feed, seed and fer
tilizer to farmers. If a dealer
can be supplied directly by
rail at his plant, he can
charge his farmer customers
$5 a ton less for fertilizer and
grain, according to Parke.
“If there is no direct rail
service, it costs the dealer at
least $5 a ton to truck the
supplies in from the nearest
siding,” he said. “That $5
has to show up in
everybody's costs, right on
down to the consumer.”
Parke has been talking for
many months now about rail
transport. He has been op
posing the wholesale
abandonment of branch
lines, a course which is
favored by many railroad
officials. “We don’t say there
should be no abandonments,
because some branch lines
will just never be profitable.
But the only way to decide
which lines should be taken
out of service is to walk the
tracks and talk to the people
who depend on the trains.”
Parke is hopeful that the
U.S. Railway Association
will revitalize the rail
system in the Northeast. The
USRA is empowered by the
federal government to try
and put the railroads back on
a sound footing.
As a member of the
Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation’s Rail Ad
visory Committee, Parke is
urging the state to do what it
can to keep needed rail
services. One way the state
could help, he feels, is to
provide technical assistance
to shippers who might want
to organize shortline
railroads to take over some
of the abandoned lines which
could result from USRA
decisions.
Besides railroads, Parke
keeps an eye on a few other
regulatory and legislative
areas. “We actually don’t
have much day-to-day
lobbying activity,” he points
out. “We’re more interested
in monitoring situations, to
keep PennAg members
informed on the things that
directly affect them. Sales
tax, for example. The
federal Occupational Safety
and Health Act • OS HA • is
something we watch. I’m
also part of a committee to
work with the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture
on a new pesticide law.”
As Parke talks about the
business of supplying far
mers, it comes through very
clearly that he is deeply
involved in Pennsylvania
agriculture. And it is more
than a professional in
volvement. He ' serves
agriculture in a number of
unpaid positions. The
presidency of the PLATA is
only one. Parke, a graduate
of Duke University, is also a
member of advisory council
to Penn State’s College of
Agriculture. That committee
lis nearly always filled with
.Penn State alumni.
Parke is a Lancaster
resident. His wife, Francis,
is women’s page editor for
the Lancaster New Era. The
Parkes have two daughters.
Linda, the oldest, is married
and living in Washington,
D.C., where she does public
relations work for a
telephone company. The
other daughter, Donna, is
completing work for her PhD
in biology at Yale. In
January, she will go to
Michigan State University
on a Rockefeller Foundation
Fellowship to study protein
quality in a number of grain
crops.
Tobacco
Meetings
Slated
A series of meetings on
tobacco sponsored by the
Eastern Lancaster County
Adult Farmer Program will
take place on November 20
and December 4 each
beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the
Hinkletown Alternative
School.
John Yocum, director of
the South Eastern Research
Farm at Landisville will be
the speaker on November 20
and his topic of discussion
will include seed bed and
field management, seed bfed
sterilization, weed control
and results of numerous
trials with tobacco
production at the research
center.
Yocum is well known for
his tobacco research and
works with many tobacco
farmers in Lancaster
County.
At the December 4
meeting, Eugene Brown,
president, of Hendrix-Dail,
Inc., a soil fumigation
company in North Carolina
with Eddie Neddiny, general
manager for the company in
this area will be speaking on
the use of methyl bromide
gas for sterilizing soils.
Methyl Bromide has been
used for the past several
years to discourage
nematodes, soil insects,
weeds, grasses and soil bom
insects.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday. Nov. 16.1974
Nema Hires Consumer
Education Director
In a move to stimulate egg
consumption in the Nor
theast, Ray Delano, General
Manager of the Northeast
Egg Marketing Association,
(NEMA) has announced the
appointment of Mrs. Janet
Helgemoe as director of
consumer education.
Mrs. Helgemoe will be
responsible for a broad
program of consumer
education and public
relations that will include
preparation of educational
releases on eggs to be
directed to food editors of
Northeastern dally and
weekly newspapers. She will
work with state and county
extension home economists
helping with their TV, radio
and newspaper efforts.
Cooperation is planned with
teachers of home economics
and with promotional
groups.
Mrs. Helgemoe was born
in New England, holds a B.S.
in home economics from the
University of New Hamp
shire and has been an active
member of the American
Home Economics
Association since 1953. She is
a qualified dietition, having
served an internship at the
Scrlpps Metabolic Clinic,
Lajolla, California, with
added service. as a
therapeutic dietitian at
Lawrence General Hospital
in Lawrence,
Massachusetts.
Mrs. Helgemoe was a
member of the panel of home
testers for Betty Crocker
Kitchens from 1960-1973. She
has studied journalism and
has written for the Port
smouth Herald at Port
smouth, New Hampshire, as
well as for other papers in
Florida and California.
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