VOL. 36 NO. 37
KARL BERGER
Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON DC—The out
lines of a new national dairy policy
that would involve a higher support
price, assessments and some form
of supply control has begun to take
shape in Congress, although legi
slators there are a long way from a
final decision.
The legislative process, begun in
response to last fall’s dramatic
price declines, has produced a bill
labeled the Milk Industry Man
agement Act of 1991 that was nar-
$l.B Million Lebanon
Fairgrounds Exposition,
Convention Center Planned
NORTH CORNWALL (Leba
non Co.) The Lebanon Area
Fairgrounds, owned by the non
profit group, the Lebanon Valley
Exposition Corporation, is to be
the site of a $ 1.8 million exposition
center, according to corporation
officials.
In a statement made this week
by the corporation, “The Lebanon
Valley Exposition Corporation
a non-profit corporation formed
by a group of Lebanon County far
mers and businessmen has
designed a multi-purpose conven
tion center and exposition complex
on the site of the current Lebanon
Area Fairgrounds.”
Construction of the Exposition
Center is scheduled to begin this
fall.
‘The center is intended to func
tion as a civic center which will
accommodate a wide range of
activities including conventions,
livestock shows, trade shows, fairs
and all kinds of social events,”
according to a news release.
The fairgrounds is located on
77-acres at Evergreen/Rocherty
(name changes with township bor
der) and Cornwall Roads in North
Cornwall township.
Wayne County Dairy Farmer Proposes National Milk Withholding
Editor’s Note: The following
report was received from Roger
and Pat Hess who are dairy far
mers in Wayne County. They
held a meeting at their farm last
week, to call for a nation-wide
milk withholding to start on Oct.
1, 1991 if no action has been
taken to help dairymen by then.
The report of the meeting was
written by Margot Spangenberg,
who reported for the Hesses and
also edits the Pennsylvania
Jersey newsletter.
MARGOT SPANGENBERG
STARRUCCA (Wayne Co.)
The frustration that dairy farmers
arc feeling was evident at a grass
roots meeting held last week at the
farm of Roger and Pat Hess,
Wayne County. The perfect hay
ing weather probably helped to
keep the crowd down to about 40
people, both dairy fanners and
Four Sections
New Dairy Legislation Takes Shape In Congress
rowly approved July 16 by mem
bers of the House Agriculture
Committee. Action by the Senate
Agriculture Committee and by the
full House of Representatives was
expected late last week, according
to Lisa Keller, a spokesman for the
National Milk Producers
Federation.
Nevertheless, a number of major
hurdles remain, and new dairy
legislation is not expected to be
finalized until after Congress
returns from a summer recess that
begins Aug. 5, Keller said.
According to the statement,
“The center is destined to become
the only centrally-located complex
with all the facilities available on
site, to serve-community-wide
activities.
“The fairgrounds was originally
used as a meeting place for the
agricultural community. It was the
site of the first 4-H Fair in 1970.
The FFA and other farm groups
used the area for livestock shows
and exhibitions.
“Later, non-agricultural groups
began to use the facilities and
today people from the valley and
surrounding areas gather year
round at the fairgrounds for a van
(Turn to Pago A3O)
Sec. A... Market Reports
& General News.
Sec. 8... Women’s News,
Public Sales & Mailbox
Market.
Sec. C.. Business News
& Classified 4-36.
Sec. D... Classified 1-3.
See Story Index Page A 3.
representatives of the many ag re
lated businesses that depend on
the farmer. The clear blue sky was
a reminder of the other problem
area farmers are facing, a drought.
Hess himself was so frustrated
by what he feels is a lack of red
urgent support from farm organi
zations that he came up with his
own idea to let the whole country
Drought Brings Out Tobacco Black Shank Disease
808 ANDERSON
Lancaster Co. Extension
NEW HOLLAND (Lancaster
Co.) As though it isn’t enough
that the fields are dry and a steep
tax on their end product is omin
ous, but now tobacco growers have
yet another concern Tobacco
Black Shank disease.
This week a disease which
almost put many tobacco growers
out of business in the late 1970 s
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 27, 1991
INDEX
If the need for such legislation is
all too apparent to dairy farmers
trying to cope with the lowest milk
prices in a decade, its actual details
arouse considerable controversy in
Washington. Indeed, the House
committee's bill contains a collec
tion of provisions that, depending
Lancaster County farmers boarded a skipback for a first-hand look at the deteriora
tion of oyster bars in the Chesapeake Bay.
Farmers Observe Effects Of Bay Contaminents
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
ANNAPOLIS, MD—Ten farm
couples from Lancaster County
boarded a skipjack, which is an
oystering charter brat, for an edu
cational field trip on July 23.
Gentle lapping water, a hot sea
breeze, and slapping sails enabled
the group to get a taste of what it is
like to farm the bay by oystering.
The farmers felt a kinship with
those who make a living from the
bay when they learned that the top
know of the dairymen’s plight. A
grassroots effort to get dairy farm
ers and the thousands that depend
on them to fight together. He feels
that only farmers can help them
selves and that they should join to
gether in a nationwide effort to get
the support price raised to a higher
level. One that will pay the bills
and provide a reasonable profit.
has show up again on several farms
in all parts of Lancaster County.
The disease if Black Shank.
Black shank is a serious and
destructive disease of tobacco.
In the mid to late 1970 s, Black
Shank could be found in most
tobacco fields in Lancaster Coun
ty. The disease caused many
tobacco growers to switch from
growing Pennsylvania Type 41
tobacco to growing Maryland 609.
on their origin, are opposed by one
faction or another in the dairy
debate.
The bill’s major measures are
derived from a proposal put for
ward by the Washington-based
National Milk, which serves as the
chief lobbyist for most of the
dollar earned for blue crab is the
same as that paid 10 years ago.
They empathized with the plight of
the fisherman who counts on a
plentiful oyster harvest only to find
at market time that 90 percent of
the oysters are infected with a
parasite, which cannot be
eradicated.
The origin of the parasite is
unknown. And while agricultural
runoff and herbicide pollution are
not to blame for all the bay’s prob
lems, nutrients, sediments, and
Every fanner and business should
put up signs supporting a nation
wide milk withholding starting on
Oct. 1, if no action has been taken
to help dairymen by then.
Virtually everyone present was
in favor of the idea but hoped that
it would not be necessary to dump
milk. Most were willing to lose
some money in the short term if it
The Maryland 609 plant has a root
system which is resistant to Black
Shank.
Black Shank is cause by a soil
bom fungus (Phytophthora parasi
tica var. nicotianac). The fungus is
found in many of the soils where
tobacco is grown.
Black Shank attacks the roots
and basal parts of the tobacco
plant The roots will be black in
color when the outside layer is
60c Per Copy
nation’s dairy cooperatives. They
include so called two-tier pricing, a
board of dairy fanners to oversee
exports, a regional exemption from
the supply control measures and a
mandatory increase in the govern
ment support price. Secretary of
pesticides are main agricultural
contaminants that cloud the Bay’s
future.
The group was amazed at the
dirtiness of the oyster shells and
how much needed to be cleaned off
before the shell could be opened.
“It looks like a pile of horse
manure,” one remarked.
‘They didn’t used to look like
this,” a waterman who has been
harvesting oysters for 50 years told
the farmers. “I remember when
(Turn to Pag« A 25)
would lead to better prices. Some
expressed the feeling that they
were slowly going broke anyhow
so that another loss would not
make that much difference. Al
though the group did not pul forth
a specific pricing plan most
seemed to agree that the prices
they were getting last year would
(Turn to Pag* A3O)
removed, they will also have less
root hairs than a healthy plant
During periods of wet weather,
when soil is splashed onto leaves
and upper parts of the plant, the
disease can also attack upper parts
of the plant.
The disease can be recognized
by a rapid uniform wilting or
drooping of all leaves. The roots of
the wilted plants are usually
(Turn to Page A 32)
19.00 Per Year
(Turn to Page A3l)