Senate expects to see
BY DICK wanner
HARRISBURG - A-milk
security fund bill will
probably be intrattSeiinto
jj, e Pennsylvania Senate
early next week/
The bill’s prune sponsor,
Frank J. O’Connell, was
busy this week, trying to
round up co-sponsors for the
measure, which has seen
jnore varieties than Mendel’s
pea patch.
The bill to be introduced
calls for a security fund paid
entirely by dealers through a
one-cent per hundredweight
payment. Instead of con
tributing to the fund, dealers
could also post a bond or a
letter of credit in an amount
sufficient to pay for 75
percent of the value of their
milk shipments in a 45-day
oenod.
All private milk dealers
buying milk in Pennsylvania
would have to pay into the
fund, unless they could post
DANIEL SCHRACK BREAKS
9 TON ALFALFA BARRIER
Lto R.: A.A. Hansen, Waterman Loomis Co.
Daniel Schrack, Kevin Schrack winners.
Plant
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"sf bond or get a letter of
credit. To clear up the
question of who owns the
milk between the time it’s
picked up from a farmer’s
bulk tank until it gets to the
dairy an especially thorny
issue when the raw produce
crosses a state line the bill
stipulates that the dairy will
get title to the milk as soon
as it leaves the farmer’s bulk
tank.
Pair of preservation bills
The Pennsylvania House
this week passed a right to
farm bill, a measure that
would protect farmers from
unwarranted nuisance suits
filed by both individuals and
municipalities.
While the bill aims to
protect ordinary farming
practices in existence for a
year or more before the
filing of any nuisance suit, it
would not exempt farmers
from environmental or clean
streams regulations.
311
I VJ 8.08 Tons Hay Per Acre
3120 Lbs. Crude Protein
9335 Lbs. TON Per Acre
BEACHLEY-HARDY
FIELD and GRASS SEEDS
From the {louse, the bill
goes to the Senate Ag
committee, already con
sidering the ag district bill
reported on at length in last
week’s issue.
While the bills contain
some redundant features
the ag district measure, for
example, does for districts
what the right to farm bill
would do for isolated farms
wherever they are - there is
some feeling that both might
be useful. The aim in both
measures is to encourage
farmland preservation, and
the more guns for the battle
the better, the reasoning
goes.
Scenic Riven Amendments
In an hour-long conference
called the other week, 10
members of the state’s
Scenic Rivers Task Force
hammered out three
suggested amendments to
the Scenic Rivers Act. State
Grange staffers Charles
4 of the top 6 Champions
Penn State
alfalfa growing
contest average
of 4 WL winners.
Distributed by
Shiremanstown, Pa. 17091
relative round
security
Wismer and David Wein
stock were on the hom with
three DER representatives,
and one person each from
the Pennsylvania En
vironmental Council, the
American Canoe
Association, Trout
Unlimited, the state
Department of Community
Affairs, and Fred Wertz,
from the state Department
of Agriculture.
First and foremost of the
proposed amendments was
one that would do away with
the section of the act that
deals with eminent domain.
The conference consensus
was that eminent dormain
was not an integral part of
the program, not needed
in Uie act, and should
therefore be deleted.
Another amendement
would remove the
requirement to notify lan
downers by certified mail
when their lands are under
9.16 TONS
ALFALFA YIELD
IN 1979
PENNSYLVANIA
ALFALFA GROWING
CONTEST USING
WL-311
(Clinton County, Pennsylvania)
MPR
* MULTIPLE PEST
RESISTANCE
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312
318
bill this week
consideration lor inclusion in
a scenic rivers system. First
class mail was judged
sufficient.
While seemingly a small
point, it should be noted that
certified letters look, quite
literally, as if they’re
wrapped in red tape, they
have to be signed for and
they usually hold unpleasant
tidings from a government
agency or an individual bent
on removing some part of
the recipient’s property,
money or self-esteem.
The other amendment
would provide for an ad
ditional category of scenic
river to the four already
mentioned in the act. To
‘wild’, ‘scenic’,
‘recreational’, and ‘modified
recreational’ would be added
a ‘pastoral’ category to
accomodate the unique
recin'wnents of streams
flowing through mostly
agricultural land. This last
categorization came about
largely as a result of the
debate over French Creek in
Chester County.
There is so far one scenic
river in the state, a 90-mile
stretch of the Schuylkill.
Two others are close to
approval.
The House in September
approved Stony Creek by a
vote of 149-to-0, and the
Senate more recently ap
proved a portion of the
Lehigh by a vote of 49-to-0.
Both'are non-controversial
streams, with the Stony
Creek banks owned entirely
either by the Pennsylvania
Game Commission or PP&L,
and 4he Lehigh land owned
almost .entirely by DER as
part of its Lehigh River
Gorge Park project.