VOL 32 No. 36 These farmers wait in line to sell their vegetables and fruit at the Leola Produce Auction Thursday morning. The auction brings producers and buyers together s,o that the locally-grown crops Vegetable Plot Makes $20,000 Gross Per Acre Equivalent BY EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor LEOLA Vegetables for tobacco. That sounds like a pretty good trade when you consider the price of tobacco this year, and the income generated from the Elanco Adult Farmer Tomato Test Plot last year. Don Robinson and Phil Ogline, vo-ag instructors, picked, weighed Animal Welfare Discussed At ADSA-ASAS Meeting BY JACK HLIBLEY NEWARK, Del. Animal welfare guidelines have already teen drawn up for agricultural research institutions, and similar guidelines for production agricul ture may not be long in coming, according to Dr. Stanley Curtis, professor of animal sciences at the University of Illinois. Addressing a joint meeting of the American Dairy Science Asso ciation and the American Society of Animal Science held this week $lOO Million Bond Issue Proposed To Save Farmland HARRISBURG Thanks to legislation enacted late last week, Pennsylvania may have $lOO mil lion to spend on farmland preservation. Members of the General Assembly agreed to put the subject of agricultural land preservation before the voting public in the lorm of a referendum to be con ducted in the state’s general elec tion in November. The referendum vull seek approval of a $lOO mil lion bond issue to underwrite the lost of purchasing conservation and kept stringent recoids on the production from 1/10 of an 'acre» that used a Trickle watering sys tem. When the harvest was in, these industrious teachers had the equivalent of 55 tons per acre. And when they figured gross sales at a modest $4.50 for a 25 pound box, the value was $20,000 per acre. “I’ve told this to farmer meet ings all last winter,” Robinson said. “But I don’t think many of at the University of Delaware, Chrtis said that the current guide lines grew out of agriculture’s response to growing public con cern over animal husbandry prac tices on the farm. Last May a group of 20 rep resentatives from ag industry, gov ernment and the scientific com munity called the “Consortium to Develop a Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Agricultural Research and Teach- (TurntoPage A 32) easements to protect farmland from development. “The loss of farmland to deve lopment is the single biggest threat to the largest industry in Pennsyl vania,” said Rep. Samuel Morris, chairman of the House Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee. “It’s time the state took action to deal with that threat and preserve agri culture’s leading role in Pennsyl vania’s economy.” A conservation easement is the difference between the value of land used for agriculture and that Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 11,1987 them believed me. But it’s true. We paid for the whole Trickle irri gation system in the first year.” Robinson and Ogline along with RCMA Plans For Over-Order Prices BATAVIA, N.Y. Board members of the Regional Coopera tive Marketing Agency met yester day, July 10, to determine the feasibility of implementing and the level of over-order prices. Judy Brown, spokesman for RCMA, noted that RCMA will be negotiating for premium prices on September milk. She explained that it became necessary to push the target month for negotiating back to September from August to finalize the work needed to issue checks to dairymen. She estimated total sign up in the Northeast at 93 to 94 percent. Harold Ely, coordinator for Pen nsylvania, said he has been receiv ing eight to 15 calls per day requesting contracts for RCMA membership. The interest in RCMA increased as the July 10 deadline neared, he added. The Mid-Atlantic Cooperative Milk Marketing Agency, South same land’s value if it were deve loped. In Lancaster County, where 48,000 acres have been protected by the county’s Agricultural Pre serve Board, easement values are estimated at between $3OO and $2,000 ■ per acre. The preserve board, however, is authorized to spend only $250 an acre. Rep. Moms noted that those counties with preserve efforts already in place would still qualify for the new funding, should the referendum pass. He stressed that the referendum is a vote on the can get to farmers’ market stands and small supermarkets. About 600 farmers sell regularly at the market to about 75 local buyers. Steve Fisher, representative of the FMC Agricultural Chemical Group, hosted about 100 farmers at an all-day field trip around the ampton, Pa., an organization simi lar to RCMA and comprised of Federal Order 4 milk cooperatives, will be scheduling a meeting soon to discuss possible over-order prices, explained Paul Hand, a member of the management com mittee. The MACMMA board will then decide if they will take similar or identical action as RCMA. Hand said that whatever action the board decides on will be indepen dent of RCMA’s action. By bargaining for over-order paces. Hand feels the dairyman will receive two benefits: an immediate boost in their prices as well as a long-term message that MACMMA is trying to stem the loss of producers. He anticipates that MACMMA will be negotiating for over-order prices due to the tightening milk supply in Federal Order 4. “Our orders exceed available supplies one to two days a week,” bond issue only, and does not address the specifics of the prop osed conservation easement prog ram, the details of which are spelled out m House Bill 442 and its counterpart in the Senate, SB 156. To receive funds, counties would apply to an Agricultural Conservation Board established by the State Department of Agri culture. Money would be distri buted according to two criteria. One-hall the funding would be dis tubutcd on the basis of a county’s Four Sections New Holland area to show what can be done with vegetables and other field crops when the proper (Turn to Page A3B) Hand explained. The general man ager of Atlantic Dairy Coopera tive, Southampton, Pa., noted the Cooperative has an adequate milk supply on a seven-day basis. How ever, to meet its milk orders, the Cooperative has shifted milk from its manufacturing facilities. Hand estimates the facilities are running at half-capacity. “This fall there are going to be shortages,” Hand staled, citing the present shortages despite reduced fluid demand. “We will have a real problem when schools reopen and fluid demand increases,” he said. Hand noted that Federal Order 4 has not been impacted by reduced milk supplies as severely as the New England area. Ely explained that supplies in Federal Order 2 are very tight. He expects the market administrator to implement a milk call provision at any time. proportion of the realty transfer tax paid the prior year. The second half of the funds would be distributed based on a county’s proportion of the state’s total agricultural production. Mor ris said this portion of the funding requires matching funds and favors those counties with higher production. Counties accounting for 2 percent or more of the state’s total ag receipts would receive'sB in state funds for every dollar the county contributes. All other coun- $8 50 Per Year (Turnto PageA3B)
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