VOL. 25 No. W
Legislation, labor concerns
dominate ag town meeting
BY CURT HAULER
MANHEIM - Deputy
Secretary of Agriculture E.
Chester Heim outlined State
Ag Department policy views
and fielded questions from
the audience in ,an
agricultural town meeting
held here Thursday.
The meeting was one of'
eight such meetings held
around'the state. A similar
sessipn ran- Friday' in
Allentown.
Heim predicted a milk
security proposal in writing
would be presented to the
state legislature within the
next month.
He sgid the Department
advocates a security fund
and said he felt all parties
agree there should be a fund
although not all pgr|p t>n the
specifics.
The Departmentpropfasal,
presented in Lancaster in
December, calls for a fund to
be built by dealers only-at
the rate of one cent per
hundredweight until the fund
reaches $4 million.
Heim said the proposal 1
would be sent to the General
Assembly.
“That great melting pot of
ideas should go to work.on
the proposal/’he said.' '
Heim said the Department
was backing HB 725, a
measure to clarify-TVording
in Act 319. Act 319 provides
tax relief for farmers who
keep their land—in
agriculture.
Courts in Bucks County
ln this issue ;
«
SECTION A: Editorials, 10; Yorfe"Agri-business
seminar, 16; Manure generator, 38.
SECTION B: Fighting acid ram, 2; Bradford’s big
pines, 6; PCB report, 7.
SECTION C: Homestead notes, 2; Home on the
Range, 8; Joyce Bupp, 10; Free ethanol book, 18; Farm
Talk, 26; State apple queen, 30.
SECTION D: USDA Sire'Summary, 2; Sires, not-
Holstein, 6; Cumberland DHIA, 10; York DHIA, 11; s
Schuylkill DHIA, 14; Ask the VMD, 16.
Hallowell takes stock after a year in office
Frediet»ps»Mige
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ruled that rollback
payments required by Act
319 would have to be paid
when land changed hands,
even if it remained in far
ming.
The legislators’ mtent y?as
to assess a rollback only if
t!he land changed use.
, Heim, also said the
Department supports "right
to farm” laws. Such laws
woujd restrict local
governments from passing
nuisance laws which restrict
agricultural operations.
Another priority of the
Administration, Heim said,
' is enactment of enabling
legislation to allow creation
of ag districts.
, “We will work to secure
the passage of such a bill,
■ providing -for the voluntary
creation of ag districts,” he ,
-said. , - ,
His. statement indicated
the districts could be ad
ministered by county
governments which have the
staff, funds, and facilities
lacking m local govern
ments.
Heim spoke highly of the
state’s new ag theme:
“Pennsylvania Agricultu
re—we’regrowmg better.”
Processors and retailers
alike seem to like what we’re
doing,” he said.
He said the Department'
plans to go ahead wjith step
by-step renovation of the
Farm Show Complex.
He said a new Complex is
“a pipe dream right now.”.
HARRISBURG— Penrose
Hallowell, in an exclusive
interview with Lancaster
Farming, reviewed his first
year’s work as
Secretary 6f
He pointed out severatcost
saving moves taken
department under his
direction, noted legislative
accomplishments, and
talked about personnel
changes made this past_
year. „
His predictions for the
second year of his' ad
ministration included the
hint of using pressure from
Lancaster farming, Saturday, February 2,1950
The first step m such a
plan would be construction
of a new livestock barn.
Heim spoke highly of the
potential for gasohol. “I
came to this meeting m a car
run on gasohol,’ ’ he said.
“It beautifully. I
think everyone ought to try
it.’L
Heim then threw the
meeting open to questions
from the floor.
About three dozen people,
including farmers, - two state
senators, and many
representatives of the
(Turn to Page A2l)
Electricity from manure is reality
BY DICK WANNER
GETTYSBURG-J3ome2&o -
government officials-" and
news reporters "flocked to
Mason Dixon Farms, Inc.
near here on Wednesday to
witness a working methane
digester supplying methane
gas to run a generator big
enough to supply Mason-
Dixon’s electrical needs'.
One of the TV com
mentators present noted this
was his seventh methane
digester story, but, he said,
“...this one seems to work.” ,
In a big shed, Richard
Waybnght, one of the farm’s
owners and managers,
squinted into the glare of TV
lights and told his audience
just how well his system had
been working since last fall,
and how the farm has ended
an eight-year search for
energy self-sufficiency and
pollution control.
Energy self-sufficiency is
important to Mason-Dixon
because it’s big- 2700 acres
and more than 1600 cows,
nearly 700 of them milking.
The farm has been in the'
Waybnght family for eight
generations, but Richard
and bis son, Burt, were the
first Waybnghts to host the
the Governor's office to pass
a milk security fund and the
goal of > “making Penn
sylvania Agriculture
“Number' 1 in ’5l” by
‘growing better.' ’
Throughout the interview,
-his close' ties to the
Republican Governorship of
Richard Thornburgh were
empahsized.
"I look at the past year
- from three points of view,”
said.
He said he tried to follow
priorities laid out by the
Governor.
Thornburgh called for
Chester Heim, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, fielded questions from far
mers and farm leaders at the ag town meeting held Thursday in Manheim. With,
Heim at the speakers table are, from right. Senator Richard Snyder, Manheim
farmer Don Hershey, Ag Department Regiohaf Director Eugene Wingert, and
Senator Clarence Manbeck.
kind of crowd that gathered
Wednesday.
It included Pennsylvania’s
Lieutenant governor,
Secretary of Agriculture, at
least one Congressman and
newsmen from all over. ■ -
After they’d heard
Waybright explain what.was
going on at the farm, the
guests walked a short
distance down a farm lane to
hear something else the
clattering roar- of a 120
kilowatt generator that is
now supplying Tialf the
electrical energy needed to
run the Waybright farm and
dairy.
Last year, the Waybrights
spent $30,000 on electricity.
This year, they expect to
spend only half that, and tire
looking forward to the day
when they’ll be supplying not
only their own electrical
needs, but a surplus for sale
to Met Ed, the power
company that gained fame
in the Three Mile Island
incident.
Richard Waybnght told
the gathering Mason-Dixon
also expects to begin con
struction soon of a still to
produce alcohol for fuel.
The electrical generator
elimination of duplication,
coordination of efforts and
opening of lines con>
munications, ' / plus
elimination ofbad politics.
“I did fire a few people.
We had some alleged im
proper activities going on,”
Hallowell said.
One of the regional
directors who was ter
minated is charged with
macing employees.
Macing is requiring em
ployees to .contribute to the
political party in control.
The former director is being
prosecuted.
roars away inside a red
metal building insulated
heavily to cut down on the 24-
hour-a-day noise. The engine
is fueled by a mixture that
includes 10-percent diesel
fuel and 90-percentbiogas.;
Biogas xS a mixture of
methane and other gases
produced by the fer
mentation of liquid manure
Tax topics highlight
legislative week
HARRISBURG - Believe,
it or not, both the federal and
the state governments are
trying to do something about
the farmer’s tax burden.
At the state level, the
Governor’s Commission on
Tax Reform met in Erie on
Wednesday with one of their
specific objectives being to
take testimony from far
mers. Both tile Grange and
Pennsylvania Farmers’
Association were there to tell
the commission members
about the impact of property
taxes on farm operations.
And in Washington,
Congress was getting close
“We are working with 25
fewer employees,”
Hallowell noted. • -
The reduction in -rural
affdirs, random egg sam
pling and dog law personnel
was made to favor economic
development of the state’s
agricultual base.
Two new employees were
hired for the marketing
division.
“We are bragging that
agriculture is soon to be the
first most important in
dustry in the state,” he said,
referring to the slogan
Number 1 in’Bl.
$7.00 PerYeai
from a 700-cow bam in the
long red building next to the
generator house.
„ / The building covers a
black rubber bag 95-feet long
and 20-feet wide. Below the
bag is a manure pit, as wide
as long as the bag, and 15-
feet deep.
(Turn to Page A3B)
to repealing a universally
unpopular inheritance tax
measure passed m 1976.
Congress is also about ready
to change a provision of the
Social Security law that was
seen hurting retiring far
mers' and some other
businessmen.
In Erie, Nick Mobilia, Jr.,
vice-president of the Erie
County Farmers
Association, told the tax
commission that farmers
pay twice as much as non
farmers do to support the
pubhc school system. He
{Turn to Pag€A2o)
He said the promotion for
Pennsylvania goods un
veiled at Farm Show was
well received by hath the
publicand the food industry. -
“Pennsylvania: We’re
growing better” logos are
already appearing in state
newspaper ads.
The slogan will con
centrate on milk, potatoes
and eggs. The Department
has, with help from the state
Poultry Federation, hired a
person to work on egg
promotion.
(Turn to Pace A 36)