Periodicals Division I ' i /
\ W 209 Pott dry 1 7
Vol. 20 No. 21
Although he was surrounded on all
Sides by bankers, Noah Wenger, a
Stevens R 1 poultry and beef farmer,
was suitable to smile. Wenger’s farm
was one of the stops made Wed
nesday by some 130 farm loan of
Pa. Ag Bankers Confer
On Farm Loan Outlook
Agricultural lenders from
all over Pennsylvania
converged on Lancaster’s
Sheraton-Consstoga Motor
Inn on Wednesday and
Thursday of this week. In all,
135 bankers turned out for
the 10th Annual Agricultural
Lending Conference which is
sponsored each year by the
Pennsylvania Bankers (
Association.
During their two-day stay,
the bankers heard from a
number of Penn State’s ag
economists, toured two
nearby farms and listened to
a presentation on the
national farm picture by
Deri I. Derr, director of the
American Bankers
Showing Horses
Is Her Hobby
Spring with its warmer
weather offers the op
portunity for more outdoor
activities and for Natalie
Immel, that means one thing
- horse show competitions.
Natalie, a Manheim
Township senior, learned to
ride as a youngster and has
been competing in horse
shows for about*as long.
A skilled rider in both
Western and English phases
of contests, Natalie has
ridden not only in local
shows including contests at
the Lancaster Riding Club
and at Quentin but also in
National competition in
cluding the Quarter Horse
Congress in Columbus, Ohio.
A well-rounded com
ficers attending the 10th annual ag
banking conference sponsored every
year by the Pennsylvania Bankers
Association. This year’s meeting was
held near Lancaster.
Association ag division.
The conference began
Wednesday morning with a
look ahead for farm com
modities, the international
situation, and the
management needs of far
mers.
Dr. John Malone, head of
agricultural economics at
Penn State, told the bankers
that farm products from the
nation and the state are
going to become an im
portant part of world trade
negotiations. He added that
Pennsylvanians should
become increasingly in
terested in the world food
problem and its solution. The
state currently ranks 24th in
petitor, Natalie participates
in almost any type of contest
including showmanship,
halter classes, equitation
and western riding.
Much of Natalie's work
and riding has been com
bined with her work as a
Lancaster County 4-Her. A
member of the Broken Bit 4-
H Club for eight years,
Natalie has served the
organization as secretary,
vice president and was
recently selected to her
second term as president.
Natalie has been active in
many 4-H activities in the
county including par
ticipating in a horse club
exchange to Michigan and
[Continued on fage It]
Serving The Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania Areas
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 5, 1975
overall food production in
thelLS., and is one of the top
10 dairy states. Some nine
percent of Pennsylvania’s
labor force is involved in
agriculture and agricultural
products, Malone noted.
Two of the most heavily
stressed topics during the
meeting were farm estate
planning and cash flow for
farmers. Frederick A.
Hughes, professor of farm
management extension at
Penn State, told the group on
Wednesday that farmers’
estates are growing very
rapidly. “In the last 10
years,” Hughes said, “farm
real estate values in Penn
sylvania have grown an
average of 200 percent, a
figure which doesn’t even
come close to the actual
[Continued on Page 16]
Natalie Immel, Lititz R 3, displays some of the many
trophies, ribbons and plaques she has won during
horse show competitions.
House Ag Comm. Has
Conservation Hearing
by Dick Wanner
The Pennsylvania House
Agriculture Committee held
an all-day hearing on
Tuesday to assess the impact
on farmers of environmental
regulations. Specifically,
representative Kent
Shelhamer’s committee was
looking at the Pennsylvania
Department of En
vironmental Resources
mandate that all Com
monwealth farms have
implemented conservation
plans by July 1, 1977.
An earlier meeting on the
same subject had been held
in late February, and when
he ended Monday’s hearing,
Shelhamer said there might
be another on later.
Both of the state’s
dominant farm groups - the
Pennsylvania State Grange
and the Pennsylvania
Farmers’ Association - were
on hand to comment on the
DER regulations.
Charles Wismer, chair
man of ;the Grange’s state
legislative committee, told
the hearing that his
organization is in accord
with the purposes and intent
of the Clean Streams Law,
but that they're worried
about the effect of DER
In This Issue
FARM CALENDAR 10
Markets 2-6
Sale Register 63
Farmers Almanac 8
Classified Ads 29
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 42
Home on the Range 46
Organic Living 51
Junior Cooking Edition 47
Sale Reports 71
Chester DHIA 52
Country Comer 42
Farm Women Calendar 44
Solanco FFA 59
Lancaster DHIA 12
restrictions on agriculture.
Wismer has three major
recommendations to make to
the committee members.
The first was that any plan
or project carried out under
the law should not reduce or
interfere with food
production. Second, that
livestock kept for meat or
milk production should have
free access to any water
flowing through or adjacent
to pasture land. And third,
Wismer said, all society
should share the costs in
volved in carrying out any
erosion control measures
farmers would be required to
Mimg Beans - Your
Newest Cash Crop?
by Dick Wanner
Moses Chu feels that
farmers here can make
money growing mung beans.
And he’s backing up that
belief with his time and
money. Chu feels he can sell
mung beans at a profit to
East Coast ethnic groups -
such as the "Chinese com
munity in New York City.
This is the bean most widely
used for sprouting, and it is a
staple of Oriental cooking.
Most of the mung beans
consumed in this country are
imported from Peru. Some
are grown in California, and
some are grown in Oklah
oma. “But the Peruvian
beans are the best,” Chu told
Lancaster Farming last
week, “because they have a
high germination rate and
they produce a nice firm,
white sprout. The beans
from Oklahoma look nice,
but they don’t sprout well. I
think because they’re dried
with heat.”
Bean sprouts are an ex
cellent source of cheap
protein. Chu thinks he can
give his customers an even
better buy by saving them
the freight costs on Peruvian
beans. A laboratory analysis
of the nutritional value of
mung beans is indeed im
pressive. The protein content
is a whopping 24 percent.
There’s very little oil, about
1.5 grams in 100 grams of
uncooked beans, and about
60 grams of carbohydrates
per hundred pounds of
beans. Each 100 grams of
mung beans provides 340
calories. The bean itself has
a thick, dark green skin, and
it’s about one-fourth the size
of a normal soybean.
Sprouts are made from the
raw beans by carefully
controlling temperature and
humidity. One pound of
beans, if everything goes
$3.00 Per Year
install by law.
In concluding his
testimony, Wismer said,
“We need some form of
reasonable guidelines to
determine the degree of
control that may be ac
ceptable. But the rules and
regulations now stand, the
subject is open to individual
opinion and judgement Let’s
have a sensible and
workable plan that doesn’t
interfere with food
production.”
Chester Heim, public
affairs director for the
Pennsylvania Farmers’’
TContinued on Pace 19]
well, will produce five
pounds of crisp, white
sprouts, an inch-and-a-half
long in about five days.
Most of the mung beans
imported into this country
come to the port cities of Los
Angeles, San Francisco and
New York, where the
Chinese communities are the
largest. Chu doesn’t have
any definite figures on
exactly how many are -
imported, but said that his
sources in New York tell him
several hundred tons an
nually enter that city alone.
Chu said that he will buy
mung beans from area
growers who are willing to
experiment with the new -
crop. He said that at the time
the sale is consummated, he
will pay the grower exactly
[Continued on Page 22]
Wenger Is
Appointed
Pa. ASCS
Chairman
Noah W. Wenger, a
Lancaster County farmer
from Stevens, has been
appointed chairman of the
Pennsylvania State
Agricultural Stabilisation
and Conservation (ASC)
Committee, it was an
nounced in Washington this
week by u.S. Secretary of
Agriculture Earl Butz.
State headquarters for the
Pennsylvania * Agricultural
Stabilization and Con
servation Service (ASCS)
are at Harrisburg.
Wenger, 40, operates a 107-
IContinued on Page 171