DIO-Umcaster Farming Saturday, October 5,1985 w »1 r i I Pennsylvania Agriculture OnDisplay This month I am deviating from my usual emphasis on dairy to reflect on another topic which has taken a considerable amount of my time this past month or so. I am referring to the annual meeting of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents. This is an event I take great pleasure in attending. It is an opportunity to talk with agents from other parts of the country, to exchange ideas about doing Ex tension work and to leam about agricultural issues and concerns in other parts of the nation. There are plenty of opportunities to attend professional improvement workshops and to hear in spirational talks. One day is devoted to professional tours. This is usually one of the highlights of the week, one that affords you the op portunity to get a first-hand ob servation of the agriculture, the industry and the cultural background of the host state. It’s been 20 years since Penn sylvania hosted the annual meeting. Pennsylvania agents felt we had a lot to show, and four years ago we extended an in vitation to host the annual meeting at Hershey, September 29 to Oc tobers. Most Pennsylvania agents are deeply involved, one way pr another, in planning and con ducting the annual meeting. I’ve had the pleasure--and the challenge-of chairing the tours and transportation committee. Fortunately, I’ve had a good committee to work with. One of our responsibilities was to organize 24 different tours for a total of 48 to 50 buses. Even with that many dif ferent tours, one of our problems was deciding what ideas had to be cut from the tour schedule. We had so much to show that we simply could not include everything. The other challenge we wrestled with is transportation. Of the 2100 registrants, about 1100 had to stay in 5 other outlying motels - 1100 people that had to go in a dozen different directions and at varying times. And you thought moving cows was a problem! Until the week was over, I had nightmares of being tarred and feathered for 6 VOIT FARM TRACTOR GPI, 325 CCA 1 Yr Warranty *OQ9S X W /E»ch. > Daily | Pipeline By Glenn A. Shirk Extension Dairy Agent making people wait too long for a shuttle bus, making people late for scheduled events, or exceeding our budget because of having excess transportation scheduled. As tours chairman, my one regret is that I’ve been unable to participate in all of the tours. And many other agents probably had that same frustration. There were probably a dozen different tours they wanted to go on. In our tours, we attempted to expose the agents and their families to the diversity of our agriculture and industry, to our local culture and to our heritage. They got a first-hand look at the intensity of our agriculture and the competition for land. They ob served many supportive industries such as feed mills, machinery assembly plants, lime production, A.I. and E.T. in addition to seeing a variety of good processing operations, they also visited several marketing establishments. They saw small farms and large farms, young farmers and established farmers, farms with electricity and farms without. They learned about production practices as they visited livestock, poultry and dairy operations plus fruit, vegetables, mushroom and greenhouse growers. Our number one cash crop, tobacco, was new to many. Nutrient management, sludge application, conservation and land use were discussed on several tours. They also get a look at beautiful gardens, nuclear energy production, hydroponics, methane production, coal and limestone mining, game bird and Christmas tree production, organic fanning, medical research and farm tourism. The tours also afforded the many guides an opportunity to discuss such things as: land prices, soils, growing seasons and rainfall. Some of them shared our ex perience with avian influenza, water quality, rabies, etc. Hopefully, this was an ex perience our visiting agents will long remember. We hope they received a better understanding of Pennsylvania, and that Penn sylvania will also be remembered. Those who were on the tours also witnessed first-hand, the pride and respect our local people have in 12 VOLT FARM TRACTOR GP3OH, 570 CCA 30 Mo. Warranty $ 5Q 95 J W /Exch their homes and farms and for the [ land they till. They also observed I how the life of many of our local families is deeply rooted in religious convictions. As I look back on this ex | perience, I become more aware of all that we have in this part of the country, much of which we often take for granted and don’t fully 1 appreciate. We are well blessed. I And we have muchto be thankful I for! Not the least of these is the 1 great people we have to live and work with. Without all their help and support, we would not have been able to “show off” Penn sylvania in the fashion that we did. For all of this, I thank you! 6 VOLT FARM TRACTOR GP3EH, 830CCA 2 Yr. Warranty *55 9S