UNIVERSITY PARK - Getting
involved has paid off for college
students William Lesher and Ellen
Cherchuck. They are this year’s
Penn State Mr. and Ms. College of
Agriculture.
William and Ellen were elected
by Penn State students at the
annual Ag Hill Festival in October.
Besides their class work and club
activities, they’ll represent Penn
State at major agricultural events,
talking about the importance of an
education in agriculture and an
swering questions about
agricultural programs at Penn
State.
William and Ellen are very
different people.
William has lived at Way-Har
Farms in Bemville, Berks County
all his life. His family has a dairy
operation with more than 110 cows,
and they plant 900 acres of com,
alfalfa and small grains. William’s
family operates a dairy store that
sells meats, groceries, milk and
ice cream.
“That’s why I’m majoring in
agricultural science,” William
says. “I want a mix of dairy and
Penn State to study
acid rain effect on crops
HARRISBURG - State
Agricultural Secretary Richard E.
Grubb has announced the award of
a $200,000 research project
designed to assess the impact of
acid rain on agricultural
production in the Commonwealth.
“This project can help our
agricultural industry leam more
about the effects of acid rain on
key crops such as com and oats,
which are the focus of the study,”
said Grubb. “Information gleaned
from the project should prove
valuable to the entire industry,
from the farmer to the customer,”
he added.
The project, to be carried out by
researchers at the Pennsylvania
State University, calls for
establishment of test plots of field
AGRIGOLD CORN
1985 TEST RESULTS
Days Number
Maturity of Plots
A 6445 103 16 Dekalb 1100 +5.2 Bu.
A 6475 110 26 Dekalb 1100 +4.6 Bu.
A 6611 115 39 Pioneer 3358 +6 Bu.
A 6615 115 45 Pioneer 3358 +7.2 Bu.
A 6615 115 31 Dekalb 1100 +6.8 Bu.
A 6630 115 24 Dekalb 1100 +5.9 Bu.
A 6630 115 42 Pioneer 3358 +4.5 Bu.
A 6655 116 46 Pioneer 3358 +7.7 Bu.
A 6655 116 40 Dekalb 1100 +13.5 Bu.
A 6655 116 28 Dekalb 656 +l2 Bu.
A 6655 116 32 Funks 4522 +9.9 Bu.
A 6655 116 45 Pioneer 3378 +6.7 Bu.
Agrigold
Hybrids
ALL RESULTS ARE MACHINE HARVESTED AND ADJUSTED TO 15.5%
D BVQUmiES CHEMGRO Ph0n^717^569^3296
UN VIIHiLI
PSU’s Mr. & Ms. College of Ag: Study in contrasts
business knowledge. I’m putting a
big emphasis on classes in dairy
nutrition, reproduction and herd
management, because that’s going
to be a big thing down the road for
me.”
At Tulpehocken High School, he
received the Keystone Farmer
degree as a senior-the highest
honor from Future Farmers of
America. He won the FFA’s out-
Star Farmer and Star
Agri-businessman award as a
freshman, and his dairy judging
team placed second in the FFA’s
Eastern States Competition when
he was a junior.
William also belongs to the
Western Berks 4-H Dairy Club. His
dairy judging team finished first in
the state and second in the nation
in 1984. His bowl team did the same
thing in 1982.
But dairy farming wasn’t
William’s only interest in high
school. He was also a member of
Tulpehocken’s honor society and
student council.
At Penn State, William is a
member of the university’s Block
and Bridle Club, Coaly Society,
com and oats in four mobile
greenhouses at the University’s
Rock Springs Research Farm.
According to project guidelines,
a rain delivery system will also be
established to allow simulated rain
to be pumped simultaneously to all
plots in the houses. Four different
pH treatments will be ad
ministered in each house. The pH
levels will reflect the upper and
lower limits of rain in Central
Pennsylvania, as well as levels
from surrounding areas. The
plants will then be evaluated ac
cording to several criteria.
Funding for the project was
made possible through a line item
appropriation for acid rain
precipitation studies in the
Agriculture Department’s 1985-86
budget.
agricultural honor society and the
Ag Student Council. This fall,
William was the chairman of the
Nittany Lion Fall Classic, a
Holstein sale and display held in
the Ag Arena.
But William’s objective in
working with all these
organizations isn’t to get a job with
some agricultural-related com
pany. “I definitely plan to go home
after graduation,” he says. “I’m
really looking forward to working
with Mom and Dad (Shirley and
Wayne Lesher). Maybe one day I’ll
be a partner. I already play a role
in the labor and management
decisions.”
While William grew up on a
farm, Ellen had no farm ex
perience before college. She grew
up in Carlisle, and her only ex
perience with agriculture was
what she learned from her older
sister, who owns an orchard and
greenhouse business in Virginia,
and her brother, a hog farmer in
Carlisle.
“You don’t need a farm
background to succeed in
agriculture,” the daughter of Paul
and Marion Cherchuck says. “If
you’re interested in science and
you like dealing with people, you’ll
fit in agriculture. You can do
something for others, and really
have an impact.”
In high school, Ellen was the
yearbook editor, the class vice
president, a member of the
principal’s advisory council and
the cross-country team’s manager.
But she was also interested in
plants. When she came to Penn
State to study agronomy (the
science of crops and soil) she
quickly joined the Agronomy Club
and other scientific groups.
She plans to go into crop
production or management
research when she graduates.
“Like 1 said, I’m interested in
science and people,” she explains.
“Agriculture combines both of
these things.”
As a member of the soil judging
team, Ellen has spent nights and
weekends learning the fine points
of soil classification. Penn State’s
team placed second in the Nor
theast Regional competition this
fall.
But by far, Ms. College of
Comi
MOISTURE
>etitor
Ellen Cherchuck
Agriculture is Ellen’s biggest
achievement at Penn State. She
hopes to introduce agriculture to
new Penn State students,
especially those from non-farm
backgrounds.
“Some people have such a
limited view of agriculture,” she
says, “Even the students already
at Penn State tend to see
agriculture as working with cows.
There’s so much more. As Ms.
College of Agriculture, I’d like to
expand this image.”
Both William and Ellen know
what’s in store for this year’s Mr.
and Ms. College of Agriculture.
They must attend faculty meetings
AgriGoW
Yield Variance
as student representatives, and
talk to hundreds of prospective
agricultural college students. But
both know the real job they’re
expected to do.
“Our big job is to promote Penn
State,” William says. “We have a
good thing here, and it’s important
to let everyone know about it. Ten
years from now, when agricultural
production gets even more com
petitive and new agricultural jobs
open up, agricultural business
owners and managers are going to
need backgrounds in management
and marketing. Ellen and I can get
this message across as Mr. and
Ms. College of Agriculture.”
ATTENTION DAIRYMEN
William Lesher