A2B—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, June 18,1983
BY TRISH WILLIAMS
WAKEFIELD The rolling
farmland of southern Lancaster
County was spotlighted Monday on
the annual conservation tour
sponsored by the Lancaster
Conservation District. Forty-five
participants rode in the tour bus
that wound around the hilly back
roads of southern Lancaster
County to learn how unproved
conservation practices are helping
to hold valuable top soil in place.
Participants in the tour were
able to see new installations of
conservation practices approved
by the tripartite conservation
group consisting of ASCS, SCS, and
the Lancaster Conservation
District.
Nine stops were scheduled on the
tour. Conservation practices
viewed covered a wide variety of
functions ranging from no-till com
plantings to pipe outlet terraces to
sod crop rotations. Also included in
the tour were visits to the Herr's
Potato Chip Company at Nottingham,
and the filter and control
system of the Chester Water
Authority at the Octoraro
Reservoir. All the stops had one
common theme... efficient
utilization and conservation of the
earth’s natural resources.
An earthen bank manure storage
system was examined at the
Robert Kauffman farm. The
system has a concrete bottom and
earthen walls. Solids are retained
in the first storage area by means
of a separator similar to a picket
fence. The liquids pass on to a
separate storage area and are used
for irrigation. Compared to other
ecologically sound manure han
Abner Houseknecht, Aaron Stauffer, Robert Wagner, and
Bob Gregory of the Conservation District inspect a field of no
till corn.
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Conservation of nal
too. Daniel Stoltzfus ei
reading about Herr’s h
Lancaster Conservation
dling systems the earthen bank
system requires less capitol in
vestment and creates very little
odor problems.
Cedar Fringe Farm, home of Mr.
and Mrs. Francis Kirk, winners of
the 1963 Conservationist of the
Year award was also toured. The
Kirk’s were using conservation
terraces for 20 years. Recently
they installed slow release piped
outlet terraces. The pipe outlet
terraces enable them to farm on
the contour, growing crops on
areas that were formerly grass
waterways because the water is
diverted underground.
Pipe outlet terraces were also
viewed at the farm of Robert
Wagner, as were grassed water
ways, and sod crop rotations.
Wagner is a director of the Con
servation District.
A comparison of no-till com
plantings was seen near
Wakefield. A planting on Red Knob
Farm into a field formerly planted
in hay, was compared to an ad
joining field owned by Wilmer
Kreider that was planted into rye
stuble.
Aaron Stauffer, chairman of the
Conservation District Directors,
explained how no-till com plan
tings retain more moisture and are
less subject to soil erosion than
conventional com plantings. Stauffer
said when a rain drop hits
the surface in a conventionally
tilled field it is like a tiny ex
plosion. No-till plantings have a
mulch over the field that prevents
rain drops from hitting the surface
and carrying away precious top
soil.
The planting on Kreider’s farm
*' £
:ural resources is important to Herr’s
ijoys a free sample of potato chips after
teat recovery system.
was put in by one of the no-till
planters operated by the Con
servation District. The Con
servation District has four no-till
planters that are available to
fanners for planting com and
soybeans for a fee of |5 and |7 per
acre, respectively. This year
through the District’s no-till
planter program 1020 acres of com
have been planted, and there is a
waiting list of 200 acres com
remaining.
Conservation of natural
resources is also of great im
portance at the Herr’s Potato Chip
Company at Nottingham. The
plant has a heat recovery system
that uses the steam, generated
from water removal from the
potatoes to heat water.
Herr’s tour guide Lew Gehman,
explained how the water wastes
from processing potatoes are
pumped into a lagoon and used to
irrigate 100 acres of adjoining
property owned by Herr’s. Car
nary grass is grown on the acreage
because of its ability to tolerate the
starches contained in the water. In
the summer neighboring farmers
graze their cattle on the property.
Scrap paper from the packaging
process is sold to another company
for recycling. Raw potato scraps
are sold to a nearby compost
company and used for compost
extender. Finished product scraps
are sold to a feed company for use
m animal feeds. The employee
cafeteria even has a separate trash
can for aluminum cans to be
recycled.
Gehman said the plant
manufactures five products,
potato chips, com chips, tortilla
chips, pop com, and pretzels.
Whenever possible Herr’s uses
Pennsylvania potatoes and com to
make their products, said Geh
man. Presently new potatoes are
being shipped up from the South.
The last stop on the tour was the
Chester Water Authority, Octoraro
Reservoir. Here the group was
taken through the plant by Ken
Lawrence and Pat Stapler of the
Authority. The group followed the
water purification process from
the time the water comes in the
plant until it leaves for transport to
Chester.
Lawrence said because the
watershed for the reservoir is
primarily in dairy farm country
they have very little problem with
carcenogenic agents, but
sometimes nitrates run high.
Lawrence said sediment is
normally much higher in the
spring when there are heavy rains,
but added that sediment from soil
erosion was much less this year.
About 30 million gallons of water
are purified at the water works
each day. The process takes about
six hours, then water is pumped to
Oxford. From Oxford the water
flows by gravity to Chester,
traveling over 40 miles.
Learning about the purification
process brought out the im
portance good conservation
practices in farming has on water
quality.
SADDLE
UP!
To Better
Equipment...
Find It In
Lancaster
Farming's
CLASSIFIEDS!
District tours
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g [ - P ‘ -Jgl - water works of the
Chester Water Authority, following the purification process
from the time enters the plant until it leaves.
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Ken Lawr. jghi, pi ..jge.
works. Here he is explaining how water quality is closely
monitored electronically.
Potatoes are unloaded from tractor trailers at Herr’s by
raising the front end with a hydrolic lift.
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A great idea! Even in the employee cafeteria resource are
conserved by recycling soda cans.
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