A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 2,1985
In recognition of their long-standing concern for soil, water
and other natural resources, M. Dice and Roberta Statler
were named one of 10 nationwide finalists in a conservation
award program sponsored by the National Endowment for
Soil and Water Conservation and the DuPont Company.
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State
CHAMBERSBURG - The
Statler family’s roots are planted
deep in Franklin County soil.
Maybe tjjat’s why the clan is so
intent on keeping that soil on the
farm.
The year was 1869 when Dice
Statler’s great grandfather began
farming near Chambersburg after
returning from the Civil War.
Today Statler Farms consists of
about 600 acres of cropland and a
240-cow dairy operation run by
Dice’s son, Ronald, and the
family’s partner, Ray Burkholder.
Although about 270 acres of the
total is rented ground, Dice em
phasizes that proper soil and water
conservation is practiced on all
Statler-farmed acres, owned or
not. “My father was conservation
minded,” Dice recalls. “He always
said, ‘l’d like to leave this land
better than I got it.’”
The list of conservation prac
tices employed by the Statlers is
indeed extensive. Literally miles
of tile drainage, diversion terraces
and sod waterways have been
constructed, and wide buffer strips
between roadways and the 80-foot
strips of corn and alfalfa-grass
fields keep Statler topsoil from
hitching a ride downstream.
Minimum tillage techniques are
employed in cornfields, and
manure is incorporated within
hours of application. A gravity
operated manure storage system
with five months capacity ensures
that manure is not applied on
frozen ground when incorporation
is not possible.
Land deemed poor for
agricultural production is main
tained as cover for wildlife, and
two ponds have been constructed
$3,680.00 .
$4,000.00 p„.
Statlers find that cons
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GRANT’S CONSTRUCTION
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to ensure a supply of surface water
for irrigation, rather than drawing
on water table reserves.
The family’s commitment to the
environment has not gone un
noticed, and Dice and his wife,
Roberta, were recently named
among 10 finalists in a con
servation awards program
sponsored by the National En
dowment for Soil and Water
Conservation and the DuPont
Company.
The Statlers were selected from
49 state nominees, and recently
returned from Ennis, Texas,
where the 10 finalists were honored
in award ceremonies conducted on
the farm of 1984 award recipients
Larry and Rebecca Sullivan.
this year, three national winners
will be selected from the 10
finalists, and each will receive a
cash award of $l,OOO.
Though environmental
awareness is a popular issue these
Father and son pose along one of the grass buffer strips
that keeps Statler soil on the Statler farm.
C&M SALES INC
R D #1
Honesdale PA 18431
PH 717 253 1612
Franklin Co
days, the Statler’s involvemeg
stretches back more than {gj
decades; long before soil anj
water conservation was in vogig
Only three years after its creatig
in 1935, the Soil Conservatig
Service selected the three fang
then under Statler ownership g
demonstration farms for eon
servation techniqres. Diverse
terraces were built, a tile drainajj
system was installed and strip
cropping was implemented
Nearly half a century later, mud
of the original SCS work-includinp
most of the locust fenceposts g
stalled-is still intact.
In 1953, notes Dice, the first
trench silo east of the Mississippi
was built on the Statler farm,
designed by the late Henry Wat
ner, a Franklin SCS technician
The original silo is still in use, and
the family has added several
others since then. Dice finds this
design preferable to the upright
M
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R D #1 Box 55
Swedesboro NJ 08085
PH 609 467 3174
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