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VOL. 31 No. 38
York Drought Damages
Trigger Disaster Status
BY JOYCE BUPP
York County Correspondent
YORK York County’s Food
and Agricultural Committee met
Thursday morning and drew up
recommendations to have the
county declared a disaster area.
A severe drought since April has
parched York County’s fanning
soils, hitting heaviest in the
agriculture-intense southern half
of the county.
Officials of the Extension Ser
vice, Farmers Home Ad
ministration, Soil Conservation
Service and Agricultural
Stabilization and Conservation
Service made the disaster status
recommendation after tabulating
anticipated crop losses for the
county.
Declaration of disaster status for
the county would make available
low interest money to “eligible”
'farmers. Emergency feedstuffs
could also possibly be made
callable and set-aside acreage
opened for grazing purposes.
According to York County Agent
Tony Dobrosky, any county that
Kean show a 30 percent total loss of
ftropSwill be designated a disaster
area by federal officials.
A $47 million tab is being placed
on York crop losses for about 70
percent of the county’s normal |O6
million field crop production. That
estimate doesn’t touch the ad
ditional $B5 million generated by
dairy, poultry and livestock, also
likely to be affected by reduced
yields of feed supplies.
Corn and corn silage yields are
expected to tally the greatest
losses estimated at $24 million.
Alfalfa hay loss is anticipated to
run $6.4 million. Vegetable losses
are pegged at $3.5 million, soybean
loss at $3.2 million, potatoes at $2.6
million, fruits at $2.5 million, and
mixed hay at $1.7 million.
York County Commissioners will
forward the disaster recom
Irrigation in Lancaster County this week along North View Road off Rt. 772 East of
Manheim. Rains later in the week helped crops but more rain is needed.
Four Sections
mendation to the state Food and
Agricultural committee. Their
affirmation will in turn move the
request to the Federal Govern
ment via USDA.
“We’re looking for an answer in
four to eight weeks,” says
Dobrosky. “That’s about the time
the real need will start to tell in
September.”
The York County disaster
recommendation comes on the
heels of disaster status application
for 19 of Maryland’s 23 counties.
“Maryland is anticipating crop
losses approaching $lOO million or
9 percent of the total commodity
production in the state.” says
Robert Walker, executive
assistant to Maryland’s Secretary
of Agriculture, Wayne Cawley.
Corn also topped the loss list in
Maryland with estimate of only a
quarter of the normal yield. Corn
grain alpne earned $ll6 million for
Maryland farmers in 1984.
* 'Maryland's $73 million soybean
crop is also slated for severe
losses. Greenhouse and nursery
production is the third high ag
(Turn to Page A3O)
Irish Dairy
Continues Plan
BY MARTHA J. GEHRINOER
MONTEZUMA, Ga. Masstock
International Dairy Corporation
recently announced its plaru? to
proceed with original intentions of
building a dairy in southern
Georgia, without benefit of tax
exempt industrial development
bonds.
These bonds, controlled ty the
federal government, are' low
interest rate bonds that have tax
sheltering possibilities.
Last week reports indicated the
dairy would not be built in
(Turn to Page A 32)
Lancaster Farming, myrdav. July 19,1988
The Lancaster County Extension Service directors presented a 25-year service plaque
to Lancaster County agricultural agents. Arnold Lueck (right), and Glenn Shirk Monday
evening. Lilli Ann Kopp, Board President, made the presentations at the directors
summer dinner meeting at Country Table Restaurant in Mount Joy. The plaques were
presented in appreciation for the agents' contribution to agriculture and the local
community.
Woodlands May Ease Mdflure Glut
BY JACK RUBLEY
LEBANON Those of us with
chronic holes in our wallets often
rationalize that money, like
manure, does little good unless it’s
spread around. That’s where the
similarity ends, though.
Unlike cash, manure generates
little interest when stockpiled. And
lew farmers in southeastern
Pennsylvania would argue that it’s
a whole lot easier to generate too
much manure than too much cash
these days.
The manure situation is big news
in the southeastern area, where
nutrient enrichment problems in
the Chesapeake Bay have been
traced upriver to Pennsylvania
farmers in the Susquehanna River
watershed. But not all water
quality problems generated by a
concentrated animal agriculture
are exported to the bay. Elevated
nitrate levels in increasing
numbers of rural groundwater
supplies reveal that soil is laboring
under a heavy nutrient load. With
cheap grain and favorable hog and
poultry prices threatening to
trigger further expansion, the
trend isn’t likely to reverse itself.
In Lancaster County, Extension
director Jay Irwin calculates that
farmers should have nearly 70,000
more cropland acres than are
available to spread the county’s
manure supply at recommended
rates. Trucking this excess to
cropland in need of fertilizer is
Keystone Vo-Ag Teachers
Convene In State College
BY SUZANNE KEENE
UNIVERSITY PARK -
Vocational agriculture teachers
must educate high school coun
selors and the community about
opportunities available to vo-ag
students, the past president of the
American Vocational Association
told educators this week.
Speaking to about 145 vo-ag
teachers at the Pennsylvania
Vocational Agriculture Teachers
Association Professional
Technical Education Institute at
Penn State University Tuesday
evening, Rosemary Kolde urged
the instructors to help dispel the
belief that vo-ag programs prepare
students only for production
agriculture.
“Vocational education is the
backbone of this nation’s training
and retraining. We have to let
others know how important
vocational education is,” she
stressed.
Dr. Lamartine Hood, dean of the
Penn State college df agriculture,
joined Kolde in her plea to educate
the community. We have to work
together to broaden vocational
agriculture's image, he said.
“Ag is in a new era, just like
other vocations,” Kolde said.
Exciting developments in
biotechnology and market
$8.50 per Year
unpractical, notes Irwin, due to
high transportation costs and the
relatively low cash value of the
nutrients contained in a ton of
manure. The Extension director
pegs the plant food value of a ton of
dairy manure straight from the
cow at about $3, while hog and
poultry manure may be worth
about $4 and $lO.BO, respectively.
In slurry form, however, the value
of the nitrogen, potassium and
(Turn to Page A2B)
development are changing the face
of agriculture and the skills needed
in the ag workforce.
Because of the rapid change in
technology, a job is no longer a
career, Kolde said. Workers must
continually receive training to stay
abreast of technological advances.
Therefore, Kolde said,
vocational teachers should
prepare students not only to enter
a job, but for lifelong learning as
well.
Vocational education has an
important place in the school
system, she reminded the
teachers. “The largest segment of
the U.S. workforce is made up of
employees who haven’t attended a
college.”
Kolde encouraged the teachers
in their mission of preparing the
future workforce. “What we as
teachers teach to our students is
what they will become. If we tell
them they will be a success, they
will succeed,” she said.
“The best teachers,” Kolde
stressed, “bring a care and a
concern for their students to the
classroom.”
A few of those top teachers
received recognition from their
peers during the three-day In
stitute. Members of the PVATA
(Turn to Page A 39)