■VOL 28 No. 16
Pa. Pork Producers honor All-American, youth
Sam Elkin, right of Marlon Center. Indiana County, received
the Pa. Pork AU-American distinction Thursday evening
■ v-during the sth Keystone Pork Congress, sponsored by the Pa.
Pork Producers Cooncil Etkin is a manging partner of Maples
Ridge Farm, a 500 sow breeding sto<* operation. Presenting
the check from the PPPC and Diambnti is newly
elected president Elwood Houser, Lebanon.
BY SHEILA MILLER
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Two.
major topics dominated the
discussions here last week during
the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Ag Jounralist
Conference - the first conference of
its kind called by the USDA. The
Payment-In-Kind and Dairy
programs were zeroed in on by
reporters and speakers, alike.
Despite the fact that Friday’.-
blizzard sent most of USDA’s
employees scuttling for home
through two feet of snow, Ag
Secretary John Block weathered
the storm in order to explain his
position on PIK and the 50-
pcent dairy assessment.
One of the major issues facing
the PIK program is the question of
taxation, and several bills have
been introduced in Congress ad
dressing this. Under proposed
legislative change, payments-in-
It’s an artichoke ‘medicine show’
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
TERRE HILL - The patent
medicine pitchman who once
roamed ag communities during the
past century is not dead.
He’s alive and still “pitching”
and came to Lancaster County this
week.
While his original counterpart
may have traveled in gaily
decorated covered wagon, the
modem medicine man comes in
conventional auto.
The 19th Century version may
.have had a banjo or singer to en
tertain the curious crowd. But
today’s 20th Century pitchman
carries a Beta-Max'and a casette
to play over the TV.
A century ago, the vagabond
salesman peddled magic elixirs
Four Sections
Block says PIK “only hope 99
kind received by producers under
the PIK program would be treated
for tax purposes in the same
manner as actual production. This
means that taxable income would
not be reported until the farmer
sold the PIK commodities, either
as grain or fed livestock.
However, the question remains
as to whether these legislative
changes will be acted on by
Congress before the March 11
deadline for PIK signup. Block
stated that he is confident
Congress will move quickly on the
legislation, and noted there are no
plans to extend the March II
deadline.
“The producers should not be
concerned - that should not be a
deterrent to signup in compliance
of the program. I assure them that
they will be protected,’’ he stated,
adding that the needed changes
and potions to cure all of the ills of
the body and mind.
Now, he comes with a panacea to
cure the financial ills of today’s
economically hard-pressed far
mer.
And while there are these dif
ferences, the theme of the “pitch”
and the “show” he stages are the
same: “I have something to help
change your future.”
The something that this week’s
modem medicine show in Terre
{fill was pitching was Jersualem
artichokes - regarded by the
show’s script as possibly the
newest of miracle crops ' and
considered by others as a sort of
perrenial weed thai’s tough to get
ridof once it’s in your fields. '
The medicine show pitchman
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 19,1983
CAMP HILL Whether it was a
chance to celebrate a year of
better prices or just a day off the
farm, Pennsylvania pork
producers turned out in droves for
this year’s sth Keystone Pork
Congress, held here at‘the Penn
Harris.
Along with educational sessions
and commercial exhibits, this
year’s Congress was a time for
honoring youth and outstanding
producers. Indiana County’s Sam
Elkin was selected as the 1983
Pennsylvania Pork All-American,
while FFA’er Ted Brown Jr. of
Crawford County and Melissa
Trestle of York County received
awards for their youth
achievements.
Elkin is managing partner of the
Maple Ridge Farm hog operation
located at Marion Center. Maple
Ridge Farm was started in the
spring of 1970, and over the years
has grown into a facility with
nearly an acre under roof and a 500
sow capacity.
At Maple Ridge Farm, Elkin has
achieved an increase in production
through careful management.
Current records show 2.2 litters
per sow per year, with ap-
would be made administratively if
not legislatively.
Without a change, however,
payment-in-kind would be treated
as income at the time the farmer
has a right to receive it, regardless
of when the commodities were
actually sold by the farmer. Block
said this could mean a farmer
would owe tases on a payment-in
kind even though there had been no
sale and no cash income to pay the
taxes. -
“ The payments-in-kind under
the PIK program will be a partial
substitute for the commodities that
would have been produced on land
diverted from production,” Block
explained. “So, we think it’s only
fair that the timing of taxes on PIK
commodities be adjusted to
coincide with when the producer
has income from their
disposition.”
Block encouraged farmers to
came to Terre Hill and other towns
in Lancaster County, not only with
gobs of information, pamphlets,
books and newspaper articles, but
also with two-year agreements to
sell artichoke seedstock to fanners
and then possibly resell then
tubers next year.
Boiled down to their simplest
form, these agreements provide:
-That a farmer must put $12,000
upfront to buy the seedstock.
-And the company selling them
guarantees nothing except the
receipt of the seedstock.
-Oh, there’s an exclusive
marketing agreement concerning
next year’s crop to be. sold as
seedstock. But the company solely
(Turn to Page A 33)
proximately 20 sows per week
weaning 8.7 pigs per litter or 19.1
pigs per year.
Elkin, who is an agricultural
engineering graduate of West
Virginia University, is active in
numerous industry activities in
cluding participation in the
checkoff program and faithful
attendance at both the state and
national Congresses. Elkin also
has actively promoted the industry
by welcoming visiting groups to
the farm, and taking the farm to
civic meetings through slide
programs.
This 'year's Pork All-American
resides with wife Paula and their
four children, David, 9, Beth, 6,
Adrienne, 4, and Nathan, 8 months.
Eighteen-year-old Ted Brown Jr.
was all smiles as he received still
another honor in his long list of
FFA accomplishments. The son of
Ted and Jean Brown of R 2 Con
neautville, Crawford County, Ted
owns 40 sows which he keeps on the
families 250-acre farm. He ex
plains that the hogs are a joint
project between himself and his
three younger brothers and
younger sister.
When he’s not working on the
sign up for the program, noting
that contracts can be revised or
withdrawn until March 11. He said
the contract does not become ef
fective and binding until after the
deadline.
Concerning possible changes to
PIK, Block said he will
“strenuously resist efforts to
change the program.”
“We are right in the middle of
the signup. Changing the rules now
would confuse the producers,”
Block stressed. “The truth is,
farmers like this program quite a
bit. If they like it, why go in and
(Turn to Page *3B)
Is milk security fund
running dry?
HARRISBURG The financial solvency of the Pennsylvania Milk
Security Fund established in 1900 has come to the front burner as farm
organizations throughout the Keystone State fire questions at the
state's Department of Agriculture and Milk Marketing Board.
This Wednesday, members of the State Grange dairy committee
met with PMMB’s Earl Pink and Sen. Frank O’Connell (R-20th) to
discuss the current dilemma facing the security fund, and what can be
done to solve the problem.
Fink reviewed the status of the security fund as of Jan. 31, 1983,
pointing out the current balance of the fund is $728,156.82 which was
raised through a one-cent-per-hundredweight checkoff from milk
handlers. Those funds may soon disappear as claims from financially
troubled milk dealers are processed.
Currently, Damon Dairy Co. of Baltimore, Sun-Re Cheese Co. of
Sunbury, and Shadow Brook Farms of Scranton have filed claims in
excess of $1.2 million.
Commenting on the bankrupt situation. State Grange Master
Charles Wismer commented, “There’s not enough money to pay even
75 percent of the claims. And once we do pay, there’s no security left
for other farmers. ”
farm or in the family’s feedmill or
custom -meat shop, Ted is out
earning awards or serving as a
youth leader. The young swine
producer has achieved recognition
in public speaking, agricultural
mechanics, and swine production
at both the state and national
levels of FFA.
Ted currently is serving as FFA
chapter president. He also holds
this office in the Conneaut
Township 4-H Club, the Crawford
County FFA Council, and in his
high school class of 1983.
Melissa Trostle, 15, proved her
swine production and showman
ship ability, not only to the readers
of Lancaster Farming who saw her
practicing for Farm Show with an
uncooperative market hog in our
Jan. 8 issue, but to the Penn
sylvania Pork Producers who
selected her for this year’s 4-H
Achievement award.
Melissa is the daughter of
Ronald and Yvonne Trostle of R 2
Red Lion. Melissa says she grew
up in the swine industry, and has
been showing hogs, mostly Spotted
Poland Chinas, since she was eight
(Turn to Page A 26)
John R. Block
(Turn to Page A 36)
$7.50 per year