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Vol. 40 NO. 16
Brosius Nominated Pennsylvania Agricultural Secretary
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
WEST GROVE (Chester Co.) Pennsylvania’s Gov.
Tom Ridge and his nominee for the cabinet position of
Agriculture Secretary, Charles Brosius, agree. The major
mission of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
(PDA) must be to increase the net family income of Pen
nsylvania farmers. All other things, such as getting gov
ernment off your back, making DER farmer friendly, pre
serving good farmland and making strong farm communi
ties, work up to this over-all goal. We need to make
farming profitable so that these people can contribute to
the economy of their surrounding communities.
In a lengthy interview Wednesday morning on the farm
that dates back in the family to 1823, Brosius said that
when he was interviewed for the position. Gov. Ridge
expressed the goal to increase farm income. The goal was
exactly what Brosius had listed as his mission statement
for PDA.
“The only way I know to measure success in the state ag
department is in the farmer’s pocketbook,” Brosius said.
“When you put it all together. Gov. Ridge promised far
mers that he would raise their standard of living and
increase their family income. I think farmers sincerely
believe that Gov. Ridge will make a difference, and I’m
delighted to have the opportunity to represent farmers on
the governor’s team to help make difference.
“Over the years, one of the principles we used here on
our farm is that you cannot keep the farm in the family if
you can’t keep the family on the farm,” Brosius said.
“Farm boys and girls must be able to cptpe home and have
the standard of living that uses theirskmand education as
in any other occupation. Farmers are not second class citi
zens. I look at the farm as a place to capture all this ambi
tion and energy of young farmers. We have to be able to
pay them, afford them a standard of living everyone else
has. There is nothing worse than to have your buddies or
college classmates have it better.
“Four years from now farmers will vote with their pock
etbook, and the measurement of our success will be that if
after counting the votes Ridge is still governor. This will
Marlin Hoff, national Holstein director from Maryland,
poses with Md-Oak View Mark Kbc, EX-93, the All-Maryland
four year-old.
604 Per Copy
National Holstein Director Hoff: A Farm Profile
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 25, 1995
Charles Brosius, the new nominee for Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture, and sons are at
home on their Marlboro Mushrooms farm in Chester County. From left r Mickey, Charles, Tom, and
Harold. Photo by Evoratt Nawawangar, managing adltor.
be a measurement of success and that he was serious about
what he said to farmers.
“You don’t say, ‘l’m a successful loser.’ I think the gov
ernor is sincere, and I’m excited to be part of that winning
team.”
LOIS SZYMANSKI
Maryland Correspondent
NEW WINDSOR, Md. At
the upcoming 1995 Maryland
Holstein Convention, to be held in
Westminster, Maryland, March 3
and 4, Carroll countian. Marlin
Hoff, will certainly be in attend
ance. Hoff has been a national
director of the National Holstein
Association since 1989, but his
farming career stretches back ...
long before 1989.
Hoff was bom into fanning. His
family dairy farm, Cold Spring
Farms has been in the family for
125 years. He says that his interest
in breeding, and in (raising) regis
tered cows, developed while he
was a boy in 4-H.
“I grew up in 4-H,” Hoff re
calls. His wife, Kathy was also a
former 4-H’er. The pair had seen
each other around for yearsjmt it
wasn’t until one day when Mr.
Hoff stopped at her family farm
while hauling cattle, that the two
got to know each other. “She was
milkingcows,” he says, “and I got
kind of interested!” They had their
first date on milk check day!
As a high school lad. Marlin
Hoff made the Maryland State
4-H Cattle Judging team. In the
fall of 1959 he won the State, and
the National 4-H Cattle Judging
Four Sections
DID NOT SEEK THE JOB
While Brosius believes he has the education, the ability,
and the experience to help him be secretary of agriculture,
he did not seek the job. He said his Quaker background
discourages him from blowing his own horn or telling
(Turn to P«g« A 34)
contest!
After high school, he was un
certain what his future should
hold. He had been taking voice
lessons in New York City and
“played with the idea of singing £s
a career.” But, by 1960 Hoff had
decided that the farm was a part of
him, and that singing could be r a
shaky career! He headed off to
college at the University of Mary
land. With a 4-H background and
Ag Representatives Support
Proposed SRBC Regulations
No Consumptive Rules Yet
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Fanning Staff
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Farmers in the Susque
hanna River Basin who use an
average of 10,000 gallons of water
per day (over a 30-day period), or
have ever used that much water or
more at any lime, will find it in
their best interest to register that
use with the Susquehanna River
Basin Commission (SRBC).
. That message is the ewe of what
Keith Masser, chairman of the
SRBC Agricultural Advisory
Committee, told a group of inter
ested fanners during a Penn State
$21.00 Per Year
a lifetime of farming experience
under his belt he quickly began to
excel, becoming part of the na
tional (college) cattle judging con
test He took fifth out of ISO con
testants that year. Shortly thereaf
ter, Marlin and Kathy were
married. He spent his last year of
college, before receiving his
bachelor’s degree in Dairy Sci
ence, rising in the morning to
(Turn to Pag* A 23)
Extension Service sponsored
water rights and irrigation man
agement meeting held Wednesday
at the Sheraton Inn Harrisburg, in
Harrisburg.
The agenda of the meeting
included presentations on drought
patterns in Pennsylvania by Leon
Ressler, Lancaster County exten
sion agent, and designing and
managing efficient and unwaste
full overhead irrigation systems by
Herb Brodie, an University of
Maryland Extension agricultural
engineer.
Brodie also discussed Mary
(Turn to Pac<i A 32)