(Continued from Pag* A 1)
cooperative community.”
Hand joined Atlantic’s staff in
1957 as an economist He worked
his way up through the cooperative
ranks and was named general man
ager in 1982. He served on numer
ous industry boards and often
spoke at dairy-related meetings.
“Paul Hand truly is a recognized
leader in the dairy industry.” said
Robert B. McSparran, president of
the 3,500-member cooperative.
“Much of the success of the
cooperative can be attributed to his
leadership and management”
The Paul E. Hand Scholarship at
Penn State will be dedicated to gra
duate students in agricultural eco
nomics. Hand himself received his
Ph.D. from Penn State in 1960.
Earlier in the day, Dever
reported that Atlantic Dairy ended
the 1992-1993 fiscal year with
sales of $573 million and a net mar
gin of $5.4 million-the third high
est margin in the 76 year history of
the cooperative.
The net margin resulted, in part,
from sales of 3.5 billion pounds of
member milk. The volume mark
eted represents a 1.4 percent
increase over the prior year. It also
represents the greatest volume of
member milk marketed by the
cooperative.
In addition, Atlantic marketed
approximately 700 million pounds
of milk through joint marketing
agreements with other coopera
tives. The total milk marketed was
4.18 billion pounds.
Also contributing to the net mar
gin were finished product sales
from Atlantic’s manufacturing
division. Holly Milk, and profits
from QC Inc., a wholly owned sub
sidiary providing quality testsing
services.
The net margin, down from $7.5
million last year, equates to mem
ber earnings of 15.3 cents per
hundredweight
“A net margin of more than $5
million should be considered stais
factory and consistent with our
goals and sound financial posi
tion,” Dever said. “Other good
indicators are the extra payments
made to members during the year.”
Atthehe: je at Atlai ic Lu.. <opeK .e
ing from left, lower row, are Gordon Hiller, master of Pen*
nsylvania State Grange; Jerry Klose, butter operations
manager, Land O-Lakes, Inc.; Dawn Downey, 1993 Mary
land Dairy Princess; Earl Fink, executive vice president,
Pennsylvania Association of Milk Dealers; Jennifer Grimes,
1993 Pennsylvania Dairy Princess; Russell Wachter, presi
dent, Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative;
Stacy Huffman, 1993 West Virginia Dairy Princess; James
Barr, chief executive officer, National Milk Producers Feder
ation; Clyde Rutherford, president, Dairylea Cooperative,
Inc.; Amanda Wolfer, 1993 Delaware Dairy Princess;
Alpheus Ruth, retired president, Lehigh Valley Farmers;
Donald Risaar, president, ML Joy Farmers Cooperative;
Nancy Siekler, 1993 New Jersey Dairy Princess; Michael
Donovan, general manager, Eastern Milk Producers
Atlantic Dairy Shows $5.4 Million Net Margin
These extra payments totaled
$16.5 million. They included $2.2
million in quality milk bonuses, $5
million in equity payments and
$9.3 million in over-order pre
miums. The total amount of such
payments since the cooperative’s
1987 merger is $l4l million.
“We have had six and a half
years of good income levels."
Dever said. “As we get bigger,
maintaining that high level of
income must be one of our primary
goals.”
During the past fiscal year, the
cooperative’s membership grew
by 23 members. The total member
ship stood at 3,572 on July 31, the
close of the'fiscal year.
“Size in membership is only one
part of the marketing equation,”
Dever said. The other part deals
with the cooperative’s ability to
negotiate with its buyers. And the
majority of these buyers are repre
sented by large national or multi
national corporations.
“Even though we think of
ourselves as a large corporation,
we are still only a regional dairy
farmers’ cooperative.” We cannot
be weak at the negotiating table.”
Dever said the cooperative
needs to have the same levels of
expertise about the business as its
customers. It also needs to keep up
with technology and to adjust to
modem marketing principles.
“A 76-year-old organization
that has changed with the times,
that js still in business and doing a
good job of it, does have value,”
Dever said. “ADC is that kind of
organization.”
Mary Margaret Pecht a reporter
for The Sentinel in Lewisburg was
named the 1993 Agricultural Com
municator Award winner.
Pecht was recognized for her
“exemplary services to the dairy
cooperative community” and
given a plaque by Atlantic presi
dent Robert B. McSparran.
Pecht joins a select group of
communicators who have been
recognized by Atlantic for their
roles as both communicator and
educator. Through their work,
these communicators have pro
vided cooperative members, con
sumers, legislators, youth, young
farmers, industry employees and
land-grant universities with agri
cultural and cooperative
information.
Pecht began writing for the
newspaper 32 years ago. In addi
tion to general reporting, she
serves as agricultural editor and
religion editor. She also writes a
column titled “View from the
Valley.”
Pecht is a familiar face at the
cooperative’s local and district
meetings throughout Juniata
County and the surrounding area.
She also is familiar to a number of
Atlantic’s managers, whom she
has interviewed for various farm
news stories over the years.
Lancaster Mennonite Names FFA Winners
National FFA winners at Lancaster Mennonite are from left, Wendall Landis, Joleen
Herbert, Leon Trager, Jr., and Kendall Reiff.
Lancaster Mennonite High
School senior Wendall Landis
received a gold medal in the
National FFA Livestock Evalua-
•i jmes jnan, ret
manager, Atlantic Dairy Cooperative.
Upper row, J. Wade Groff, pastor, Strasburg Mennonite
Church; Oscar Milinovich; Terri Milinovich, retired execu
tive secretary, Atlantic Dairy Cooperative; Georgette Hand;
Or. Paul hand, retired general manager, Atlantic Dairy
Cooperative: Robert Dever, secretary and general manager,
Atlantic Dairy Cooperative; Robert McSparran, president,
Atlantic Dairy Cooperative; Donald Schirver, chief execu
tive officer and general manager, Milk Marketing, Inc.; Don
Rice 111. guest speaker; Boyd Wolff, secretary, Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture; Leon Wilkinson, chairman, Pen
nsylvania Milk Marketing Board; Erik Rasmussen, market
administrator, Federal Order 1; and Dr. Dhun Patel, New
Jersey Department of Agriculture.
nr*
Pecht grew up on a dairy farm
near Vita and graduated from
Chief Logan High School. She
says she knows how to milk cows
but never mastered driving a trac
tor. "They always had three pedals,
and I only had two feet,” she said.
Pecht and her husband, Richard,
live in the village of Mattemtown.
a few miles from Lewistown. They
have a daughter, Tamra Seiler, and
two grandchildren. Katie 4, and J.
Dwight 2. They are members of
Evangel Baptist Church, the Fort
Granville Grange, Pomona Grange
35. the Pennsylvania State Grange
and the National Grange.
In addition, Pecht is a volunteer
reader in the public schools. She
tion Contest held November 11-13
at Kansas City, Mo. LMH juniors
Leon Trager, Jr. and Joleen Her
bert both received bronze medals
r H . If. r
also enjoys traveling, reading,
sewing and quilling (that’s
QUILLing). She collects auto
graphed editions of books and anti
que hymnbooks.
Pecht is the 21st person to
receive the Agricultural Commu
nicator Award, which Atlantic first
awarded in 1973. Put winners
have included various media rep
resentatives, Extension education
specialists and cooperative
leaders.
Atlantic Dairy Cooperative rep
resents mere than 3,soodairy farm
families in Pennsylvania, New
York, New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia and West
Virginia.
in the contest. In addition, the
four-member LMH livestock team
received a bronze medal.
The livestock team consisted of
Landis, son of Abram and Dor
othy Landis. Manheim; Trager,
Leon and Della Trager, Quarry
ville; Herbert, son of Luann
Ncwswanger, Terre Hill; and
LMH junior Kendall Reiff, son of
Samuel and Elva Reiff, Ephrata.
The team received a $l,OOO first
place award in state competition
last June. Teacher Lem Metzler
serves as advisor of LMH’s Hans
Herr FFA Chapter, chartered in
January, 1992.
Also, in a recent regional FFA
competition in Lebanon County,
Pa., senior Crystal Hershey,
daughter of Marlin and Barbara
Hershey, Lancaster, placed first in
the Salesmanship Contest. Sopho
more Maria Hurst, daughter of
George and Mary Hurst, Lititz,
placed fourth.
FFA is a national organization
of 416,529 members preparing for
leadership and careers in the sci
ence, business and technology of
agriculture. The organization has
7.54 S local chapters located
throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico,
Guam and the Virgin Islands. At
LMH 79 students are members of
the FFA.
general