Vol. 39 NO. 20
‘Waist-High’ Soybeans Create Award Opportunity For Berks Farmer
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Earning Staff
BARTO (Berks Co.) Late in
July last year, cash cropper Wilson
R. Hoffman inspected his fields
and noticed the “waist-high”
canopy of soybeans. Then he read
a notice fora soybean yield contest
in Lancaster Forming. Almost
immediately, he decided to sign
up.
The decision to compete against
16 others in the first Pennsylvania
Soybean Promotion Board Yield
Contest garnered him first place
for a three-acre plot, netting a 74.8
bushels per acre yield using
Dekalb CX4IS.
But mostly, it wasn’t just to see
if he can win the award. “It was
not something I was really trying
to win,” he said. “I mean, it
doesn’t pay to go overboard and
spend all kinds of money just so
you can win an award.”
Hoffman said that “econom
ics” are vital in managing soybean
yields to achieve the highest
yield at the least cost. But what far
mers often overlook, and what is
extremely important to the Berks
County soybean grower, is the
benefits of using the contest to
promote soybean marketing.
According to the state Soybean
Promotion Board, the contest was
established last year to demons
trate the practices necessary to pro
Seven-year-old Michael Bezner enjoys helping his
grandmother and her friendsinake chocolate candy. His
grandmother, Dottle Strieker,president of the state Soci
ety of Farm Women, believes that families are strength
ened by Involving children in activities with the church
and community.
Strong Families Become
Involved In Community
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
ROBESONIA (Berks Co.) With nine children and 17 grand
children, Dorothy Strieker knows" a lot about family living. She
places value on the importance of family for happiness, for making
the world a better place, and for enduring relationships.
It’s her strong belief in the importance of family that influenced
Dorothy, as president of the state Society of Farm Women, to chose
the theme “Strengthen Your Family,” on which the 3,148 members
will focus their energies during die first of her three-year term.
Dottie, as she prefers to be called, is full of ideas to straighten
families. But those who know her best realize that she is not merely
an idea person. She is an action person—one who works diligently
behind the scenes because she sees needs.
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60* Per Copy
duce maximum economic yields
and to encourage the production of
high-quality soybeans, according
to John Yocum, manager of the
Penn State Landisville Research
Farm and contest coordinator.
Participants are restricted to
nonirrigated soybeans only, but
not to the variety, fertilizer, spac
ing. or other cultural practices,
according to Yocum.
Hoffman uses a combination of
tillage practices, including about
75 percent minimum tillage (chisel
plow and disc) and 25 percent no
till. He said be waits until the soil is
dry enough before going into the
fields to prevent compaction. The
soil is Steinsburg loam, including a
silt loam and Norton gravelly
loam.
Hoffman’s used a preemergent
herbicide. Squadron, at 2 pints per
acre, incorporated with a culti
packer. He also used a starter fer
tilizer, a 3-9-12 liquid, before
planting, according to soil test
recommendations. No lime was
applied.
The state winning yield was
planted May 6 in 7-inch rows with
a povvdqr inoculant. Seed density
was about 180,000 per acre.. The
plants per acre at harvest was about
160,000. Total soybean acreage
averaged about 64 bushels per
acre.
For weed castrol, the preemer
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 26,1914
gent application of Squadron
proved tat at taking care of an
assortment of problem grasses and
pigweeds in addition to velvedeaf
and some lambsquarter.
One of the reasons Hoffman
uses minimum tillage, he said, is
because he gets better control of
weeds with less expense over no
till.
“I had no idea I’dreally be close
to the top for yields,” said
Hoffman.
He said there are many good far
mers who have field and soil con
ditions that were right and could
experience similar or even higher
yields.
This year, “the Good Lord
allowed enough rain and good
weather,” said Hoffman, to grow
the soybeans. While much of the
southeastern portion of the state
was subjected to drought stress,
the Berks/Montgomery County
region had enough rain to carry the
crop.
“It’s really an honor to be the
first in the state,” he said.
Hoffman, who went into farm
ing after a career as a Philadelphia
Suburban Water Company utility
maintenance worker until the
mid-19705, attributes much of the
success he’s had with growing
crops to his father. Chester, a
dairyman. “He played a big part in
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Experts: Pasturing Is Agronomic Art
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Fanning Stair
. HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Pasturing has been given
a lot of attention in the past several
years, and testimony beheld that
Safety Should Be Top Concern
RANDY WELLS
Indiana Co. Correspondent
INDIANA (Indiana Co.)
Each day thousands of people,
including young children and
senior citizens, go to work at the
most dangerous job site in Penn
sylvania the family farm.
Indiana County dairy fanner
Dan Griffith knows the dangers
firsthand. He’s suffered a hyper
extended knee and the expected
cuts and bruises from working
every day around big equipment
and big animals.
Once he thought he had pesti
cide poisoning.
For the past 13 years, Dan and
his wife, Leanne, have been work
ing to make farms a safer place
especially for children. And their
safety tips are, now spreading
statewide.
“Farming is the most dangerous
occupation in the state of Pennsyl
vania,” Leanne said. “Coal mining
is second. None of us would con
sider sending a child into a deep
mine, but farm families daily send
their children out to help with the
farm work, more often than not
because of economic necessity.”
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The decision to compete against 16 others in the first
Pennsylvania Soybean Promotion Board Yield Contest gar
nered Wilson Hoffman first place for a three-acre plot, net
ting a 74.8 bushels per acre yield using Dekalb CX4IS.
it can help the family fanner sur
vive, but from the latest accounts
of die practice, it’s not merely a
matter of opening the gate to lives
tock to graze a parcel of land other
wise unsuitable for crop
In hit family’s videotaped testimony, 5-year-old Christo
pher Griffith demonstrates how a child can be suffocated In
a gravity box wagon.
Rvt Sactlona
production.
According to reports from
experts at Penn State University
and with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, pasturing, as a field of
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$19.75 Per Year