VOL. 32 No. 42
Ag Progress Celebrates What’s New In Agriculture
BY PAT PURCELL
Ag Progress Days has tradition
ally been a time of fun and fellow
ship as thousands and thousands of
members of the statewide farming
community crowd the grounds at
Rock Springs. It gives families an
opportunity to enjoy a leisure day
together while visiting with friends
and making new friends. It is a fun
day for every member of the fami
ly. There’s lots of good food avail
able, grown in Pennsylvania and
every member of the family
regardless of age cannot resist the
temptation to climb into the cab of
a brand new tractor. It’s a time for
the curious to investigate and ask
questions. It is a time to leant.
However, on a more serious
note, Ag Progress Days gives far
mers an opportunity to see what is
new in farming. And approximate
ly 350 exhibitors were on hand to
(Turn to Page A2O)
Computer Workshops Attracted Visitors
BY SALLY BAIR
Lancaster Co. Correspondent
ROCK SPRINGS One of the
more popular spots of Ag Progress
Days this week was the youth tent
where staff members of the Com
puter Division of Penn State’s Ag
Information Services were offer
ing hands-on computer workshops
for visitors.
This is the first lime for the
event, according to Tom Mince
moyer, manager of the division,
and it proved to be highly popular.
Indeed, on the first day of the
Tom Mincemoyer, left, and Jan Pruss work with the
Macintosh computer, one of twelve used during Ag
Progress Days for hands-on instruction. Staff mem
bers from the Computer Division of Ag Information
Services conducted half hour workshops four times
daily throughout the three-day event.
all the tickets for
the four half-hour sessions were
passed out by 11:00 a.m.
Mincemoyer said, “People get
tired of demonstrations, and we
thought they would like to try an
activity. One objective is to get
people a little more interested in
computers. We were a little
apprehensive about the amount of
interest.”
Jan Pruss, one of the staff people
who worked with the public on the
computer introduction, said, “We
know there is a lot of interest
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 22, 1987
The crowd on Main Street on Wednesday. A photo worth a thousand words.
among students in schools, and
there are many positive attitudes
toward computers.”
Pruss said the workshops
attracted “every kind of person,”
from young to elderly, and from
experienced to novices.
There were 12 Macintosh com
puters set up for use by visitors,
and Pruss said, “The Macintosh is
very user-friendly. Everyone can
do something.”
The fun part comes for particip
ants when they are allowed to
make a picture of their name on a
wall. This is high-tech graffiti,
.Pruss says, adding, “We’re always
taught not to write on walls, but
here they can do it.”
In addition to the staff instruc
tor, each workshop has three floa
ters, many of them participants in
the recent Governor’s School for
Agriculture, who had learned to
use computers during the five
week session.
Twelve computers were being
used, and they were shared by at
least two people, and sometimes
several family members working
together. In addition, Mincemoyer
pointed out that there was always a
group ofc people standing behind
the roped off aceayaiso listening to
the computer instruction.
He added, “We are really
pleased. It is a tricky thing to teach
them something in 30 minutes.”
He said the workshops sometimes
went over the allotted time and
added that it would have been nice
to have two hours.
Pruss said they were hoping
people would be inspired to make
more use of Pen Pages, a computer
program available to anyone with a
home computer and a modem. “It
is a valuable tool for farmers, and it
also has information on health and
nutrition.”
Four Sections
Matthew (age 6) and Mary (age 4) try out a big steer
ing wheel. These children belong to John and Karen
Morrow, Tyrone, in Blair County. They raise
Guernseys.
Dairy Of Distinction Families
Gather At Ag Progress
BY
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
A special fraternal gathering of
farm families that had been named
as winners in the Dairy of Distinc
tion program gathered in the dairy/
livestock tent Thursday morning.
The presentation of the Dairy of
Distinction personal award, the
receiving of a color farm portrait
and a friendly photograph of all the
families present were features of
the activity.
Stephen Spencer, Penn State
University, who originally brought
the Dairy of Distinction idea inttj
$8.50 Per Year 1
Pennsylvania, received a plaque in
honor of his work for the program.
Secretary of Agriculture Boyd
Wolff made the presentation.
Each district had supplied a
photographer to take a farm photo
of each winning farm. And Lan
caster Farming presented an 11x14
color portrait to each farm family
from the negative supplied by the
districts'.
Then everyone gathered up on
the hill for a group photograph.
Vice President Dan Baker said he
thought the program had a verv
successful first year. (Sec Photos
Page A-24)