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vol. 39 NO. 52
Hershey Chocolate, Atlantic Dairy Announce Long-Term Supply Agreement
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
SOUTHAMPTON (Bucks Co.) and
HERS HEY (Dauphin Co.) Atlantic
Dairy Cooperative and Hershey Choco
late U.S.A., a division of Hershey
Foods Corporation, jointly announced
Tuesday that the dairy cooperative will
supply the confectionery company with
all its raw milk needs in Pennsylvania.
The announcement was made by
Michael Pasquale, president, Hershey
Chocolate, and Robert Dever, Atlan
tic’s chief executive officer.
For the last 10 years Atlantic has had
Hershey as a customer, but Hershey has
also bought milk directly from 722
farms in southeast Pennsylvania. Under
the new agreement, these fanners will
be offered membership in Atlantic,
which currently represents 3,500 dairy
Two Farms Tie For Pa.DHIA Herd Management Award
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
(Part 1 of 2)
BERN VILLE (Ber v k»*.
Co.) For the past several years,
ihe Pennsylvania Dairy Herd
Improvement Association has
annually presented county level
awards and a top state herd dairy
herd management award in recog
nition of members who have made
significant achievements in impro
ving the management of their
herds.
This year two herd manage
Lancaster Farming
Now 39 Years Old
Lancaster Farming had
a birthday this week. On
November 4,1955, the first
issue appeared in rural
mailboxes. Since that time
the paper has expanded in
size and circulation with
51,000 copies sent out to
our farm readers each
week. Coverage of farm
and agribusiness news,
markets, features, col
umns, and advertising for
the farm market continues
to be the emphasis of this
farm newspaper.
The All-Pennsylvania Aged
Cow is Justa Beauty Trixie
Use for Guy and Sharon
Hammond, Carlisle. Please
turn to page A-27 for a full pic
torial report of the All-
Pennsylvania winners.
60g Per Copy
farm families in the Middle Atlantic
region.
According to Dever, the new agree
ment benefits both companies and will
result in increased income for the dairy
producers currently supplying Hershey
with milk.
John Long, Hershey Foods Corpora
tion, agrees. “We are always looking to
make our operation more cost effec
tive,” Long said. “But from the farmers ’
point of view, we have always bought
all their milk whenever they produced it
and sold whatever excess we may have
had into the Class 1 market. However,
we did npt do enough of this to be able
to increase the blend price to the far
mers as much as a cooperative such as
Adantic Dairy has been able to do. So
we think the move is good for us and
good for the farmers also.
ments tied as the top herd
managers Fantasyland Farm in
Berks County, and Mark and
Campbell in Armstrong
County,
The awards are based on various
dairy herd management aspects
and points are awarded to those
aspects.
The basic qualifications,
according to the awards oudine,
are that end-of-year data (end of
September each year) is used, that
herds must be on official test, that
herds must have at least 10 cow
years and 10 tests for the most
recent cow year, that the top three
herds in each breed with 20 or
more official tests will be recog
nized, and all information for the
entire testing year will be used.
As far as determining winners,
the Pa DHIA has a point system
based on milk production
increases per cow, protein and fat
production increases, and pounds
of peak milk milk production, the
average days to peak production,
(Turn to Pag* A3O)
Berks Farm-City Council Honors Grange, Ag Reporter
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
READING (Berks Co.)
More than 380 farm friends from a
-wide range of industries met at the
11 ih Annual Berks County Farm-
City Banquet Thursday evening at
The Inn at Reading.
What they learned, according to
exchange representatives from
(arming and industry, is that there
are distinct parallels between farm
and non-farming businesses,
according to Chip Lutz, president
of Sentry Abstract Company.
Lutz exchanged experiences by
spending a day with sheep farmer
Joe Vogel, Stony Run Farm,
Kempton. He said that farmers
should be granted the right to com
pete on an “even keel” and that
his experience allowed him to
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 5, 1994
David and Martha Pool and family were co-winners of the top Pa.OHI A herd manage
ment award. From the left is son Elliot, David, Martha with baby Caitiyn, and daughter
Lynette.
* ‘gamer a new respect for the kind
ot work that goes into farming,”
he said. '
Vogel, president of the Berks
County Sheep and Wool Growers,
manages a herd of 8Q Columbia
ewes on his farm. Vogel called the
farm-city exchange program “a
great way of getting people from
Pa. State Grange Holds Annual Convention
CARLISLE (Cumberland
Co.) The Pennsylvania State
Grange last week held its 122nd
annual convention at the Embers
Convention Center in Carlise,
reviewing policy, honoring mem
bers and'electing officials.
Gordon Hiller, of Lycoming
County, was reelected master for
And since Hershey is already Atlan
tic’s third largest customer, the agree
ment will not affect prices paid to cur
rent Atlantic members. Robert McSpar
ren, president of Atlantic Dairy, said
the move is good for everyone.
“Without customers we don’t need
members,” McSparren said. “Because
of our businesslike dealings with Her
shey over the last 10 years, they have
seen us as a reliable source of the milk
supply they need. And for the farmers,
we have the over-order pricing and the
returned profits (an extra nickel in Sep
tember) to make it good. Since we are a
regional cooperative, we can’t control
the national market But what we dois
in the 30 to SO cent bracket
“This agreement allows both compa
nies to concentrate on what they do
best,” Dever said. “Hershey Chocolate
the city together.” Vogel said the
program promotes “the total
understanding of from whence
each other comes.”
Vogel was provided a tour of the
abstracting business and was
unpressed with the high-tech deve
lopments in title searching and
record-keeping.
another two years. The position of
master is equivalent to that of a
president in a more modern
organization.
In the position of master,
Hiller a retired farmer, retired
conservation program specialist
tor DER, and retired regional
director for the state Department of
Four Sections
U.S.A.’s expertise is in the manufactur
ing and marketing confectionery pro
ducts. Our expertise lies in marketing
milk for dairy fanners for the best pos
sible price.
“Hcrshey Chocolate U.S.A is a
strong supporter of production agricul
ture in Pennsylvania,” Dever said. “We
look forward to a long and successful
business relationship with them.”
Pasquale agrees. “We’re very
pleased with this agreement,” Pasquale
said. “We feel a full-supply contract
with Atlantic Dairy Cooperative is in
our best interest, as well as the dairy far
mers who currently supply us with
milk.”
The agreement is effective Decem
ber 1,1994. In the meantime, all current
shippers to Hershey will be offered
membership and a milk market by
Atlantic.
Marlene Firestine, who with
husband Mike farm 150 acres of
vegetable and other crops and
maintain 30 head of registered
Polled Hereford cattle on their
Womelsdorf farm, said the prog
ram “gives you a great insight.’’
Firestine, who toured the offices
(Turn to Pago A 36)
Agriculture is to be responsible
for supervising the state office in
Harrisburg and overseeing all state
Grange programs, as well as visit
ing Granges, hearing concerns,
helping members solve'problcms
and representing the organization
as a member ot various agncullur
(Turn to Pag* Al 6)
$21.00 Per