LVNB Holds Annual Ag Seminar
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
PRESCOTT (Lebanon
Co.) Though snows and cold
weather persist, many fanners in
the Lebanon Valley region have
come to consider the recent annual
Lebanon Valley National Bank
farmer seminar as the Erst true sign
of spring.
The seminar is held annually at
the Prescott Fire Hall, and this year
more than 400 people attended by
invitation. The purpose of the
seminar is to bring together as
many of the bank’s clients and
others for an educational day on
the latest or most significant cur
rent events which affect
agriculture.
This year, speakers included
Kenneth Winebark, Lebanon
County Extension agent; state
Rep. Sheila Miller, R-Berks; Dr.
Lynn Sammons, DVM, large ani
mal specialist with Willow Creek
Animal Hospital, Myerstown; H.
Louis Moore, Pennsylvania State
University professor of agricultur
al economics; and Albert Murry,
president and CEO of LVNB.
The program included Moore’s
analysis and prognosis for agricul
tural commodity prices, based on
existing prices, production esti
mates, current demand estimates,
trading practices, and political
environment. Known for his agri
cultural outlooks, Moore has been
a perennial and frequent speaker at
different agricultural seminars and
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February 24, 25, 26
J Wednesday, Thursday & Friday
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Coffee & Donuts Lunch Served
February 25 & 26
from 10:30-2:00
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Moore also co-writcs a regular
column for an agribusiness publi
cation, “The PennAg Journal.”
Returning for the second year to
the podium to discuss nutrient
management, state Rep. Miller dis
cussed the contents of the nutrient
management proposal contained in
House Bill 100 (printer’s No. 178),
and handed out copies for the audi
ence to take home and read.
Miller is a freshman legislator in
the House, but she has been
involved in Harrisburg and agri
cultural politics for years, last
serving as executive director of the
state Senate Agricultural and Rural
Affairs Committee.
Last year she warned of a large
number of farms being projected
as going out of business under now
obsolete proposals for nutrient
management legislation.
When it came time to testify
during a public hearing last year,
she did not get support from
researchers who made the projec
tions she had told last year’s group.
However, last week she said that
the old proposal would have
affected a large percentage of
farms compared to the estimated
IS percent who would be required
to create a nutrient management
plan under the current proposal.
She voted for H. 8.100.
She explained the process of
arriving at the wording contained
within H.B. 100 and said she had
one reservation with the current
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bill, which may be addressed while
in die Senate agricultural commit
tee. depending on what its chair
man and ultimately the Democra
tic Caucus decide to allow in
amendments.
She said her one concern with
the proposal is that it does not
• specifically address cash-crop far
mers who may be overloading
their land with chemical nutrients,
but do not have livestock, and
therefore do not fall within the
only defining threshold contained
in the H. 8.100 proposal those
farms with 2,000 pounds or more
of livestock (including poultry) per
acre of land (owned or rented).
She said it is a concern to her
and some others that cash crop far
mers are not specifically
addressed, but that because chemi
cal nutrient use is contained under
the list of sources of nutrients to be
addressed, it may not be a real
concern.
Miller, in her former capacity,
worked for years on nutrient man
agement proposals, receiving cri
ticizm for allegedly sitting on pre
viously House-approved
legislation.
However, she said the current
proposal is a reflection of much
work done while the previously
House-passed nutrient manage
ment bill was in the Senate Agri
culture Committee.
Much of the wording and prop
osals generated and agreed to dur
ing the past year was introduced as
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legislation late last session, receiv
ing bipartisan support of the
House. This bill contains much of
the wording proposed last session,
and it was also amended to reflect
additional areas of concern in the
agricultural community.
She said the audience should
read over the proposal and if they
have concerns, to talk to their rep
resentatives, including her.
Using a carousel of slides to
illustrate his talk, Winebark dis
cussed the industry in the Lebanon
Valley, its accomplishments and
its diversity.
Designed somewhat as a pep
talk, Winebark's address also con
tained a number of not widely
publicized facts about the area’s
agricultural character.
“It’s important to remember
what mark agriculture is making
on the community,” he said.
Winebark said the changes in
agriculture are all around, such as
the large dairy freestall, research
into robotic milkers, continued
improvements in genetics and
technology and overall care and
understanding of bovines, lengths
of poultry and hog facilities
expressed in multiples of football
fields, etc.
He said that farmers and all agri
businessmen in the Lebanon-
Berks-Lancaster area have a good
reason to be proud of the job they
are doing.
Winebark said that for the fourth
year in a row, not only has Leba
non County led the state in milk
production per cow, but the aver
age this past year broke the 19,000
pounds of milk-per-cow barrier.
“Fifty percent of the pork in the
state is raised in the area,” Wine
bark said, adding that not only are
the local swine used for meat pro
ducts, but hogs are used as a source
of valves for human hearts, in the
making of insulin, cortisone, cray-
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 20, 1993-A37
ons, and of course leather.
He also said that while many
agriculturalists recognize the
strength of the industry in which
they participate, they can fail to see
the significance of other agricul
tural industries within the
community.
He talked about the area’s 10
million hens, the turkeys, the fruits
and vegetables, the 2.S million
trout, the area’s $3OO million
worth of cow-calf operations,
14.000 sheep, horse production,
300.000 acres of com for grain and
the additional 40 percent that goes
to make silage, the 100,000 acres
of hay, greenhouse operations
such as Laysers, which is one of
the top 100 producers in the nation
with more than 13 acres in green-,
houses, the strong ornamental
industry, roadside retail markets,
bologna, etc.
He said that further, there are
many food processors in the area
which also contribute heavily to
the area’s economy, such as Mur
ray Steaks, which buys boxed beef
from across the country, cuts and
prepare the meat products and
ships them back out to 17 different
states.
“Food processors have played
an important role and will continue
to as long as it continues to be (pro
fitable to remain in the area.)”
As far as retail markets for the
agricultural products, he said that
they are also very important,
because in addition to providing
outlets for local produce, they also
impact on the general public,
because that is where the general
public gets the majority of its
experience with agricultural
commodities.
Further, he said that farmers
should think about their total
impact on the community, and said
they should, “Go out and produce
the kind of product your proud to
have produced.”