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VOL 30 No. 27
An employee of the Penn State Extension Service in
Lancaster works with the new computer system.
Extension computer
network running
BY WENDY WEHR
UNIVERSITY PARK - The old
excuse of “it’s in the mail” - won’t
hold up any longer among Penn
State Cooperative Extension
workers.
Since mid-April all the Extension
offices in the state have been
linked by a computer network that
‘ delivers the mail” electronically
m just a matter of seconds.
The Pennsylvania Extension
Network, or PEN, is an on-line
information and communication
system that allows personnel in the
67 cgunty extension offices to
communicate electronically with
their colleagues in other counties
and with the extension faculty at
University Park.
‘ The beauty of it is to be able to
get messages to your co-workers
on the same day,” says
Yager, area extension marketing
agent in Adams County, about the
electronic mail system. At the
touch of a button he can send out a
meeting notice to county agents in
House Ag Committee to get
advice from area farmers
WASHINGTON Pennsylvania
and Maryland farmers will have
their chance to tell the U.S.
Congress what’s on their minds,
Monday, when a House
Agriculture subcommittee takes
public testimony in Westminster,
MD.
The House Subcommittee on
Conservation, Credit and Rural
Development will hold a field
hearing at the Carroll County
Agricultural Center in West
minster, beginning at 2:30 p.m.
Committee staffer Jim Johnson
said the committee will focus on
credit and soil conservation issues
during its three-hour hearings.
Although the committee will
accept comments from the
audience, most of the allotted time
ls committed to Maryland and
Pennsylvania officials, farm
organizations and interest groups.
The list of Pennsylvania officials
scheduled to offer testimony in
cludes David Ball, representing
PERIODICALS nlVl^!J N
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UNIVERSITY I*A«A FH r
Four Sections
his region' or receive a fruit
newsletter from Perm State.
But what good is this network to
thgreauteaj&of Pennsylvania ’
is that the county
agents are going to have very
much more current and more
specialized information,” says
Graham Bell, project liaison for
PEN. The agents will have rapid
access to the expertise of Penn
State’s extension faculty and the
most up-to-date agricultural in
formation.
A prime example of the
usefulness of PEN occurred a few
weeks ago during the Salmonella
outbreak in the Midwest.
When Pennsylvania residents
swamped their county extension
offices with calls about the
problem, the local home
economists were prepared to
answer the public’s questions.
Through the PEN system, a public
statement and a seven-page
background report had reached
(Turn to Page A3B)
the state Association of Con
servation District Directors;
George Stambaugh, director and
treasurer of Eastern Milk
Producers; Melvin Durbrauw, an
administrator with Pennsylvania
Farmers Association; Cheryl
Cook, communications coordinator
for the Pennsylvania Farmers
Union.
Also, Geary Huntsberger,
director of Dauphin Deposit
National Bank; Art McAllister,
president of the Pennsylvania
Inland Fertilizers Association;
Martin Flaharty, owner-operator
of a feed operation in Delta, York
County; and farmers Paul Mc-
Pherson of New Park and Ralph
MacGregor of East Berlin.
Heading the list of officials
representing the state of Maryland
will be Secretary of Agriculture
Wayne A. Cawley; G. Wallace
Caulk, Maryland state director of
the Farmers Home Ad
(Turn toPage A2B)
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 11,1985
Secretary-designate pledges
to continue ag promotion
BY JAMES H. EVERHART
HARRISBURG The men
nominated to guide the state’s
agricultural policy over the next 19
months says he hopes to continue
the emphasis on promotion and
marketing established in the first
six years of the Thornburgh Ad
ministration.
“I think .the secretary’s job is to
promote and market Pennsylvania
agriculture,” said Richard E.
Grubb, senior vice president for
administration at Penn State
University. “We have to capitalize
on markets that are available and
not being exploited.”
Grubb was nominated as state
agriculture secretary Wednesday
by Governor Dick Thornburgh. His
appointment will have to be con
firmed by Hie state Senate before
he can take office.
The nominee had kind words for
outgoing secretary Penrose
Hallowell, who resigned last month
after his conviction on a shoplifting
charge in Montgomery County.
“He did a good job in promoting
Pennsylvania agriculture,” Grubb
said of Hallowell. “He was even
looking at foreign markets.”
Grubb also said he thought
Hallowell had left the department
in relatively good shape.
“It’s a very good department,
with excellent scientists, excellent
administrators, excellent people,”
he said. “He also left no major
brushfires burning.”
Other than his remarks about
marketing, the nominee offered
few comments about the eventual
Next month is Dairy Month
Once again, Lancaster Farming
will devote a special issue and a
month of intensive coverage to the
dairy industry, in honor of
National Dairy Month.
We’ll look at what goes into
dairying, and try to help dairymen
find their way in the troubled
realities of the Eighties.
Anvnnp who would like to submit
Sweating details
Paul and Gail McPherson,
successful New Park gram and
fruit growers, think success comes
from paying attention to "boring
details." Turn to page A2O for
more on Paul and Gail and their
interesting operation
direction of the department under
his guidance, preferring, he said,
to wait until “I’m on the inside.”
Grubb, who has two agriculture
degrees from Penn State, has held
several administrative posts
during his 24-year academic
career in State College. He was
recently chosen one of eight
national 4-H Alumni Award win
ners.
“His iiackground in agriculture
and years of management ex
perience make him a sound choice
to head this department,” Thorn
burgh said in announcing the
nomination.
Grubb still lives on the Centre
County farmstead where he was
raised. He specialized in
agricultural economics at the
university, earning his bachelor’s
Egg industry Regroups
BY JACK HUBLEY
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Efforts
by egg producers to regulate their
own industry remain derailed this
month following the Department of
Agriculture’s rejection of the
proposed egg marketing order
Following 2M> years of
development by United Egg
Producers’ (UEP) marketing
order committee, the order was
stonewalled on April 23, when
USDA Agricultural Marketing
Service (AMS) administrator
James Handley informed All-
Industry Task Force chairman Ed
a story idea or news release for
dairy month should contact the
Lancaster Farming News
Department by May 20.
The deadline to reserve space for
advertising is May 24. For more
information on news or ad
vertising, contact us at (717) 394-
3047 or 626-1164,
INSIDE this issue
MAY 151985
and master’s degrees in that
discipline, and later went on to
earn a doctorate in higher
education.
At Penn State, he also served as
vice president for administrative
services and secretary to the board
of trustees from 1971 to 1979, ad
ministrative assistant in the office
of the president from 1966 to 1970,
deputy assistant director for
continuing education from 1965 to
1966 and conference coordinator
from 1961 to 1965.
Grubb will remain as an ex
officio member of the Penn State
board of trustees. He will be on
unpaid leave from the ad
ministration during his tenure in
the Thornburgh Administration,
officials said.
Houston that the agency had a
number of fundamental objections
to the proposal.
According to UEP committee
chairman Gerald Weber, the or
der’s final draft contains three
mam provisions-
1 Research and Promotion
The order would establish a
mandatory one cent-per-dozen
nonrefundable checkoff for ad
vertising, promotion and research.
2.Surplus removal Producers
would be assessed 1 4-cent per
dozen to fund removal of surplus
hens from the market and surplus
eggs intended for export only.
3,Quantity Control Producers
would receive an allotment based
on their historical egg production.
A producer could not exceed his
allotment until the entire market
for the product increased.
USDA’s major objection dealt
with this latter provision, ac
cording to AMS spokeswoman Jan
Lockard, who noted the current
administration’s market-oriented
philosophy with respect to all
(Turn to Page A2B)
Rural Electrification
Can you imagine life without
electricity? In rural America, the
way was paved by the Rural
Electrification Administration,
which celebrates its 50th an
niversary today. For more on the
local co-ops which helped light up
the countryside, turn to page B 2
17.50 per-Year