County Agent Exchanges Ideas With Poland BY LINDA WILLIAMS Bedford Co. Agent BEDFORD (Bedford Co.)— Jim Weiler, regional Extension farm management specialist, con siders himself quite fortunate to have been chosen for an exchange trip to Poland. But, he’s not anxi ous to return... at least not for some time. “I had to get used to cold show ers and warm drinks,” he smiles. “But, we adapted.” Weiler was part of a 15-mem ber group who visited Poland’s farming country for a month long tour. Only two of the group repre sented Pennsylvania. Weiler and Lou Moore, a professor at Penn State, and a native of Bedford County. Mosl of the others were from Michigan State where the agree ments for an exchange program had been worked out. “What we saw was like step- LANCASTER FORD New Programs Waiver of Finance - No Payment till 1991 0% APR for 12 Mon. 7.4% APR for 24 Mon. 0% APR for 24 Mon.* 9.4% APR for 36 Mon. 0% APR for 48 Mon.** 10.4% APR for 48 Mon. 11.4% APR for 60 Mon. , r —a OR **************** EH Big Cash Incentives H"P * Compact Dlaaola and Tractor Loader Backhoaa Only SEE LANCASTER FORD TRACTORDJSFLAY At tm FOLLOWING FAIRS; SOLANCO - SEPT. 19 to 21 W. Lampeter - Sept. 26 to 28 Menheixn - Oct. 6 to 14 LANCASTER FORD TRACTOR, INC. The Counties Oldest 81 Largest Ford Tractor Dealer 1655 Rohrerstown Rd., Lancaster, PA 17601 (717) 569-7063 ping back into the 1940’5,” Weiler says. “Sometimes even further back. In the southern part of Poland, they still farm with horses and machinery that most of our grandparents would be pressed to remember.” “It was just luck that we got to Poland just as so many freedoms are at long last granted. We saw places and met people who had never before met Americans. Had we gone there a year ago, the gov ernment would have made excuses as to why we could not visit there.” A large private farm in Poland, according to Weiler, would be 50 to 100 acres. The largest private farm he saw was 300 acres. “State farms, on the other hand, were something else. They would be up to 2500 acres.” Hog farms are modem and built much like those here in the United States. But then, die primary meat Look To UNDER THE OR of Poland is pork. There are no freezers and, therefore, no one has beef. The people do not even eat their lambs. No one has developed a taste for it. Three times a day, they eat pork. “And, they don’t worry about their health. That craze just hasn’t hit there. They drink, smoke and eat diets high in fat. The number one killer is heart disease.” ‘The people are warm, friendly, and hard working,” Weiler con tinued. “There was not animosity shown to us as Americans.” The pork, which is consumed so abundantly, is quite high in fat, attributed to the diet of the hogs which is mostly cereal grains. “Here, we feed them com and soy beans,” Weiler points out. “There, it’s barley, wheat and tritacak (a cross between wheat and rye). “They grow a lot of rye because Northern Poland is flat and has a soil high in acid. Rye does well. TRACTOR ** Prior Modol Industrial Only Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 25,1990-819 Jim Weiler, regional Extension farm management spe cialist, recently returned from an exchange trip to Poland. Here he points out on a map some of the areas he visited. Farmland in the north is flat and dry. In the south, it’s quite rolling and hilly. The Polish people eat their grains in bread. They don’t eat cereal. “But, then the milk sets in cans and is picked up in unrefrigerated trucks. I saw milk bottles setting in the sun at 8 or 9 in the morning. When you drank it, it was warm and tasted like cottage cheese. Who could eat that on their cereal?” He said the Polish farmers do not have an adequate protein sup plementation. They use fish meal and rape seed. “But, rape seed has some toxins which affect animals’ growth. Hogs don’t grow out as fast.” The Poles are presently able to feed their own people. They export oats and Polish hams which tend to be fatty. “When the oat bran craze hit die United States we imported some oats from Poland,” Weiler explains. “They must have thought we had a lot of horses.” The average Pole lives on $lOO a month and spends 50 to 60 per cent of his income for food. Their main form of transportation is a two cylinder Fiat which costs $2,000 and is paid for by pay ments made prior to delivery. Weiler did see some farmers driv ing their families to church on a tractor. “There was probably more room in that tractor cab than there is in a Fiat!” ‘There was all kinds of con struction,” he recalls. “But there is a definite lack of pride in work manship. This may change with the new freedoms.” The group was fascinated to visit an outdoor market in the town of Pluck where live chickens were sold and fatty pork was cut in the open air. At a fish farm, they were sur prised to And carp being raised as a delicacy. The farmer fed the fish grain. Carp is a Christmas treat in Poland. They grow horse beans which is a protein food, sugar beets and lots and lots of potatoes. “We had them for every meal.” Escherichia Coli Escherichia Coli even the name sounds scary is another potential food bacteria. H. Coli, as it is more commonly called, nor mally lives in the intestines of humans and animals. Most types of this bacteria are harmless, but one type causes severe diarrhea and abdominal cramping. E. Coli can find its way to the surface of raw meats during processing. Cook your steak and chops and the, bacteria is killed. But in the case of hamburger and ground meat, the E. Coli that settled on the sur face is distributed throughout the, meat in the grinding process. Unless your hamburger is cooked Bee hives were shaped like small houses and churches and caught Weiler’s eye as a tourist attraction. Poland has the only processing plant in the world for chicory which is used in coffee. Pheasants are raised and exported to West Germany to help the balance of payments for sport hunting. Fruit farms were the first inkling the group had that they were still in the 20lh century. “They have climate controlled storage just like we do,” he said. Other farm related industries were cut flowers and carrot seed. Poland is not without pollution problems. “They have no control of pollution from factories or cars,” he said. At one place, he saw raw sewage being dumped into the river.” On the positive side, they have liability problems. There arc few lawyers and no law suits. Animal Rights were never heard of. Dairy farmers seemed to have the largest problems. “It is costing them twice as much to produce milk as they are getting for it," he said. The cows in Poland are mostly a Holstein variety. “But they call them black and white flat landers,” Weiler laughed. “They are smaller and beefier than our Holsteins. The group was solemnly reminded of the ravages of World War II when they visited a con centration camp and saw all of the hair shaved from the heads of those who were executed in the gas chambers. “We were all quiet when we boarded the bus,” he says. History tells us that Poland was once the bread basket of the world. “No wonder, it looks like Kansas.” “It makes us wonder what would that country be like today if they had been given the help and freedom that other countries have had since the war.” well done, you* may become ihe victim of food poisoning. Even how you cook can make a big difference in reducing your risk for food borne disease. Never partially cook foods and then store for later cooking. Foods, especial ly meats, must reach a high inter nal temperature in order to kill bacteria. For example, if you pre cook meats in the microwave, immediately transfer to the grill > ■ oven and cook until done l.\ui though your barbecued chicken may be cooked completely clone, it may not be safe if the i o mg was interrupted.
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