incastw Finning, Saturday, Stpttmbw 13,1980 Potato crop follows COm disaster
A2B—Lai
Lehigh
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
GERMANSVILLE -
“You can walk into some of
the fields, pull out a stalk
and not even find something
as big as a cherry.”
With these words Lehigh
County potato farmer
Elwood Handwerk is
describing this year’s crop
that has been devastated by
the summer’s searing heat
and drought.
And Handwerk is not
alone.
That’s why a group of
Lehigh and Northampton
County farmers got together
yesterday and met in an
emergency meeting with
Congressman Donald Ritter
to see what kind of federal
help might be possible to
help them through their
current serious situation.
A group of some 75 far
mers from the two counties
turned out for the meeting at
Holiday Inn East,
Bethlehem Also attending
was State Ag Secretary
Penrose Hallowell.
The farmers asked that
credit restrictions be
relaxed by the Farmers
Home Administration for
disaster loans They asked
that farmers be permitted to
go directly to FmHA for 5
percent disaster money
instead of being required to
be turned down by two
Northampton farmers seek drought aid
commercial lending in
stitutions first.
“This is discriminatory
> against the successful
farmer,” they said.
It was estimated that
under present restrictions
about 95 percent of farmers
would not qualify for the
FmHA money.
The group also stressed
that the ASCS is
discriminatory against some
crops, such as fruit and
potatoes.
It was estimated that
losses in Lehigh County
alone may run about $3O
million - a figure earlier
attributed to the two
counties.
The owner of Mohr Or
chards estimated his losses
at $1.5 million alone.
The farmers asked if grant
money was possible for
Hurricane Agnes in 1972 why
can’t similar money be
made available now.
“Drought is not as
dramatic as a flood,”
Hallowed commented
The secretary said he
plans to call together the
Senate and House ag com
mittees next week to assess
the situation and then see
what can be done
Congressman Ritter plans
to meet with the head of the
House Ag Committee to
determine what may be
possible at the federal level.
“Although it’s a short
term problem, we must find
some way to help farmers
through this year,” Ritter
said.
“If we don’t, the face of
fanning in the Lehigh Valley
may be changed forever. ”
Handwerk explains that
his father is over 90 years old
and has never seen a year
like this one. The prolonged
dry spell took its toll of the
potato crop, but it was that
spell of 100-degree plus
temperatures which put the
finishing touches on the
struggling plants.
“Potatoes just can’t take
temperatures like that,”
Handwerk said.
“Why the ground was hot
to depths of 10 inches.”
Handwerk is digging
Superiors and the harvest is
running about 70 hun
dredweight to the acre, well
below a third of a normal
crop. And some land was
even irrigated.
“We didn’t make anything
last year on a normal crop,
so you can see what we’re
facing now,” according to
Handwerk.
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In neighboring Nor
thampton County, it’s a
similar situation.
Russell Becker, of near
Bath, local PFA president,
said that the potato harvest
is running from half a crop to
less than a third.
He explained that
Superiors yield about 300
hundredweight to the acre
normally and the harvest is
averaging between 60 and 70
to the acre.
And these are not Number
1 potatoes. Many are quite
small and when you pull out
the I’s the yield is well less
than a third.
The early varieties are
yielding the best, but still
well below normal. These
were farther along in growth
when the drought and heat
setm.
He explained the county is
spotty, with the extreme
upper section having the
best yields. But the serious
situation is quite
widespread.
As another example of the
effects of the drought and
heat, he pointed to a
neighbor m com where only
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70 bushels was taken off two
acres.
“There are fields, where
we won’t even get that,” he
said.
Is it any wonder that some
fields, both corn and
potatoes won’t even be
harvested.
For the lone truly bright
spot in the state for potatoes,
you must go to Potter
County. There potato grower
Everett Blass Jr. says the
crop is good and the quality
excellent.
He’s digging Norchips and
they’re running 200 to 250
hundredweight to the acre.
“We were right on the
borderline between the
dryness to the east and the
wet weather to the west,” he
said.
“We got just enough ram
just at the right tune. ’ ’
He’s located about eight
miles outside of Couder
sport
In other areas, like Lan
caster County, potato yields
are running generally
between the good Potter
County figures and the
disastrous Lehigh and
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Northampton yields.
Across the country, it has
not been a good potato year.
The few exceptions are
Maine, the upper and lower
reaches of the Red River
Valley and the irrigated
areas of Oregon.
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