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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)