VOL 29 No. 4
Charles and Labertha Tindall
R 1 Peach Bottom
Clayton and Dorothy Charles
R 2 Lancaster
Century
honors to
4 farms
BY IRISH WILLIAMS
STRASBURG Behind every
successful farmer is a set of
dependable agribusinessmen,
agricultural Extension agents, and
farm organizations. And beyond
the end of farm lane are a large
number of non-farm workers
employed by food processors,
marketers and distributors.
These messages were heard
Tuesday evening by members of
Lancaster’s County agricultural
community at the Seventh Annual
Agricultural-Industry Banquet,
sponsored by the Lancaster
Chamber of Commerce and In
dustry’s Agriculture Committee.
Farmers, agribusinessmen,
Extension agents, and bankers, sat
down to what seemed like an early
Thanksgiving feast. The occassion
was a celebration of a successful
alliance of these various segments
that has enabled the Lancaster
farming community to lead the
state, and even the nation in
agricultural production.
These noteworthy facts and
figures were presented by Debra
Martin, accomplished 4-H member
and Dick Blouse, Jr., president of
the Lancaster Chamber.
The highlight of the evening was
the honoring of four farm families
that have been part of Lancaster’s
rich farming heritage for more
than 100 years. These four families
were presented the highly
cherished Century Farm Award.
Only 818 farms in Pennsylvania,
and 74 farms in Lancaster County
have been presented this
prestigous award for the con*
Four Sections
Clarence and Grace Shearer
R 1 Washington Boro
tinuation of the family farming
tradition for more than one cen
tury on the same farm.
Those Century Farm families
honored Tuesday evening were:
- J. Clayton and Dorothy B.
Charles, RD 2, Lancaster, whose
farm has been in the family since
1774.
Drought cuts Pa. alfalfa yields
UNIVERSITY PARK - The 1983
Pennsylvania Alfalfa Growers
competition has confirmed what a
lot of farmers already knew - the
drought cut significantly into
yields this year.
This year’s Grand Champion
Alfalfa Grower, crowned Monday
at the Forage and Seed Conference
at Penn State, is Donald Hoffer, of
Lebanon County.
His yield totals included 9.2 tons
per acre of hay equivalent, with
3,328 lbs. per acre of crude protein
and more than 9,500 lbs. of total
digestible nutrients.
These figures are significantly
lower than last year’s champion, J.
Allen Baker, of Bedford County,
who had 10.1 tons per acre, 4,014
lbs. of crude protein and 11,149 lbs.
of TON.
In other activities at the con
ference:
—1963 Outstanding Forage
Spokesman honors went to Richard
Burd, Fayette County dairyman.
-Kenneth T. Leath, forage
pathologist at the USDA Pasture
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Nevambar 26,1983
Paul and Emma Krantz
R 1 Strasburg
- Charles C. and I Tin
dall, Jr., RD 1 Peach Bottom,
whose farm has been in the family
since 1882.
- Clarence and Grace Shearer,
RD 1, Washington Boro, whose
farm has been in the family since
1882.
(Turn to Page A 37)
Research Lab at Penn State, was
honored.
-The Pennsylvania Forage and
Grassland Council elected new
officers and directors. New
president is I. Hershey Bare, of
Lebanon County.
Hoffer’s winning alfalfa crop
was a 1982 pure stand of DK 130
planted on Hagerstown-Duffield
soil. He took off four cuttings, the
first on June 1 for silage and the
remainder on July 7, Aug. 15 and
Sept. 29 for hay.
He attributed much of his win
ning yield to fertilization with
large amounts of manure par
ticularly during the com phase of
the crop rotation.
Reserve champion this year is
the Milton Hershey School with 8.3
tons of hay equivalent per acre,
with 3,139 lbs. of crude protein and
nearly 9,100 lbs. of TDN despite
moisture shortages in July and
August. The Hershey stand of WL
313 was seeded la August, 1961, on
Hagerstown silt loam soil and
fertilized according to soil test.
Big Avian effort
set this weekend
LANCASTER - With the Avian
influenza quarantine now imposed
in parts of two states and permit
enforcement regulations being
enforced in nine states, the federal
task force moved into an all-out
eradication effort this weekend.
Confirmation of the highly
pathogenic strain in a laying flock
in Willow Grove, Salem County,
N. J. prompted officials to establish
a quarantine zone in parts of
Salem, Cumberland, Gloucester
and Atlantic counties in New
Jersey. The flock of 31,000 layers
there has been destroyed.
Also during the past week the
quarantine zone in Pennsylvania
was expanded further west and
south to cover 2800 square miles in
all of Lancaster and parts of six
adjacent counties.
In the depopulation effort, 36
flocks numbering some two million
birds had been destroyed by
Friday morning.
Permit enforcement regulations
to move poultry products out of the
quarantined zones - now
established in parts of Penn
sylvania and New Jersey - will be
enforced actively in nine states up
and down the East Coast - in
cluding Maryland, New Jersey,
West Virginia, New York,
Virginia, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Maine and, of
course, Pennsylvania.
In related agribusiness reper
cussions from the outbreak, Victor
F. Weaver, Inc., New Holland, will
begin the temporary layoff of some
200 production and related per
sonnel. The company said the
layoff is caused by a drop in the'
supply of broilers to the firm due to
the flu.
Tied for third in the competition
were Donald Bollinger, Willow
Maple Farm, Lebanon County, and
Leonard Stoltzfus, Berios County.
Their hay equivalent yields were 8
tons per acre on well-fertilized
Duffield soils.
Fifth place went to Centre
County dairyman Joe Hartle Jr.,
who was last year’s Outstanding
Forage Spokesman.
Honorable mentions went to
Larry Barron, Luzerne County;
George McMath, Huntingdon
County; Donald Hershey, Nelson
Winger and Christian Smucker, all
of Lancaster County.
This year’s outstanding forage
spokesman competed with three
other dairymen for the honors.
Each had to describe their forage
programs and address the con
ference on the “importance of
forage to me and Pennsylvania
agriculture.”
Reserve champion for 1963 is
Henry Shellenberger, of Mt. Joy,
Lancaster County. Honorable
(Turn to Page A 37)
$7.50 per Year
Also, during the past week at
tention had been focused on a flock
in the Danville area of Montour
County - a good distance north of
(Turn to Page A3S)
Pa. gets
Ist FmHA
loan okays
HARRISBURG Pennsylvania
farmers have received the first
approvals of drought emergency
loans from the USDA’s Farmers
Home Administration.
The State FmHA Office in
Harrisburg reports that about a
half-dozen loan approvals have
batn received back for farmers
who made early application under
the drought emergency program.
Seventeen south-central and
south-eastern counties were
declared drought disaster areas
about a month ago, making far
mers eligible to apply for the low
interest loans. Three or four
counties have since been added
and a couple are still pending.
While no statewide figures are
available yet in Harrisburg, state
FmHA officials report that loan
application activity is continuing
at all eligible county offices, but
the handful of approvals are the
first to have been processed
completely through approval.
The state office expects that the
emergency loan activity will pick
up significantly in the new year
once farmers have had a chance to
determine their exact losses
following harvest.
To be eligible, farmers must
show at least a 30 percent loss from
a normal year’s production. Then,
they are eligible to borrow up to 80
percent of actual loss up to a
maximum of $500,000.
There is also an allowance for
any reimbursable income, such as
crop insurance or PIK monies.
Borrowers unable to get loans
through regular lending channels
are charged an interest rate of five
percent on the first $lOO,OOO and
eight percent on the remainder.
Although the deadline for ap
plications is April 11,1984, farmers
have been urged to make ap
plication as soon as they can to
avoid approval delays.
USDA Sec. John Block em
phasises that farmers would not be
adversely affected if portions of
the disaster loan program are
changed.
“I want those farmers who file
early to be assured that if any
changes should be made in the
authorizing legislation, we will
support such changes being made
retroactive to the time the disaster
designations were made,” Block
said.