HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
The Master Fanner Program,
now in its 60th year, recognizes
farmers from Pennsylvania, Dela
ware, Maryland, New Jersey and
West Viiginia for high achieve
ment in farming and community
service. The program is sponsored
by Pennsylvania Farmer magazine
and Cooperative Extension in the
Mid-Atlantic states.
Janet Knouse is one of five
Pennsylvania farmers recognized
as 1994 Master Farmers at an
awards luncheon held this week in
conjunction wjth the 78th Pen
nsylvania State Farm Show.
Knouse is president and general
manager of Knouse Fruitlands,
Inc., an 1800-acre family farm
corporation consisting of nine
farms with the main office located
in Arendtsville. Their crops are
apples, peaches and nectarines.
Knouse has two sons and a
daughter who are employed with
the corporation. Milton is vice
president and production manager
of Franklin County Orchards.
Brian is vice president and pro
duction manager of Adams and
Cumberland County Orchards.
Tonya is corporate secretary,
assistant treasurer and data pro
cessing manager.
The Knouse family uses inte
grated pest management to help
decrease the use of chemicals on
their fruit trees. They regularly
have soil analyses done and are
converting orchards from standard
size rootstocks to semi-dwarf and
dwarf trees to increase production
and make harvesting easier.
Janet Knouse is director of the
growers’ cooperative called
Knouse Foods. She serves as the
advisory board of Farmers Bank
and Trust and is director of the
Grower’s Equipment Center,
which is owned by 12 local far
mers. She has served on the Board
of York Farm Credit for five years
and has been director of Rice Fruit
Company for 16 years.
David and Phoebe Biller
David and Phoebe Biller were
also recognized.
The Billers own and operate
Vista Grande, a 90-cow dairy farm
located in Fleetwood. They strive
for maximum milk production by
continually improving their herd
management and genetics. Their
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Master Farmers Named At Luncheon
annual herd average is 21,537
pounds of milk. In addition, they
raise steers for dairy beef.
They grow much of their own
forage and grain and employ a
crop consultant to help with soil
testing, integrated pest manage
ment and nutrient management.
Working with the state Soil Con
servation Service, they have con
structed an animal waste facility,
have established new filter strips
in some fields and have improved
existing sod waterways.
The Bitlers have worked to
develop positive public relations
in their county. As the Berks
County Dairy Promotions Coordi
nator, Phoebe Bitler has coordi
nated the Berks County Dairy Fes
tival and Berks County Dairy
Nile. The Bitlers also have pro
vided their beef customers with a
newsletter containing recipes and
nutritional information.
The Bitlers are members of the
national and state Holstein Asso
ciations, the Pennsylvania Dairy
Herd Improvement Association
and the Berks Holstein Club.
David was named Regional Out
standing Young Farmer Under 30
and the Kutztown Jaycees Out
standing Young Farmer.
Art and Duane Hershey
Also named in the 1994 Master
Farmer Program were Art and
Duane Hershey.
The Hersheys own and operate
Ar-Joy Farms, a 70-cow dairy
farm located in Cochranville. By
studying the Holstein breed and
using top-quality bulls, they have
been able to develop a herd of 80
percent home-bred cattle that pro
duce more than 25,000 pounds of
milk on a rolling herd average.
The Hersheys recently installed
a new ventilation system that
replaces air every 45 seconds,
creating a 2.5 mile-per-hour air
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flow through the bam. They also
use a computer to help them keep
more accurate records and prepare
and budget for the coming year.
In 1986, with help from the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the
Hersheys built a liquid manure
system with a six-month capacity.
Now they haul manure only twice
a year and plow it under within 24
hours, allowing a great reduction
in fertilizer costs.
They also have a full nutrient
management plan, which includes
the installation of a sod waterway
as well as a pit at the bottom of the
barnyard to catch rainwater and
barnyard manure and keep it from
running into a crossing stream that
ultimately empties into the Chesa
peake Bay.
In 1982, Art Hershey was
elected to the Pennsylvania Gen
eral Assembly as State Represen
tative for the 13th district. For his
first two years as a representative,
he came home each night to assist
on the farm and did the milking on
weekends when the assembly was
not in session.
In 1967, Ar-Joy Farms was
selected to be a Penn State
Demonstration Farm. In 1987, Ar-
Joy Farms received* the Chesa
peake Bay Clean Water Conserva
tion Award, and in 1989 the farm
was named a Dairy of Distinction.
Robert Ott is another Master
Farmer.
Ott owns and manages Oil’s
Farm and Greenhouses, a
50,000-squarc-foot production
greenhouse complex in New
Alexandria. His wife, Sally, hand
les the payroll and bookkeeping.
Employing a full-time grower, an
assistant grower and seasonal
workers, the operation produces
nearly one million plants each
year for sale as finished plants or
Profit
from winter
lime application
Robert Ott
to be sold to other growers for
finishing.
Crops grown by the Otts
include poinsettias, hanging
baskets, bedding plants, tulips,
hyacinths, lilies and mums. They
also have grown Held vegetables
and vegetable transplants. Sixty
percent of their finished product is
marketed and pre-sold to organi
zations that sell flowers as fund
raisers, such as churches, high
school groups and 4-H clubs.
The Otts have adopted innova
tive practices to improve produc
tivity and profitability. With the
help of two daughters with gradu
ate degrees in information sys
tems, they have developed com
puterized systems to control crop
production timetables, invento
ries, payroll and accounting.
Their technological improve
ments have enhanced efficiency
and reduced labor cost per unit
They use an automatic seeder,
under-pot heating, flat-filling and
pot-filling machines, conveyors,
rolling benches to maximize
growing area, automatic misting
and watering systems and high
pressure sodium lights to aid in
propagation.
Ott has been active in several
farm, civic, fraternal and service
organizations, including the Penn
sylvania Farm Bureau, the
Poinsettia Growers Association,
Friends of 4-H, Loyal Order of
Moose, Rocky Mountain Elk
Foundation and Lions Internation
al. He served on the board of
directors of both the Western
Pennsylvania Flower Growers
Association and the Pennsylvania
Vegetable Growers Association,
and was a member of the West
moreland County Extension Com
mittee.
Dennis Wolff
Dennis Wolff is another master
UMESTONE
• •
fanner.
Wolff and his wife, Lois, own
and operate Pen-Col Farms, a
580-cow dairy farm in Millville.
The operation also includes a
purebred cattle business, which
has grown along with the interna
tional market for cattle and
embryos. The Wolffs devote
much time to studying market
trends and finding ways to
improve market share.
They use embryo transfer to
maintain their herd’s genetic
standing. They also have improv
ed harvesting and feeding systems
on the farm by using dump
wagons, trenches and a mixer
truck. To reward employees for
the profitability of their divisions,
they also have developed a bonus
program.
The Wolffs are completing a
new 32-cow tie stall bam for their
purebred breeding herd and will
turn their original bam into a com
mercial milking bam for 160 cows
in order to better track each divi
sion of their business.
Wolff is a member of the Penn
sylvania Farm Bureau, the Penn
sylvania Holstein Association, the
Columbia-Luzeme Holstein Club
and the Pennsylvania Dairy Herd
Improvement Association. Dennis
Wolff was appointed to the Penn
sylvania Animal Health Commis
sion by Governor Robert Casey.
More than 200 farmers were
nominated for the Master farmer
Program this year. Judges of (he
final round were Sam Garrison,
assistant secretary of agriculture
for New Jersey; John Crowgey,
vice president of special credit at
the Farm Credit Bank of Balti
more; and Robert Sams, assistant
to the dean for communications
and external relations in Penn
State’s College of Agricultural
Sciences.
' T*
'W
• /
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