VOL. 31 No. 5
Excessive nitrate levels in drinking water are capable ot
killing human infants and livestock, said Penn State water
quality specialist Joe Makuch.
Nitrate poisoning
Are your family and livestock* protected?
BY JACK HUBLBY
LANCASTER - Though human
health problems associated with
high nitrate content in drinking
water are well documented,
livestock can suffer as well.
So said Penn State water quality
specialist Joe Makuch at a water
quality workshop held at Lan
caster’s Farm and Home Center on
Thursday. Makuch was one of four
speakers addressing the growing
problem of deteriorating water
quality. Also featured were Earl
Custer of Lancaster Laboratories,
and Dr. William Sharp and Dr.
Karen Mancl, both of Penn State.
Dauphiii Co. assessors reject
Cassel’s clean and green appeal
BY JAMES H. EVERHART
HARRISBURG The Dauphin
County Board of Assessment has
turned down a “Clean and Green”
appeal filed by the chairman of the
County Conservation District.
DCCD Chairman Russ Cassel’s
appeal is confined to the board’s
assessment of his 290-acre dairy
farm in South Hanover Township.
But he anticipates that a favorable
ruling would affect all of the
landowners in the county who have
elected to participate in the
statewide Clean and Green
Assessment Program.
Cassel is challenging the county
Board of Assessment’s 1985
Reassessment, which, in effect,
simply doubled 1973 assessments
of all real estate in the county.
Even though ag land would be
valued the same, relative to other
property in the county, Cassel
contends the reassessment does
not comply with the terms of the
1974 act created the
program.
The land, he contends, should
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Four Sections
Though nitrates themselves are
not detrimental to human or
animal nealth, the problem arises
when bacteria in the digestive
tract convert nitrates to nitrites.
These compounds, in turn, react
with hemoglobin in the blood to
form methemoglobin, a chemical
incapable of transporting oxygen
m the bloodstream.
“So the symptoms you get are
akin to suffocation,” said Makuch,
noting that human infants suf
fering from methemoglobinemia
develop a bluish color around their
lips and eyes that gradually
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only be reassessed on the use value
of the property, which, he says, has
not doubled since 1973 and may,
in fact, have dropped.
His proposal would continue the
ag land at 100 percent of the 1973
assessment levels rather than the
200 percent set by the assessment
board for all Dauphin County real
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 7,1985
Russ Cassel
Congress begins conference
to finalize 1985 Farm Bill
BY JAMES H. EVERHART
WASHINGTON Legislators
this week began the process of
ironing out the differences in the
two versions of the 1985 Farm Bill
passed by the separate houses of
Congress.
A 61-member conference
committee created by the
Congress began its work on
Thursday, attempting to reconcile
the differences between the House
version of the bill, passed in Oc
tober, and the Senate Farm Bill
approved late last month.
Meanwhile the Reagan Ad
ministration is looking on, hoping
the legislators will come up with
legislation it finds acceptable.
In a statement released this
week, USDA Secretary John Block
indicated some hope for the Senate
version, although he said he had
some reservations about the ex
penditures called for in tha bill.
“The bill approved by the Senate
does have some sections reflecting
good farm policy,” Block said in
his statement. “However, the bill
is still over our budgetary
limitations. We look to the con
ference with guarded optimism
and will be working daily with the
conference committee in hopes
that the committee will put
together a bill that the president
can sign,”
A USDA spokesman indicated
that Block’s role would be
relatively passive, in that the
secretary would simply respond to
ideas developed by the conference
committee, rather than actively
lobbying for specific provisions.
estate. If accepted, his plan would
actually lower taxes paid by
farmers participating in the
program.
After being informed verbally of
the board’s rejection of his appeal,
Cassel said that he would appeal
the decision in county court. He
also indicated he would try to in
terest the state Department of
Agriculture in the case, since the
decision will affect “clean and
green” properties throughout the
state.
The case could have wide
ranging impact on similar
reassessments in other counties.
Neighboring York County, for
instance, recently announced
plans for a countywide
reassessment to begin next year.
Cassel noted in his appeal that
use values have not risen in
agriculture since 1976, and, in fact,
net farm income has dropped by 57
percent, according to the Penn
sylvania Dairy Farm Business
Analysis Yearly Financial Sum
maries.
E. Kika de la Garza
On the Senate side, the members
of the conference committee in
clude Republicans Jesse Helms of
North Carolina, Robert Dole of
Kansas, Richard Lugar of Indiana,
Thad Cochran of Mississippi ang
Rudy Boschwitz of Minnesota, ana
Democrats Edward Zorinsky of
Nebraska, Patrick Leahy of
Vermont, John Melcher of Mon
tana and David Prior of Arkansas.
All the Senate members are on the
Dairymen can vote
on promotion agency
BY JAMES H. EVERHART
HARRISBURG - The com
plementary, and competitive,
relationships between the various
state, local and regional dairy
promotion agencies once again
comes to the fore this week in
Federal Order 4.
Until Dec. 15, Order 4 dairymen
may choose which of the various?
agencies are to receive two thirds
of their 15 cents per hundredweight
dairy promotion assessment.
Five cents automatically goes to
the National Dairy Promotion
program, financing an $BO million
campaign of advertising,
research, product development
and promotion.
The remaining 10 cents per
hundredweight can be distributed
to the agency of the individual
dairyman’s choice and Order 4
dairymen have until Dec. 15 to
Farm Show—it's coming!
HARRISBURG - While
most of the country is focusing
on the approaching holidays,
more than a few farm families
are looking just beyond the
season’s festivities and
thinking about the Penn
sylvania Farm Show,
scheduled for the week of Jan.
12.
And Lancaster Farming is
doing its part too, getting
$7.50 per Year
Senate Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition and Forestry.
House Agriculture Committee
Chairman E. Kika de la Garza
heads the delegation from the
House of Representatives. The 52-
member House contingent in
cludes all the members of the Ag
Committee, as well as several
members each from the Ways and
Means, Merchant Marine and
Foreign Affairs committees. Many
of the members will participate
only in discussions on their area of
experience, Congressional officials
said.
The dairy title in the Senate’s
version of the 1985 Farm Bill
would:
• Set the support price at $11.60 a
hundredweight when the bill goes
into effect.
• Authorize the Secretary of
Agriculture to reduce support
prices 60 cents ear, beginning
purchases are ex
pected to exceed five billion
pounds of milk a year.
• Require a $l.OO a hun
dredweight price reduction, if
(Turn to Page A2Z)
make their choice known,
If a dairyman does not indicat ■ a
preference, the “local” portion of
his allocation will automatically go
to the Middle Atlantic Milk
Marketing Area (MAMMA)
program. The MAMMA agency is
responsible for the “Milk is Fitness
You Can Drink” campaign, which
uses professional sports per
sonalities as celebrity spokesmen
for milk.
On the other hand, those who
wish to support other local or
statewide programs must notify
Order 4 Administrator Joseph D.
Shine.
Their choices include the
statewide “Make it Milk” cam
paign sponsored by the Penn
sylvania Dairy Promotion
Program. Currently, 4,000 Penn
sylvania dairymen contribute to
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ready tor our Annual Farm
Show Issue to be published
Jan. 11.
We encourage all ad
vertisers and news sources to
make sure materials for this
issue are forwarded to Lan
caster Fanning offices as
soon as possible. Advertising
deadline for the Fann Show
Issue is Friday, Dec. 27. News
deadline is Monday, Jan. 6,
1986.