A46-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 11,1989
Robinson Calls Farmland Trust Expert
On “Transfer Of Heritage Planning”
(Continued from Page A 1)
your heritage is preserving farm
land. “Lancaster County agricul
ture is great because of our herit
age,” Robinson said. “Our farmers
don’t hoe the weeds in the corn
field along the edge of the road or
keep their houses neat because of
the profit in that labor. They do it
because of the heritage that has
been passed on to them. But herit
age without a future is history,”
Robinson said. “It dies when the
present generation dies.”
Robinson listed two major rea
sons why farmers don’t want to
preserve their land. The poor far
mer wants to sell out at a big profit
to prove he’s not a failure and the
successful fanner wants ia indulge
in self gratification to show just
how important he is.
‘To sell the farm to the next gen
eration or to another farmer for
$3,000 to $5,000 per acre is a
pretty good retirement,” Robinson
said. “Greed is when they want
“How many farms get sold even though
there is an eager child ready to take over?”
$20,000 or more per acre.”
Robinson said the real threat to
farmland preservation is when no
one is available to take over the
farm. What really threatens us is
when there is no one to pass the
heritage to or no heritage to pass
on. He blamed the present genera
tion for not making the heritage
attractive enough to its children.
“How many farms get sold even
though there is an eager child
ready to take over?” he asked.
Robinson listed three R’s for
involving children in the farming
operation-respect, responsibility
and resources. “You can’t expect
the public to respect your son as a
farmer if you don’t respect him as a
person,” Robinson said. “He’s not
your hired boy, he’s your son. Put
him in charge of something.
Involve him in record keeping.
Give him facilities and equipment
that entice him to stay on the farm.
See that he earns enough to be
proud to be a farmer, enough to
court a wife. Let him build equity
into the farming business.”
Robinson said that to preserve a
heritage you need to set goals. “If
you don’t know where you are
going, you’ll likely end up some
where else,” he said.
Estate planning needs to be part
of a farmer’s long range goals but
“He’s not your hired boy , he’s your son.
Put him in charge of something.”
Robinson likes to call this “transfer
of heritage planning.” And he
urged the Lancaster Farmland
Trust to expand its consulting ser
vice to show parents bow their
future can be reasonably secure
while providing the children with
an opportunity to take over the
farm at a reasonable price.
Most farmers are not greedy,”
Robinson said. “They are scared of
what might happen. Good transfer
of heritage planning can ease these
fears and open the doors to all
kinds of opportunities. Farm fami
lies need creative and innovative
methods to pass on the farm and
satisfy all the children and special
circumstances involved in the farm
estate.
“Who could better become the
leading consultant experts that
farm families could depenefon for,
this. With Lancasttt Farmland 1 '
Trust’s unselfish goal to preserve
the farm heritage, the farm family
you are consulting may just con
sider some of the options your
organization offers,” Robinson
said. “Then you are in the driver’s
seat to discuss these options.”
Robinson linked a direct rela
tionship between preservation and
conservation. He said that sons can
sense their dad’s long range inten
"When you do both—install conservation
practices and put deed restrictions on your
farm, you tell your children your heritage is
valuable
tions as they relate to this issue.
“You would not buy and restore an
antique car and take it to the
demolition derby,” he said. “That
would be conservation without
preservation. And you would not
put deed restrictions on a farm and
let the soil erode away. That would
be preservation without
conservation.
“When you do both-install con
servation practices and put deed
restrictions on your farm, you tell
your children your heritage is valu
able. You show that you mean bus
iness. You tell them you expect
your heritage to be around longer
than you are. You show your child
ren that your are counting on them
to continue the heritage. And you
show them that no (me is going to
pull this farm out from under them
to make a fast buck.
“I believe the programs offered
by the Lancaster Farmland trust
preserves heritage just as much as
they preserve farmland,” Robin
son said. “And we need to work
hard to identify and communicate
our heritage-not only to our child
ren but also to our community.
Let’s work even harder to preserve
our future farmers by showing
them a proud heritage they will
want to follow. Let them see in
your actions how important pre
serving farmland and the heritage
of farming really is.”
In the business meeting. Alan
Musselman, executive director
said the past year was one of orga
nization and listed the develop
ment of a conservation center in
Lancaster and the establishment of
a revolving fund to buy farms as
major achievements. He said the
local campaign to raise funds to
apply to the challenge grant of
$300,000 from the William Penn
Foundation was on target When
completed over a two year period,
$450,000 will be available to be
used exclusively for land conser
vation projects in Lancaster
County.
Musselman reported that
another person will be added to the
Trust’s staff as a field person. The
funds to expand the staff came
from another separate grant from
the William Penn Foundation.
“What we have in mind for this
person to do is exactly what Don
Robinson proposed in his Keynote
address.” Musselmamn said. “We
had not thought of the term “trans
fer of heritage planning," but that
is what we have in mind for this
person to do in this land conser
vancy and counseling position. We
want to let people know what is
happening in the way of conserva
tion easements.”
The Trust recognized Stuart
Herr for his work in the corporate
and key gift campaign and Paul
Krantz for his community conser
vation action.
Rod Hamish and Herbert and
Sharon Garber were recognized
for land conservation, and Marilyn
Don Robinson
W. Lewis and Elaine Ewing Hol
den were given distinguished ser
vice awards.
Donald Collins, Eugene Garber
11, Earl Newcomer and Robert
Campbell were reelected to the
board of trustees. Darwin Boyd,
Edward Burton and Debra Karche-
Sale
Reports
PAIGE SALE
A Public Auction of
antiques and farm
related items was held
at R.D. #l, ML Pleasant
Mills. Snyder County,
PA, on November 4,
1989, for the Estate of
Ray D. Paige.
Some prices received
were: sm. early hook
rug w/cat $5OO, woven
basket w/handles $l9O,
butter churn $l7O, 6
pressed back chairs $4O
ea.. wooden butcher tub
$BO, kerosene lamp w/
green base $l5O, stone
ware pitcher $205, Cin
derella 6 lid cookstove
$455, wooden toy tree*
tor (lettered Future Far
mer) $lOO/1955 Ford
car $315, flour chest
$ll5O, sideboard buffet
$BOO, twig rocker $230,
bucket bench $450. 2
pc. 4 door blind corner
cupboard $2050, dry
sink w/3 drawers across
top $lB5O, droplid writ
ing desk $1925, cast
iron butcher kettle
$l3O, FonlSN red belly
tractor $l6OO, 2 bottoip
3 point plow $l2O, TH
#9 wheel driven sickle
bar mower $175.
There were 338
registered bidders plus
many others present.
Auction was conducted
by Longacre A Lauver
Auctioneering.
Penn State Receives Grant
To Study Use Of Newsprint
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) Recycling newspapers in
to animal bedding may be one way
to reduce pressures on limited
landfill space and reduce produc
tion costs to farmers as well, and
Pehn State researchers are explor
ing the options.
The Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture has awarded a
$56,463 grant to Penn State’s Col
lege of Agriculture to determine
the value of newsprint as a bed
ding material for animals.
“It costs from $lOO to $2OO per
ton to dispose of waste newspaper
in landfills,” says Stephen B.
Spencer, professor of dairy sci
ence at Penn Stale. “At a time
when landfill space is dwindling,
developing alternative uses for
newsprint could help alleviate
some of the state’s waste prob
lems.”
There are about 3.S million tons
of paper for disposal in Pennsyl
vania each year, according to the
Pennsylvania Department of En
vironmental Resources.
At the same time, conventional
bedding materials, such as straw
and sawdust, are in short supply
and increasing in price for the
state’s 2.S million dairy and beef
cattle and other livestock, Spencer
notes. Recycling newsprint could
reduce bedding costs to farmers,
thereby lowering food prices for
consumers.
To date, limited research has
-been done on newsprint as bed
ding material. The Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture-fund
ed, two-year research project,
ski were newly elected to the board
of trustees.
The officers for the comming
year include: Daniel Herr, presi
dent; Marilyn Lewis, vice presi
dent; Barbara Skelly, secretary;
and Paul Whipple, treasurer.
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study in-depth a number of factors
associated with newsprint as bed
ding.
The project involves eight Col
lege of Agriculture faculty mem
bers from dairy and animal sci
ence, agricultural economics,
agricultural engineering and
veterinary science disciplines.
The objectives are to evaluate
the feasibility of using newsprint
for bedding materials for various
classes of livestock, analyze the
cost of the processing equipment
available for converting newsprint
into bedding material and assess
the effects of newsprint on manure
handling systems.
The researchers will be looking
at optimum size for shredded
newsprint, its impact on the bac
terial population in dairy stables
and its effect on heavy metal ac
cumulation in the liver, muscle
and fatty tissue of livestock.
“The results of this study will
be applicable in many areas. There
is a possible beneficial impact on
water quality, since newsprint ap
pears to have a high absorbency of
potential pollutants,” Spencer
says.
Research results will be distri
buted to county extension agents,
rural development representa
tives, waste recycling coordina
tors and fanners.
Project researchers, in addition
to Spencer, are James G. Beier
lein, associate professor of agri
cultural economics; John Comer
ford, assistant professor of dairy
and animal science; Robert J.
Eberhart, professor of veterinary
science; Robert E. Graves, profes
sor of agricultural engineering;
Lester C. Grid Jr., associate pro
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James W. Hilton, associate profes
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