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Vol. 20 No. 40
Potato market ‘very active'
By Dieter Krieg
MANHEIM Like many
other potato growers across
the country, Noah Kreider
and Sons grew less of the
crop this year than in
previous years. But their
reason for cutting back may
not be the same as for most
others.
Potato acreage was cut
back much more than ex
pected for 1975, according to
government crop
statisticians, because of the
big supplies and low prices
which occurred last season.
Although the Kreiders were
by no means immune to
these marketing develop
ments, their choice to cut
back was made primarily
because of extra land being
needed to meet the feed
requirements of their dairy
herd.
Noah Kreider, Jr., who
with his father, and brother,
Richard, operates the 1,000 •
acre agricultural enterprise,
says this year’s potato crop
is about the same as last
year’s. They have been
harvesting some of the
earlier varieties since early
August, and expect to con
tinue the digging until mid
October. The family has 300
acres planted in Superior,
Norchip, and Katahdin
spuds, most of which are
used for potato chips.
Kreider’s receipts thus far
show a slightly lower price
A summer afternoon in a hayfield near Hamburg, northern Berks County
for potatoes than what was
being paid last year, and like
in most other farm
operations, this is occurring
at a time when production
costs are multiplying.
“Labor, machines,
Witmer receives national honor
WILLOW STREET
Peter Witmer, the winner of
the Dairy Shrine Club’s 1975
Student Recognition Contest,
hasn’t always been sure
about choosing a career on
the farm.
“I have not always been
completely positive that I
wanted to continue in dairy
farming,” the young man
said. Witmer explained that
while in both high school and
Kauffman cow wins York show
By Dieter Krieg
YORK For the second
year in a row, a cow out of
the Robert Kauffman herd,
Elizabethtown, has won the
grand champion banner at
the Southcentral Cham
pionship Holstein Show held
here on Thursday.
“Andfar Astronaut Cin
derella,” a three year old.
Serving The Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania Areas
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 23,1975
chemicals, and fuel are
especially high,” Kreider
said.
In spite of the poorer
economic conditions, the
Kreiders are planning to
stay in the potato business,
college he was exposed to
many different vocations,
and with his father being a
bank director, he at times
thought maybe ‘things were
greener on the other side of
tile fence’. “But I have
talked to a number of people
who have left the farm for
other lines of work ... and
these people without fail
have recommended staying
on the farm if at all possitjkT
won over “Fought Land
Eagle Ingra,” an aged cow
owned by Russell Kline,
Denver. These two animals
finished in the same order at
the Lancaster County Open
Holstein Show held at the
Guernsey Sales Pavilion on
July 31.
Hie premier breeder and
exhibitor of the show was
mainly because they are set
up for it with equipment.
When Lancaster Farming
visited the family’s potato
facilities earlier this month,
a total of 20 people were
employed on the harvesters
and they wished they csfild
go back.”
Witmer, a 1974 graduate of
Penn State University, has
decided to stay on the farm.
Looking back now, he said it
was the wedks and months
spent away at school which
convinced him his best
future is in the dairy
business. He has also
learned to appreciate a
dairying career more than
George M. Knight, Wood
bine. The York County
breeder took first place in
the best three females class,
100,000 pound class, dam
daughter pair, as well as
several other categories.
The junior champion of the
show was Cindy Knight’s
“Woodbine Elevation
Florence.” Taking reserve
In This Issue
FARM CALENDAR 10
Markets 2-6
Sale Register 75
Fanners Almanac 8
Classified Ads 25-26
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 52
Home on the Range 54
Junior Cooking Edition 55
Country Corner 52
What’s New 62
Lancaster DHIA 64
Ag Progress Days 42
York DHIA 48
Lebanon DHIA 18
Ag Americana 20
York Dairy Roundup 14
and grading machines,
turning out as much as 125
tons of potatoes per day.
Giant potato digging
machines, powered by some
of the biggest two-wheel
drive tractors on the market,
he did before and looks to
that business with en
thusiasm and optimism.
The son of Mr. and Mrs.
Raymond Witmer, Willow
Street, young Witmer will
receive a $5OO cash award
from the Dairy Shrine Club.
He was selected by a panel of
judges from a group of 32
outstanding dairy science
(Contimied on Page 15]
junior champion honors was
a heifer belonging to Russell
Kline.
Kline also showed the
winning bull of the show,
which was judged by
Maryland dairyman,
William Hill, Jr. The reserve
grand champion bull
[Continued on Page 24]
$3.00 Per Year
Lancaster Fanwii Photo
by Dieter Kriet
crawled across long, level
fields, filling one of five bin
wagons every 10 minutes.
The crop was then hauled to
the warehouse for cleaning,'
washing, grading, and
loading. At times two loads
were backed up to the
conveyors at the same time
Electric motors whirred as
potatoes tumbled am
bounced on their way to thr
tractor and trailer waiting a<
the other end of the line
Washing was accomplishe*
by way of an artificial!
created “stream,” - in whicl
the churning action cleanse*,
the crop of all soil. It take
about an hour and a half b
load a tractor trailer whicl
has a capacity of 25 tons.
Kreider reported thi.
year’s yield to be around 25'
to 300 hundredweights pe
acre. That estimate ma
change since it was mad
fairly early in the season. H
also noted that not every da
comes with the good hai
vesting conditions he wa
experiencing in mid August
No serious problems wer
encountered in growing thi
year’s crop, although it wa
a little dry, Kreider saic
That isi a situation whic
they can tolerate since all c
their potato acreage is set u
to be irrigated if necessan
The Lancaster Count
grower sells most of h>
potatoes by contract and th
[Continued on Page 9]