- / ~ ~ T»w——i' 111 BXlill * ■ i %■ VOL 33 No. 17 Corn Conference Addresses Future BY EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor CARLISLE The past presi dent of the National Com Growers Association told the very large crowd at the third annual Com Conference here Tuesday that agriculture will produce as much food for humanity in the world in the next 25 years as has been pro duced from the beginning of recorded history to date. Varel Bailey, Anita, lowa, keynoted the Bedford Constitution Farms BY BETH GRAY Bedford Co. Correspondent BEDFORD Not too many areas in the country can do this,” observed Bedford County Interim Extension Director James Weiler as he presented two Constitution Awards to farm owners at the Bed (Tum to Pago A3l) PA Angus Queen For this busy Oxford High School senior, promoting Angus beef comes naturally. Tiffany Rohrer, the newly crowned Pennsylvania Angus Queen, has lots of experi ence In raising Angus and In cooking It. To learn more about Tiffany, turn to Bit. Lancaster County Dairy Days Is Time Well Spent BY PAT PURCELL LANCASTER It was a beau tiful day on Tuesday, and while that usually means most farmers chose to stay home and work instead of attending a dairy semi nar, that was not the case. To farmers time is money, but attending Lancaster County Dairy Days is always time well spent. Those in attendance had dozens of options to take home with them to increase profit by decreasing costs. “I don’t understand how farmers can worry so much about getting another one-tenth of a pound of At the third annual Pennsylvania Corn Conference are (L to R): Varel Bailey, John Shearer, and Walter Johnson conference with a discussion of the major areas of problems farmers will face around the world to accomplish this exciting feat. Bailey listed food safety, envi ronment, and international trade laws as the three major areas of concern. FOOD SAFETY “I think it’s time to take the high milk, but yet they won’t devote one afternoon a month on their future herd,” said Jud Heinrichs of Penn State speaking on the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of raising growthy heifers. According to current figures raising heifers into production costs Pennsylvania farmers $BOO-1,200, assuming they freshen at 24 months. It costs far mers $5O-sBoeach non-productive animal depending on feed costs for each month after two years. With this information well publicized it is surprising the large Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 5, 1988 road as far as food safety is con cerned,” Bailey said. “We need to decide what the problems will be two years from now and do the research so we can either clear the agricultural product in question or change our product to make it acceptable to the consumer.” ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS Bailey thinks em mnmental concerns will be the number one issue that affects the way we farm in the future. The 19X5 T arm Bill with its cop'ition with environ mentalists is a good example. “I was in the meeting where the Adams Forage And Soils Day GINGER SECRIST MYERS Adams County Correspondent GETTYSBURG Adams County farmers were served a var ied menu of leafhopper control methods, potassium and phosphor us soil level recommendations, and an update on forage grasses, at the Adams County Forage and Soils Day hosted by the Adams County Extension. Highlighting the meeting was a panel presentation on “New Inno vations in Forage Production and Marketing. Panel participants included Larry Mummert, East Berlin, who spoke on alfalfa pro duction and his use of alfalfa-grass percentage of Pennsylvania dairy men calving heifers at 27, 28, 29 and 30 months. Any milk increase they may feel they gain is lost sev eral times because of the costs of feeding these non-productive units. It is critical to get growth in heif ers so they can be bred at 13-15 months; freshened at 24 months and to do both of these the heifer must have the proper size. Heifers must be measured in height at the withers and heart girth twice a year and have the mcasurc (Turn to Pag* AST) Six Sections trade-off - where the deal was cut between the conservation reserve program and the lowering of the target prices in the out years of the 1985 Farm Bill,” Bailey said. “All the numbers you see in this Farm Bill were calculated with the votes needed from such environmental- Vegetable Growers Urged To Support New Marketing, Research Program BY LISA RISSER LANCASTER Vegetable growers around the slate are being called on by the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association (PVGA) to support a program that would fund marketing and research. The proposed program, which association officials hope will be voted on in April, will collect $25 per producer plus $1.50 per acre for every acre over 10 acres or each 1,000 square feel of greenhouse space over 10,000 square feet, pay able by October 1 of each year. These monies will be administered by the Commodity Marketing Board, which is comprised of mixtures; John Hess, Gettysburg, who related his experiences with grasses and mixes where alfalfa does not persist; Larry Wilkinson, Gettysburg, who discussed oppor tunities in hay marketing with a special note on the market for poorer quality hay; and John Myers, Littlestown, who empha sized the premium markets for hay and straw. Mummert operates a 350 head dairy operation and harvests 200 acres of hay annually. He harvests a majority of his hay as haylage to avoid weather problems an excess Dr. Sid Bosworth, Penn State Agronomist, congratulates John Myers, center, and Larry Mummert, right for their parti cipation In the states Five-Acre Alfalfa Club. The presenta tion took place at the Adams County Forage and Soils Day. 5&.50 Per Year ists as the Audubon Society and the Sierra Club. It was necessary to form a coalition with these envir onmentalists to maximize the opportunities we have as produc ers. We need to continue to find ways to work with them,” Bailey (Turn to Pag* A 33) Boyd Wolff, Secretary of Agricul ture, and four growers represent ing each of the three regions of the state (west, central, and east). ‘The program is designed so that every year the Board will determine how to spend the money based on input from the vegetable producers,” explained Ernest Bergman, spokesman for the Pen nsylvania Vegetable Marketing Program. “Members will define the problems in an area, and the money will be disbursed to benfit processing, and greettflbuse producers on a propor tional basis.” The new program will affect all (Turn to Pag* A 32) labor needs. A perenial top forage producer in the county, Mummert stated, “The key to growing good alfalfa is to plan ahead. Get your seedbed ready a year ahead. When I do a spring seeding, I put the manure to that field in the fall.” Mummert related that he does not apply any purchased fertilizer to his stands, but that he spreads as much as 60 tons of manure to the acre to the soil in the year of estab lishment. When harvesting the (Turn to Page Al 9)
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers