66 —lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 31, 15/7 Vegetables are Donald Rowe’s business, whether during the peak growing season or comparatively slow Winter months. With storage facilities designed to cool during the Summer and heat during the Winter, the Rowes can handle produce the year around. Every Wednesday and Saturday they load a truck bound for Broomall, near Philadelphia, where second and third generation customers fancy their products. IF YOU HAVE BEEN CONSIDERING A NEW BUILDING, NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY. MORTON BUILDINGS OFFER YOU WINTER DISCOUNTS ON . . . MACHINE SHEDS CATTLE BARNS HORSE BARNS HOG CONFINEMENT GARAGES AND SHOPS W£l\ ORDER A MORTON BUILDING NOW FOR SPRING ERECTION AND SAVE. PRICES WILL NEVER BE LOWER THAN NOW. mW /WO. 1 CHOICE OF FARMERS RD 4 BOX 34A GETTYSBURG , Pfl 17325 Mail This Coupon or Call (717) 334-2168 It’s getting harder to squeeze ts out of vegetables .. --T * Mf* r*"!W>s* * *- WINTER DISCOUN WINTER DISCOUNTS NOW IN EFFECT TO FIND OUT . Vegetable conference begins Jan. 31 STRABURG - Vegetable farming is no different from other agricultural ventures when it comes to the challenge of making a profit. Paul Rowe, outgoing president of the Penn sylvania Vegetable Growers Association, has raised and marketed vegetables for 33 years and has witnessed some definite trends. With costs in recent years having risen dramatically, and profit margins fading, the vegetable fanner has had to find ways of streamlining his operation from field to sales station. “Today, with the price of specialized equipment, you WRITE OR CALL TODAY! Send information on MORTON BUILDINGS Have your salesman phone me for an appointment Garages Shops Hog Confinement Machine Sheds Cattle Confinement Horse Barns Free Stall Bams i Silo Feed Rooms Gram Storage livestock Bams [ NAME J ADDRESS I Telephone No By DIETER KRIEG CONSIDERING LIQUID FERTILIZER? Get answers from the PLANO Company. We do complete land use planning and management services including liquid fertilizer and applicator equipment. 1 N. Hess Street Quarryviiie, PA 717-7863393 or 717-872-5385 can’t grow every item. Either you get larger in certain items, or you get out,” says Rowe, owner of a 100 plus acre farm outside of this Lancaster County town. “We’re specialized now because we’ve found that there are some items we can grow to our advantage, and others that we can buy to our advantage,” the retiring farmer noted. Vegetable farming, with all its risks and labor demands, isn’t a business which brings in the top dollars, Rowe continued. “If you’re in it to make the top dollar, you might as well get into something else. In here you get a special satisfac- LF. tion; the love of your work and seeing your ac complishments,” Rowe said in a grandfatherly manner. “We enjoy it; there’s nothing we enjoy more,” he ex claimed. His eyes and honest face reflected the fulfillment and delight he has found in his work, despite the pressures of a continuing economic squeeze. “Some of our costs have gone up way out of pro portion, compared to what RICHARDTOR we’re getting for our produce,” the vegetable fanner continued to explain. Fertilizer, farm equipment, and fuel oil have been major costs. The challenge of eroding profit margins is being met by vegetable farmers through increased ef ficiency. Specialization is one route the farmers have taken. Better plant breeding has helped. In greenhouses, (Turn to Page 81)
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