UNIVERSITY PARK - William
Lutz, Jr. recently won the state
Future Farmers of America speaking
contest at Penn State and the tri
state competition for New York, Ohio
and Pennsylvania. In September he
will compete in the Eastern Regional
Nationals in Massachusetts. The son
of Mr. and Mrs. William Lutz, R 1
Sugar Run, he will be a freshman in
agricultural education at Penn State
this fall. Excerpts from his speech
follow:
WHERE ARE YOUR GOING,
LITTLE ONE?
By William Lutz, Jr.
The year is 1990. The little, dark
haired boy standing beside me on the
porch of the farmhouse reaches up to
take my hand. In his other hand, he
clutches a little, red plastic tractor.
He wants to be a farmer like me. He’s
my son.
I look through the early morning
mist of summer over my green fields
to the hills across the valley. Five
years ago, Bill Williams had a 300-
acre farm over there. I remember his
three silos towering above the barn
that he was so proud of.
Bill and Alice Williams aren’t there
anymore. Neither is their farm. Two
years ago a developer from the city
came through here; he offered Bill a
price he couldn't refuse, so he sold
out. Now the rolling hills across the
valley are dotted with new homes
and laced with macadam roads.
Guess there’s about 250 houses over
there now.
I look south to the huge gray cloud
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Getting a "People Loan" has never been easier. Stop at one
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just how easy it is.
Lutz decries vanishing farmland
over the hill. Looks like the new
factory is really going strong this
morning. Ben Owens called a couple
of days ago to tell me to watch for
tumors in my stock. He said some
fella from the extension office told
him the gray dust covering ail out
pasture land causes malignant
tumors in cattle.
Gotta call the vet to come over and
check a growth on that heifer I
bought from Tim Smith last winter.
Tim sold out last week. The spring
floods ruined his orchards and
covered his fields with gravel and
boulders. He and Betty and the kids
had worked so hard This was to be
the first year they would have
realized a profit from all their hard
work.
Some lumbering outfit bought him
out. They’re going to strip the back
mountain. Guess our days of turkey
hunting up there are over forever.
Nobody eVer remembers our little
creek coming up so far and so fast.
One of the township supervisors said
it’s because of all the run-ott caused
by all the development in the valley
We can't let the boy play out in the
front yard anymore because of the
traffic, and it takes me an hour each
week to pick up the broken glass,
papers and cans before I can mow
the grass
Last fall was the worst. Those
hunters from the city raised cam
around here. They tore up and down
the road, threw bottles and cans out
of their cars and when they left, they
ward winning FFA speech s.h.rj.,, n..«n..r8, ismo-nai
♦ '♦
dumped their garbage m the glen up
the road.
When Seth Miller left his farm to
his son, Jerry, he never thought it
would be sold to a group of city fellas
for a hunting club. Jerry had planned
to farm it after he finished college,
but he just couldn’t pay the
inheritance tax on it. Jerry's teaching
agriculture in some school near the
city and the city folks are up here.
Son, I don’t know if there will be a
farm for you when you grow up. From
1968 to 1977, 5,000 farms disap
peared in Pennsylvania, along with
over 600,000 acres. It wasn’t only
because of the high costs, but
because of development, pollution,
taxes and lack of conservation. And it
seems there is a let more loose
money for everything but farming.
By the year 2000, the Department
of Agriculture estimates, Penn
sylvania will lose 21 percentof it
prime farm land. That’s 966,000
acres, which is more than all the land
in this country put together, and you
Peninsula hort society sets
DELMAR, Md. - Dates
have now been set for the
1980 meetings of the
Peninsula Horticulture
Society.
Greenhouse day will be
November 11, from 9.30 a.m.
to 2:45 p.m. at Delmar
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jps 3
People Bonk
FARMERS
FIRST M
two meetings
Convention Hall in Delmar,
Md. Fruit and Vegetable day
will be December 2, from
9:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. at the
same location.
The program for
greenhouse operators and
nurserymen has again been
Member F D I C
can bet it's that way all over the
United States.
The Department of Agriculture
says the United State’s is losing 5
million acres of prime farm land each
year, and by the year 2000 we won’t
be able to export any foodstuffs.
Somebody has called the loss of all
this farm land a “national crisis." but
nobody seems to be too concerned
about it or is doing anything about it.
Will Rogers said, "Put your money m
land, son, ‘cause they ain’t making
anymore of it..."
Well, son, they aren’t making
anymore of it, and we are losing it so
fast. The loss has been so subtle that
most folks aren't aware of it. One day
the farms are here, and the next day
they are gone. What's the most
frightening of all of this is that this
farm land can never be reclaimed.
When it’s gone, it’s gone.
One thing's for sure, son. If the
young people of America expect to
have a future in farming, they’re the
ones who have to put a stop to all of
this, and soon.
advanced in order to leave
them free for marketing of
holiday plants later in the
year.
The morning session
November 11 will focus on
ways to deal with the energy
crisis, including the
economics of growing and
selling smaller potted
plants. There will also be a
talk on what to grow m a cold
greenhouse.
The afternoon session will
focus on nursery stock.
Topics to be discussed then
include; fact and fiction of
fast growing trees, fall
fertilization of ornamentals,
and problems with Japanese
black pines.
The main emphasis of the
December 2 program for
fruit and vegetable growers
will be marketing.
For further information
check with your county
extension agent.
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