A24—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 24,1981
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
FONTANA You’re 63 years
old and thinking about slowing
down a bit.
You’ve been milking cows for
more than three decades and
finally decide to sell the herd off.
But you love the land and its way
of life. You want to keep on far
ming.
So, what do you do?
If you’re Robert Sollenberger, of
Lebanon County, you switch your
land entirely into cash gram
farming and utilize solar drying, to
help cut production costs.
“My wife and 1 thought about it
quite some time," he said.
"We traveled aroundtmd looked
at various operations.
"With the solar drying, 1 think
it’s a good way to ease into
retirement and still keep active on
the farm.”
Sollenberger’s home-construct
ed twm solar panels just went up
this week on the farm located
along Rt. 322. They’re easily
visible from the highway' for
anyone driving between Fontana
and Campbelltown.
"The first thing you learn is that
not too much is really known about
solar drying m this area,”
Sollenberger said.
"You learn to improvise with
materials and plans very quickly.”
Sollenberger got his plans for the
panels from the University ot
Illinois. But right off the bat he
used some Yankee ingenuity to
adapt them to Jus purposes.
Each panel measures 24 feet
long by 12 feet high. The plans
called for solid one-piece con
struction.
"1 wanted to store the panels
after the corn is dried so I lunged
the top quarter of the panel,” he
said.
"By folding the top three feel
down, I can pull them into the old
stall barn and keep them out of the
weather when they’re not needed.”
The plans also called for a single
piece of 13-inch plastic piping to
take the heated air from each
collector through the fan into the
gram bm.
“But the only piece of 18-inch
dram tile I could find was of stiff,
rigid construction and }ust wasn’t
suitable,” be explained.
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Robert Sollenberger, whose farm is along Rt. 322 west of
Fontana, shows top section of solar panel, which he con
structed on hinges to facilitate storage.
Lebanon dairyman ‘retires’ into solar drying
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These twin solar panels connected to 12,000-bushel drying
bin were built by Robert Sollenberger, of Lebanon County,
for approximately $1,500. Retiring from dairying, Sollen-
"Sp, 1 did some fast mental
figuring and decided on four 10-
mch plastic dram tile sections, of
flexible construction.”
The two 12X24-foot collection
panels provide 576 square feet of
heating area. The 24-mch fan on
the gram bm pulls air into the top
of the panels.
Interior construction features
2X4’s nailed on end, which provide
a three and one-half-mcb space
through which the air is pulled just
beneath the collection surface, The
surface 15 the plexi-type material
developed by DuPont tor
greenhouse use.
Each panel rests on a tour-toot
base, which forms a storage area
tor the heated air. It is then pulled
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from each panel by the fan into the
grain bin.
“1 have KKI acres in corn and if 1
average 120 bushels that will just
fill the bin,” Sollenberger said.
in addition to building the solar
panels, he and his wife erected the
bin, with the help of a few neigh
bors at tunes.
“1 don’t know how much ot a
test the panels will receive this
year," he said.
“1 have some corn m the held
already at 16.6 percent moisture.
But some was planted later and
will need more drying."
Thus, Sollenberger's farming
life is moving from one phase to
another.
"We milked tor 31 years," he
said. "We had as many as 65
milkers at one time.
"But they say at about my age,
you’re .supposed to think about
taking it more easy.
“This gives us a chance to semi
retire but still remain in farming.
"Now, we'got to wait and see
what the price of. conv is going to
be.”
And the solar panels could be put
to additional use in the future.,
"The panels can be moved
rather easily, ’’ Sollenberger said.
"They’re built right on skids.
"Perhaps, I’ll pull them closer to
the house and use them also to heat
our water when they’re not needed
to dry the corn.”
USDA withdraws insect-infested
NEW YORK, N.Y. A proposal
to change rules under the U.S.
Gram Standards Act to prohibit
treatment of insect-infested gram
during loading on ships other than
dry bulk cargo earners has been
withdrawn by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture. 1
Kenneth Gilles, administrator of
USDA's Federal Gram Inspection
Service, said many comments
received said other less restrictive
alternatives should be evaluated.
The agency had proposed that if
is switching
berger
Solar panel, with top section open, exposes a 12x24-foot
area to the sun’s rays.
grain proposal
insect-infested gram were loaded
on earners other than bulk dry
cargo ships, the elevator could
either remove the gi am from the
ship or receive a certificate that
said the gram was infested.
USDA will continue to permit the
treatment of insect-infested gram
during loading aboard lakers,
'tween deckers and oceangoing
barges; subject to an official
examination of the gram to check
effectiveness of the treatment,
Gilles said.
Intransit treatment of insect-
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into cash grain farming with solar-assisted
infested grain was approved
earlier and is still in effect for bulk
earners, he said. We will continue
our interim policy of permitting
intransit treatment of gram in
tankers, pending completion of
research.
USDA is preparing an alternate
proposal that would provide safe
and effective treatment of msect
mfested gram during loading as
well as minimizing the economic
hardship on the U.S. gram and
maritime industries.
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