*34—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 25,1981
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
HARRISBURG - “Penn
sylvania’s food system is m
trouble.”
This is a basic premise and
conclusion of a study released this
week in Harrisburg by Rodale
Press, of Emmaus, publishers of
“Organic Farming” and other
magazines m the gardening and
health fields.
At a news conference in the
Capitol Building attended by Lt.
Gov William W. Scranton 111,
Robert Rodale said that the state’s
food production system is suffering
from “Detroit Disease.”
“Like Detroit that contmued to
build big cars after the end of the
cheap energy era,” Rodale said,
“the Pennsylvania food system is
turning out a product that requires
more energy than is needed or
wanted.”
Title of the approximate $30,000
study, funded and conducted by the
Rodale organization, summarizes
the alterative directions seen for
Pennsylvania concerning food
production. Title of the study is
“The Pennsylvania Food System:
Crash or Self-Reliance.”
The study concludes that Penn
sylvania is too dependent on the
importation of food from as far
away as California - a practice
that not only needlessly drives up
the cost but leaves Pennsylvania
wide open to possible disruption in
food supplies.
According to the study, Penn
sylvania imports 73 percent of all
of its food at an annual cost of $8.4
billion dollars
“A total of $4OO million is added
to the cost of tlus v food to pay just
for its transportation into the
state,” Rodale pointed out.
The study also said that such
food must be picked before it is
npe and thus comes into the state
less tasty and nutritious than it
might be if grown locally.
Another of the major problems
facing the food system and Penn
sylvania agriculture is the con
tinuing loss of farmland due to
development and soil erosion, the
study emphasizes.
“Intensive chemical farming,
with continuous planting of row
crops and use of heavy equipment
that compacts the soil is making
the soil erosion problem even
worse,” according to the study.
“If the amount of land being
farmed continues to decline as it
has since 1950, Pennsylvania will
have no farms by the year 2030 - a
mere 50 years away.”
The study stresses the
vulnerability of the state food
system due to supply disruptions
that might be caused by such
things as an oil embargo, a labor
dispute or drought in Florida or
California
Among its major general
recommendations, the study
concludes that Pennsylvania must
get started toward better food self
reliance.
“Pennsylvania can produce
Meeting covers solar
energy on farm
HARRISBURG - A solar film
festival will be held on May 6 by
the South Central Pennsylvania
Solar Energy Association.
The film festival is open to
members of the Association and to
the general public, and will feature
films which range in topic from
solar greenhouses to various uses
of solar energy on the farm.
According to Paul Swartz,
secretary of the Association’s
Board of Directors, the film
festival is a good opportunity for
local residents to learn more about
solar energy and to meet others
with similar interests.
Study says Pa. food system in trouble
much more of its own food,” the
study states, “and a good place to
begin might be with vegetables.”
“To produce all our vegetables
within the state would require
about 335,000 acres - 4.5 percent of
our total farmland. Pennsylvania
has the climate, soil types and land
to be totally self-reliant in
vegetable crops.
“What is perhaps needed more
than anything to bring about this
change are local markets so our
farmers can be sure of selling their
produce for a fair profit.”
Other recommendations listed in
the study to increase food self
reliance include expansion of the
role of home gardens and an in
crease in local fertilizer produc
tion.
But the state can never become
totally food self-reliant based on
consumers’ present diets.
The study points out that certain
crops, such as oranges, bananas,
nee, sugar, peanuts, coffee, tea
and cocoa, can’t be grown m the
state and there isn’t enough land to
produce all the meat that is con
sumed.
“To meet all our food needs -
with the exception of beef and
items which cannot be grown here -
- would take approximately 4.6
million acres, about 60 percent of
our total cropland,” the study
states.
“Just to produce all our beef
locally would require about 9
million acres, 20 percent more
farmland than the state has.
“But if we took the land left after
meeting all our other food needs
and grew beef on most of it and cut
our consumption by 80 percent (to
about 24 pounds per person yearly)
and substituted wheat, potatoes
and beans, Pennsylvania could be
almost totally self-reliant.”
The study admits that total self
sufficiency is a questionable goal
in itself. And perhaps the goals
should be reducing food costs,
averting the risk of supply
unavailability when that risk is
unacceptable and increasing the
economic viability of Penn
sylvania.
Concerning the cut in beef
consumption mentioned in the
report, the study says it shows one
way that the state could cope with
a serious food emergency.
Three major recommendations
are outlined in the study to move
Pennsylvania toward a more self
reliant food system “with its ac
companying economic and
nutritional benefits: ’ ’
- A state plan for a food system
to increase self-reliance and
economic viability while
decreasing the potential for supply
disruption.
-An emergency state plan for
feeding Pennsylvanians during a
supply disruption and “given the
current state of international af
fairs, national economy and state
vulnerability, not to formulate one
soon would be irresponsible.”
Five films will be shown between
7:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., following
the Association’s business meeting
at 7 p.m.
The meeting and Mm festival
will take place at the York Bank,
which is located at Sherman and
Market Sts., York. A $1 donation is
requested to cover the cost of the
films.
The schedule of films to be
shown is as follows; 7:30 Solar
Frontier; 8:05 Sun Builders; 8:35
The Solar Greenhouse; 9:05 Sun
Power for Farms; 9:35 The Power
to Change.
Graph tracing the declining number of farms Center; and Medard Gabel, director of the
in Pennsylvania is explained by Richard study, which states that Pennsylvania’s food
Harwood, left, director of the Rodale Press system is in trouble. Seated at the right is
Organic Gardening and Farming Research Robertßodale, head of Rodale Press.
-A more active role by the
Pennsylvania consumer in his or
her own food system that will
make the overall system more
economical.
More definitive recom
mendations for a state food system
plan include protection of all
remaining prime farmland, strong
incentive and enforcement of
widespread and effective soil
conservation programs, more
incentives for farmers to produce a
greater diversity of crops for local
consumption, reorienting
agricultural research into the era
of more costly energy and
preserve and strengthen the
family farm in such ways as
guaranteed state loans to begin
ning farmers with deferred or
reduced payments until five years
after start-up.
“The $7.00 loaf of bread and the
$45.00 jar of instant coffee will be a
fact by the end of this century
unless we act now to protect our
own farms,” Rodale said in his
opening remarks to the news
conference.
And the study ends by stating:
“If Pennsylvania is truly con
cerned about the condition and
future of its food supply, then the
state must be willing to spend the
time and money to develop a
realistic plan of action, and then to
spend even more time and money
to see this plan modified, accepted
and implemented. The time to
begin is now.”
Donaldson
FAIRFIELD - David G.
Donaldson, son of Mr. and Mrs
Guy F. Donaldson, R 3, Gettysburg
has been selected Pennsy l vama
State FFA Proficiency winner in
Fruit Production, according to
David W. Teets, advisor of the
Mason Dixon FFA Chapter at
Fairfield High School
Each year the National FFA
Foundation provides awards for
members who have demonstrated
outstanding achievement in 22
Head of Rodale Press, Robert Rodale, emphasizes the
rising price of food expected for Pennsylvania if the state does
not become more self-sufficient and the decline in farmland
due to development and erosion is not checked. He said
bread could reach $7.00 a loaf by the end of the century.
wins Pa. FFA award
David G. Donaldson
different proficiency areas.
Donaldson will receive a $lOO
check and a certificate at the State
Mid-Winter FFA Convention in
January. He will also compete in
the Northeast United States
competition in July and if suc
cessful, will be eligible for
National recognition at the
National FFA. Convention at
Kansas City in November of this
year.
Donaldson began his FFA career
as a 9th grade student at Fairfield
High School in September of 1977
and during the same year earned
the Star Greenhand Award.
During the following years he
became a very active member of
the local chapter serving as
treasurer, vice-president and
president. He also served as
Adams County FFA President in
1979-1980.
Agronomy, tractor driving, farm
mechanics, apple judging, project
book and parliamentary procedure
are some of the contests he was
mvolved with on the county, area
and state levels.
He served as both local and
county delegate to the Penn
sylvania and National Convention
and received his State Keystone
degree in January of 1980.
He has earned the Star Chapter
Farmer Award, Leadership
Award, Scholarship Award and the
DeKalb Accomplishment Award
as the outstanding senior of the
Mason Dixon FFA Chapter.
Donaldson graduated in June of
1980 and is employed on his
parent’s fruit farm where he plans
to continue his involvement m the
fruit industry.