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VOL 36 NO. 45
Farmer Of Year Thinks Consumers Should Pay Less
Eastern Milk Producers field representative, John DeLeeuw, center, congratulates
Chuck and Shelley Walker at their farm home at Geneva, New York. The Walkers will
be honored as the top quality producers during the co-op’s annual meeting October 1
in Syracuse.
Expert Saysjtfifrobes More Harmful In Food Than Chemicals
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
MANHEIM (Lancaster
Co.) —According to a Penn State
1991 Keystone International
Livestock Expo Schedule Set
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
The Keystone International
Livestock Exposition is in its 35th
year at Harrisburg. The Exposition
is recognized nationally as a show
case for the nation’s top beef
cattle, swine, sheep, and horses. It
will be held at the Farm Show
Complex in Harrisburg on October
3 to 7.
Along with a huge array of
livestock, the Exposition will
include commercial and educa
tional exhibits, top quality enter-
Special
Deadlines
September 23-27
Due to the Ephrata Fair in the
town where Lancaster Farm
ing is published, this advance
notice is given for the publica
tion deadlines that will be
needed for the last week in
September. They are:
Mailbox Market Mon
day, Sept 23, at noon.
Public Sales Monday,
Sept 23, at noon.
General News Tuesday,
Sept. 24, at 5 p.m.
Classified Section B
Tuesday, Sept 24, at 5 p.m.
Other Classified Ads
Wednesday, Sept 25, 9 a.m.
Late-Breaking News
Wednesday, Sept 25, at noon.
Four Sections
microbiologist, the way consumers,
perceive food safety turns out to be
almost opposite to what food
experts consider the problem.
Dr. Steve Knabel, assistant profes-
tainment, and a tantalizing assort
ment of foods prepared by various
Pennsylvania commodity groups.
Featured daily Thursday
(Turn to Page A2B)
Fall harvesting is underway with tanners in many areas of
the state experiencing crop shortages because of the
drought. These farmers will have used all their feed in stor
age by mid-winter and will then face huge feed bills to keep
their dairy and livestock operations going. In the photo,
Lancaster Arming, Saturday, September 21, 1991
sor, department of food services,
told the monthly Ag Issues Forum
here Thursday morning that while
experts consider microbial organ
isms to be the big problem in food
safety because sickness and even
death can occur from mishandled
food, the consumer perceives
chemicals and pesticides to be the
major concern even though very
few people, if any, get sick or die
from these factors in food.
But perceptions become reality,
and Knabel said the consumer
needs to be engaged in dialogue so
information can be given about the
SYRACUSE, NY A dairy
fanner who will be honored here
on October 1 as Farmer of the Year
said the thing that frustrates him
most about the lower price he’s
getting for his milk is that the cost
hasn’t gone down for consumers.
“I don’t think so many farmers
would be nearly as upset if con
sumers weren’t paying as much as
they are in the stores,” said Chuck
Walker of Geneva, N.Y.
“If prices were down for con
sumers, then maybe more milk
would be sold,” said his wife,
Shelley.
The couple runs a 140-acre farm
in Geneva, growing mostly com
and alfalfa, and milking 40 Hols
tein cows that each average 18,000
pounds of milk a year. That means
the Walker farm has an annual pro
duction of nearly three quarters of
a million pounds of milk.
The Walkers will share the spot
light when Eastern Milk Producers
Cooperative honors the couple as
its number one quality producer
during the co-op’s annual meeting
on October 1 at the Sheraton Uni-
real problems of handling food.
“We need to inform consumers
with hazard analysis of the critical
control points in the food system,”
Knable said. “Ninety-five percent
of all food-bom outbreaks are due
to improperly handled food in the
market and restaurant services and
in the home. These problem areas
need to be corrected with educa
tional programs to prevent this
problem. They need to keep things
clean. And food should not be held
too long, and it should be cooked at
the right temperatures.
Consumers are afraid of any
Harold Fritz, harvests silo corn that is short but has reaso
nably good ears considering the dry weather. The photo
was taken late Monday afternoon along Millport Road,
between Lampeter Road and Strasburg Pike in Lancaster
County. Photo by Everett Newawanger, managing editor
60s Per Copy
versity Inn in Syracuse.
In announceing the Farmer of
the Year Award, Eastern president
Lewis Gardner said that dairy far
mers such as the Walkers have
been coping with as much as 30
percent reduction in income this
year because of an “unprecedented
rapid decline” in the price they
receive.
“Nowhere in the history of dairy
farming that I can remember has
the farm price fallen so far, so
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.
thing that is potentially catastroph
ic or anything they can’t control,”
Knable said. “So they fear chemi
cals and pesticides. But bacteria
that has been around a long time is
not perceived to be catastrophic.
And people have control over their
food preparation procedures. So
they don’t think bacteria are really
a problem.
“If you arc going to have outrage
about how food is handled, have it
against microbial problems that
cause harm and not chemical prob
lems that cause very few prob
lems,” Knabel said.
19.00 Per Year
(Turn to Page A 37)
INDEX