016192 1299 Pt-KIOrUCALS DlMl'ilon UNIVCRMIV I'AKK I'A lAi-O-- >-0. I iTTfc mm anjl ■ l^M m _ rL SL— Ss. VOL 34 NO. 24 State Ag Preserve Board Authorizes $2O Million BY EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor HARRISBURG—At the first meeting of the new Pennsylvania Agricultural Land Preservation Board here Wednesday, $2O mil lion was authorized to purchase conservation easements during the first year of the program. To coun ties that have a preserve program in place or agree to initiate a prog ram before August, 1989, $lO mil lion is earmarked as grants to purchase rights on approved farms, and $lO million will go to match county funds that are put into the program. To open the meeting and to introduce the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s prop osal to set the “purchase threshold” at the highest level allowed by Act 149, Boyd Wolff, state ag secret ary. said that 485,000 acres have now been committed to ag security New Castle Youth; Wins Top Honors At Little International BY MARIANNE WALKER Centre Co. Correspondent UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre) Out of 84 Penn State students, Bill Dean, a senior in animal pro duction and a New Castle native, was named the overall champion of 72nd Little International Lives tock Show. The reserve champion overall award went to Christa' Rankin, a senior in horticulture from Abbottstown. Competitors in the show, which was sponsored by the university’s Block & Bridle Club last Saturday, vied for fitting and showmanship trophies in four species areas, beef,' horse, swine, and sheep. Participants in the fitting con tests were judged primarily on their ability to clip and clean the animal within a given time period. (Turn to Pag* A 33) Olver, Lesher, Seipt To Be Honored At 64th Dairy Exposition UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre) —Dale Olver, William Lesher and Donald Seipt will be honored at the Wth Penn State Dairy Exposition on Saturday, April 22, at the Penn State Ag Arena. The expo is dedicated to Dale Olver. a 1979 Penn State graduate in dairy production. Dale is cur rently employed as a sire analyst/ progeny evaluation specialist by Atlantic Breeders Cooperative where he is responsible for analyz ing daughters of Atlantic sires and teaching principles of cattle evalu ation to Atlantic employees. As a Penn State student. Dale was very actiVe in the Dairy Sci ence Club serving jbs vice (Turn to Pago ASS) Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Apr! 22,1989 areas across the state. That’s an 87 percent increase since November of 1987. And when you add the 90.000 acres in Lancaster County that is expected to join the state program, that makes a total of 376.000 acres. By the law, signed by Gov. Robert Casey last December, PDA administers the program, die ag secretary chairs the board, and the board is a branch of PDA. To be eligible, a farmer in a local county who wants to preserve his land for farming must apply to his county board. When approved at the local level, the application will be for warded to the state board. Farms that are approved will be appraised both for their value for farming and their value for development Steven Crawford, the new depu ty secretary for market and eco nomic development (appointed by Gov. Casey last week), said that (Turn to Pago A 37) Plowing 25 Percent Done Like many farmers this week, Nelson Wenger, Manhelm R 6, put the steel moleboards In the furrow to cure a winter* long Itch to begin the process to get a new crop into the ground. This inner subjective feeling happens every spring in all true farmers, of course. On Monday afternoon, when Managing Editor Everett Newswanger’s camera caught up with Wenger at the corner of Earhart and Colebrook roads, the ground was working up nicely. Wenger’s farm buildings can be seen in the background. By mid-week, the Pennsylvania Crop Reporting Service said that 25 percent of the plowing was completed In the state. This compares to 40 percent last year. In northern Pennsylvania, 8 percent was completed, In the central reg ion, 31 percent and in the southern region, 29 percent. The Conebelia Farm attuatad In tha hills Of tha Welsh Mountains In northwestern Chaster County was home to Conebelia Rebel’s Annette, tha top seller in the National Ayrshire Sale. Annette, a Junior two-year-old took the top bid of $4,400. The Charles Ctebjefamily owns and operates the farm which has been In the family since the early Four Sections Conebelia Farm —Home of Beautiful j\yrshires BY BAT PURCELL EL VERSON (Chester) The Conebella Farm of Elverson. Pen nsylvania derived Its name from the railroad crossings the Conesto ga on one side of the farm and the Isabella on the other. But to Ayr shire breeders the name has earned a different meaning. This 200-acre farm is located in the beautiful hills rolling from the Welsh Mountains in northwestern Chester County and originally pur chased in the 1920 s by Joseph Gable, a carpenter. Since the time of its purchase little has changed, but the name “Conebella” has come to mean beauty. The word “belle” is defined as a female admired for her beauty and the most beautiful among a nunu ber of rivals. And since the 1930 s Bush, Yeutter Answer Questions On GATT, Farm Bill BY LI»A KISSER In a first-ever presidential inter view on USDA radio, President George Bush answered questions on the recent General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade agreement, the federal budget, and the upcom ing farm bill. The recent GATT agreement between the United States and the European Community has caused concern as to its effect on the 1990 Farm Bill. . “What happened over there was that the international community, reluctant to discuss agriculture, has finally understood that we have to go forward,” said Bush. "We’ve got (agriculture) on the agenda, and we will be able to move toward freer markets and less protection. So the upcoming 500 For Copy when the fust Ayrshire were brought on (he farm Conebelia Farm has been known for its beaut iful Ayrshire ladies. Today, Charles and his wife, Josephine, and their son Donald and his wife Pamela continue the Gable tradition of dairy fanning. A Penn State graduate in dairy sci ence Donald returned to the farm in 1985. Some changes have been made in feeding, but mostly the joint efforts of father and son are focused are continuing to build on the Conebelia name. Charles’s father, C. Harold Gable purchased Ayrshire heifers from the Dunwoody Home Farm in Newtown Square, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. This farm was mapaged by ths late John I. farm bill can be used for leverage because we are not going to unila terally disarm. We’re not going to take cuts unilaterally based on some verbal assurances from peo ple who have excluded our pro ducts from their markets.” While in Geneva, the GATT nations agreed that the long-term objective of the agricultural talks is to establish a fair and market oriented agricultural trading sys tem. The agreement requires parti cipating nations to offer plans dealing with farm trade problems by the end of this year. By the end of 1990, they must reach an agree ment on a common solution. Until that point is reached, the agreement binds the nations from extending subsidies beyond their (Turn to Pago A 34) sip.oo Per Year (Turn to Page A4O)
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