* periodicals Division
W 209 Pattce Library
penrEu St at® University
university, Pa. ICBO2
Vol. 20 No. 20
Mike and Shirley Wright, New Freedom, have one of
the biggest crop larm operations in Pennsylvania. The
23-year-old Wriglrt' >fents corn, small grains and
vegetables on 2500 York County acres. The Wrights
are some of the grain storage
facilities thaiarean important par, the operation.
Young York Lountian
Farms 2500 Acres
At the ripe old age of 23,
Michael Wright, New
Freedom, is one of Penn-
sylvania’s biggest farmers.
Wright farms close to 2500
acres of York County far-
mland, and does so on a scale
that’s usually associated
with the American Midwest,
Last year Wright farmed
1300 acres of corn, but this
year plans to cut back to 900
to 1000, he told • Lancaster
Farming this week, because
the price doesn’t look quite
as good as it did. He’ll also
plant 500 acres of green peas
which will be followed with
limas, 370 acres of barley,
300 acres of wheat, and
Lebanon
4-H Agent
Appointed,
4-Hers and farm youth in
the Lebanon County area
will soon be getting advice
from Patricia Krall, the
newly appointed Assistant
Extension Agent - Youth in
that county.
Miss Krall, who is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Arthur Krall, Lebanon Rl,
will be responsible for
jContinued on Page 12>
another 200 to 300 acres of
soybeans.
Wright and his wife,
Shirley, own the 96-acre
home farm which has been in
the family for several
generations. But, like a great
many of his Midwestern
counterparts, he rents most
of the land he farms.
However, where Cornbelt
land might rent for $9O to
$lOO an acre, Wright pays an
average $2O to $3O, and until
recently had been paying $l5
for some land.
When he graduated from
Spring Grove High School in
1969, Wright had already
been farming 700 acres
Patricia Krall
Serving The Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania Areas
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 29, 1975
DER Official, Farmers
Air Conservation Issues
For awhile on Wednesday
night, it seemed that Afton
Schadel would have to take
the blame for all the failings,
past, present and future of
the American form of
government. Schadel is part
owner of a Schuylkill County
farm, works full-time for the
Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Resources,
and heads up DER’s erosion
and sedimentation control
program.
Schadel was at the
Hinkletown Alternative
School in eastern Lancaster
County to discuss the Penn
sylvania Clean Streams Law
with an adult farmer group.
“The state should get its own
house m order before telling
us farmers what to do,”
Schadel was told by B. C.
thwestem part of the county.
Brubaker railed about,
erosion gullies around state
about the salt the
SfSS
during summer vacation.
And he did it mostly on his
own. Wright’s father is a full
time York County con
tractor, although he did run
the family farm for awhile
after Mike’s grandmother
died.
Machinery, of course, is an
important element m big
farming. Wright has a
combine, three tractors, a 4-
wheel drive Steiger and a
grain truck, all of which are
(Continued on Page 12|"
Gary Brubaker
Will Head
Baby Beef Club
by: Melissa Piper
Although this will be the
first year, Gary Brubaker
has served as president of
the Lancaster County 4-H
- Baby Beef Club, the young
man is by no means new to
either the beef industry or
the 4-H program.
Gary, who resides with his
parents at 345 Running
Pump Road, Lancaster, has
been a 4-H member for the
past eight years taking steer
projects while helping on his
parent’s farm.
Gary has many qualities
Schadel the state had forced
him to take down the
billboard that advertised his
business. He decried the loss
of personal liberties, said
state game lands were un
constitutional and said there
was too much tampering
with the U.S. Constitution.
Schadel rather good
naturedly parried
Brubaker’s charges, until
Aaron Stauffer, chairman of
the Lancaster County
Conservation District stood
up to tell the group that
Schadel was a farmer as well
as a government employee
prqbably the most highly
respected conservationist m
the state. “We’re very
fortunate to have a man like
Afton Schadel looking out for
the farmer’s interests,”
Stauffer said. “We could just
as easily have gotten
somebody in his spot that
knows nothing about con
servation and the farmer’s
problems. I thmk we should
hear what he has to say
about the Clean Streams
Law.”
The Clean Streams Law,
Schadel explained, was
written to protect the waters
of the state from all kinds of
In This Issue
FARM CALENDAR 10
Markets 2-6
Sale Register 64
Farmers Almanac 8
Classified Ads 29
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 42
Home on the Range 44
Organic Living 51
Junior Cookmg Edition 45
Sale Reports 71
York DHIA 59
Berks DHIA 14
Farm Women Calendar 50
which should aid him in his
duties, with his knowledge of
the beef industry being one
of the foremost. The young
man has shown his beef at
the 4-H District shows as
well as exhibiting the
reserve champion at the
Lampeter Fair and at the
Farm Show.
Gary has become well
known to many Lancaster 4-
Hers as he is always giving
his time at shows to offer
advice and demonstrate the
techniques of fitting and
| Continued on Page 13)
pollutants, including soil. In
1972, the Department of
Environmental Resources,
which operates under the
Clean Streams Law, adopted
rules and regulations to
prevent erosion from far
mlands. The regulations said
that by July 1, 1977, all
farmers woul have to have a
conservation plan to keep
their soil out of streams, and
they would also have to have
installed the conservation
practices their plans called
100 Attend First
Mini-Farm Meet
About 100 people showed
up last Friday night for the
first meeting of the Lan
caster County Mini-Farmers
Cooperative. They came to
the conference room of the
Lancaster Coca Cola Bot
tling Plant on the Manheim
Pike to discuss the
pleasurers and the problems
of mini-farming. The get
together was the outgrowth
of a senes of meetings held
largely in the living room of
Kathy and Eckert Erb,
owners of a 30-acre mini
farm at Millersville Rl.
Eckert is serving as
president of the newly for
med group, Kathy is the
secretary, Ed Moshier, Lititz
R 3 is first vice-president,
Gary Brubaker, 345 Running Pump Rd., Lancaster
was recently elected president of the Red Rose Baby
Beef Club. Brubaker helps to manage his father's
farm near Rohrerstown.
$3.00 Per Year
for.
In the past few weeks,
though, it’s become apparent
that the 1977 deadline will be
pushed back. But Schadel
pointed out that there will
still be a need to control
sedimentation.
“Farmland accounts for
about 50 percent of the
sedimentation *in Penn
sylvania streams,” Schadel
told the group. “We might
lose less from an acre of
[Continued on Page 17|
Park Wiker, Holtwood, is
second vice-president, and
Eugene Degenhardt, Lan
caster R 6, is the treasurer.
Erb began the evening by
telling the audience that they
were very likely attending
the first meeting of its kind
in the country. And adding,
“We all need direction, all
need help. Maybe together
we can find out what we have
to do to make our mini-farms
successful.”
Erb defined a mini-farmer
for the group as anyone with
two or more acres who was
farming for a hobby, not
necessarily for profit.
Rod Houser, a Lancaster
R 6 mini-farmer, was
(Continued on Page 13]'