(^ V i::’i< fcliFlTl VOL 31 No. 47 Seminar Calls Ag Women To Action BY SUZANNE KEENE HARRISBURG Women have the skills and leadership ability to make positive changes in agriculture. And although farm women traditionally have remained in the background, it is time for them to put their talents to use. That was the message about 50 farm and agribusiness women heard in Harrisburg Thursday during the fifth annual Women in Agriculture Seminar. The agenda for the day-long program included workshops on political activity, estate planning, handling stress, farm credit, rural support groups and re-entry into the job market. The event also offered women an opportunity to rub shoulders, share problems and concerns and discuss possible solutions. “By recognizing our changing roles, we can encourage each other,” said Pat Wolf of the Pennsylvania Farmers .Association. Women working together to make changes was a common theme throughout the session. “It is imperative that women become more involved,” said Barbara Woods, regional director of Central Pennsylvania Public Interest Coalition. Woods led a session on becoming politically active and encouraged women to recognize their skills and to use them in the political arena to effect changes. A victim of the depressed farm economy, Woods has taken her own advice to heart and works daily to persuade legislators to vote in the interest of the ag community. Woods’ Franklin County farm is up tor sale following several troublesome years in the dairy business. The family lost their rows m 1983 and was forced to sell (Turn to Page A 46) Farmers To Pay More Taxes BY MARTHA J. GEHRINGER The proposed tax reform package will deal positive and negative changes to agriculture, experts predict. Farmers will lose many tax preferences and can expect to pay more taxes. The reduction of benefits to tax-shelter farmers will bolster the farm economy due to the removal of tax-loss in vestments. Until both houses of Congress and the president sign the final tax plan, no one is making firm predictions on how the tax legislation will impact agriculture. Tax experts predict Congress and 'he president will sign the plan as it was written by the House-Senate conference committee. “The changes are numerous and the impact substantial,” wrote Larry Jenkins and Jesse Cooper, Penn State University professors, in a recently completed report on the federal tax reform bill. Investment credit, capital gains, income averaging, two-earner deduction, land clearing, soil and Four Sections Mel Hertzler directs the operation of the National Holstein Association for region one from Harrisburg. Registered Cow Represents **** Blue Chip Stock BY EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor Editor’s Note: In a recent visit to the regional office of the Holstein Fresian Association of America, in Linglestown, we interviewed Mel Hertzler who directs the operation of the National Holstein Association for Region One. Here are our questions and Hert zler’ s answers: Q. To help our readers get acquainted with your work tell us about what the National Holstein Association branch office does in Pennsylvania. A. Our main function m the office is the supervision of field, staff. Area ope comprises of 14 states. Maine jhrough to North Carolina including West Virginia. We have 12 classifiers who work in that area water cSbnsirvation expenditures, and depreciation and deduction will be aifedteri. (TurntoPege A 43) Solanco Holstein Show winners. All Welks except Judge Jane Pepple (left) and Lorri Rutt, alternate Lancaster County Dairy Princess (right). Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 20,1986 and seven consultants. One reason we opened this office was to train classifiers. Before that time the manager of classification programs had to handle net only training of the staff and ongoing technical evaluation, but he also had to handle all the ad ministrative details. We’ve learned how to conduct some good training sessions. We conduct workshops with the staff at least four times a year. We work on the linear. We work on the four major breakdowns. The final score is made up of all the parts of the cow We haw them worK a herd of at least 25, 35 cows. With worksheets just as though they were officially scoring the herd. Q. I know you have about 35 classifiers over the country. How do you get to be a classifier? What criteria do you have to meet to qualify? A. Good question. I think the criteria has changed a lot in the last 10 years. In the past we’ve looked for a good cow man. (Turn to Page A 47) Hood, Fisher Open Grange Conference CARLISLE Dr. Lamartrme Hood, Pennsylvania State University Dean, and State Senator Michael Fisher, who is the Lieutenant Governor candidate on the Scranton/Fisher ticket for election this fall, spoke at the opening session of the Penn sylvania State Grange September Conference here Monday. Dean Hood told the group Michael Fisher assembled at the Coach and Four Inn that PSU has become quite dependent on federal funding. And Confinement Livestock Operations Can Be Hazardous To Your Health BY JACK HUBLEY While the words ‘farm safety” usually conjure up images of equipment spills, broken limbs and missing digits, other injuries, more insidious but no less debilitating, contribute to making farming one of the nation’s most hazardous occupation. Traditionally recognized as an occupation as big as all outdoors, farming has increasingly become an indoor enterprise with the move to highly efficient confinement livestock operations, principally in Back row (L to R): Lloyd, Leroy, Mark and Paul. Front row: Andy, James and Matt. See other stories and photos from Solanco Fair in Section A. $8.50 per Year because these funds are now not as plentiful, the hope was in place that the state legislature would take up some of the funding for the Lamartine Hood University. “We are hoping that the state legislature will recognize the need and allocate $5 million for ag research and extension,” Hood said. “It’s a very important prospect for those of us who think Penn State in important to agriculture and related industries in this state.” (Turn to Page A 46) the swine and poultry sectors. “We’ve increased the number of (swine) confinement buildings by at least 50 percent m the last two decades,” estimates Penn State extension swine specialist Ken Kephart. But even though building technicians have come up with ingenious ventilation models to keep these closed environments livable, air quality inside can hardly be considered on par with the great outdoors. Many ag engineers and livestock experts (Turn to Page A l 7)
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