A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 22, 1995 EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor BROOKEVILLE, Md. For 31 year-old Randy Stabler, the two sides to the equation needed to farm 3,500 acres of expensive farmland within 25 miles of Washington, DC, are diversifica tion and marketing. Stabler farms in partnership with Robert, his dad; Drew, his uncle, and Fred Lechlid er, his brother-in-law. The opera tion goes by the name Pleasant Valley Farm. For diversification. Stabler grows com, soybeans, wheat, hay and the offspring from 150-cow beef herd. A complement of trac tors, combines, trucks, and plant ing and haying equipment take care of producing the crops. A lot of the maintenance work on the equip ment is done in on-the-farm shops. In a mini-feedlot the calves are fat tened for a local meat market “We don’t put all of our eggs in one basket,” Stabler said. “In my wife Judi and two little girls Kel sey, 3, and Shelby, 6 mos., I do. But not in the farming operation. The variety of farm enterprises keeps us going. When one is down, the others carry the wheel. I’m not here to just be in farming. I treat it like a business, and I want my business to be successful.” This seventh generation farmer in Montgomery County said he has tremendous respect for his dad and his uncle. “They have given me every oppor tunity in the world. They have made it easier for me, and I would like this feeling to be part of the story.” And while Stabler said his grandfather was also successful, times have changed, and the oppor tunities in today’s farming climate are not the same. “I can’t go out here and plant 1,800 to 2,000 acres of com and expect to sell it in October or Bogle Distinguished UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Penn State’s Department of Dairy and Animal Science has named T. Roy Bogle, one of the nation’s top cooperative extension educators and r<Vi inis tra tors, as its 1995 Distinguished Animal Sci ence Alumnus. Bogle was bom in Dußois. He embarked on an extenion career in 1959 as a student in a Penn State Cooperative Extension summer training program in Venango County. Upon graduation from Penn State in 1960 with a bachelor’s in animal husbandly, Bogle accepted a position as county extension agent in Ohio, first in Jefferson County, then in Conshocton Coun ty, where he developed the highest ever 4-H enrollment and achieved the project completion record for both counties. Before long, he was appointed chairman over the total county program. During that time, he was involved in a sizable swine production project and earned a master’s degree in agricultural education at Ohio State Univer sity. In the 19705, Bogle accepted a position at Purdue University to study the economics of swine pro duction and, at the same lime, he earned a second master’s degree, this one in agricultural economics. He then enrolled in a doctoral pro gram in agricultural economics at the University of Missouri, where he also taught courses in farm Pleasant Valley Farm Finds Success —ln Diversification And Marketing- November to my local broker/ elevator and live the lifestyle I want for my family. This is a very large picture. My grandfather was dam successful. He had a market ing plan, but he never wrote it down. I don’t see the same oppor tunities for me. With the need for a return on my investment and my cost of growing a commodity, I can’t sell it for just what it is cost ing me to grow it. Therefore, I need to figure where I am going to make up the difference.” Most farmers follow the mark ets, even subscribe to the newslet ters of professional analysts. But the Stablers have taken this a step further. They subscribe to the recommendations of three or four professional commodities market analysts and authorize their broker to place hedges according to the percentages of their crop they have designated to be traded under the recommendations of each profes sional. If one professional has a bad day, maybe another will have a good day. Since the commodities market is highly leveraged. Stabler never puts the total expected crop on the market before the crop is harvested. In addition, as the sea son progresses, if because of drought or other problems the expectation for the harvest is diminished, he gives notice to change his hedges accordingly. And he is prepared for margin calls if they come. “I do this for ease of mind. Sta bler said. “When I'm out on the com planter or sprayer, it’s not a priority for me to market grain. “ “The track record says the pro fessional analysts have done so much bettor at marketing com or soybeans than I have. So why not follow their advice? How many times have you seen farmers not be successful because they planted a management. His next position was as area ex tension economist with the co operative extension service in southwest Kansas. Within two years, he was promoted to exten sion economist at the main campus of Kansas State University, where he coordinated the programs in five areas of the state. Bogle com puterized' the field application of all farm management programs, developed a statewide education program tor tarm estate planning, and coordinated the Kansas School of Agricultural Banking. In 1980, Bogle accepted a posi tion as assistant director, agricul ture and natural resources. Univer sity of Illinois Cooperative Exten sion Service. During a four-year stint there, he was responsible for coordinating educational pro grams with more than 300 co operative extension professionals, as well as heading several presti gious committees and organizing conferences. He also participated in two eight-week assignments, first in 1981 as part of a small team of consultants to China on agricul ture statistics and farm planning and then in 1983 as part of a staff of 24 charged with designing a teach ing, research, and outreach pro gram for a new agricultural univer sity in Pakistan. In 1984, Bogle took over state wide program leadership of Okla homa’s Cooperative Extension Service. He helped rewrite a grant Randy Stabler, In cab, Is the seventh-generation farmer In Montgomery County. With him from left, is Uncle Drew, Robert, his dad, and Fred Lechlider, his brother-in law. They farm 3,500 acres in Montgomery County. crop with no marketing plan and turned around and sold the crop at the lowest point of the market? We are not speculators. We are using our own commodities on true hedges and it is a marketing tool I use. and it is working,” Stabler said. As for farming in the shadow of the Washington monument. Sta bler says he favors a balance between development and preser vation of farmland. There is still a lot of agriculture iq Montgomery County, but development is expanding also. He calls this expansion progress and said he would not want someone to come Alumnus T. Roy Bogle proposal to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for $860,000 tha: helped to put satellite dishes in 77 cooperative extension offices. He also helped initiate the use of com puters in all extension offices and served as chairman of the Southern Rural Development Center, the Southern Region Extension Direc tors, and the Southern Region Low-Impact Sustainable Agricul ture Council. As part of a year-long USDA project with Oklahoma State in 1992, Bogle served as senior ex tension advisor to Armenia’s Min istry of Agriculture, helping to es tablish an extension service there. in and with the stroke of a pen to stop the development without compensation for “ripping away my equity from me in land values on some of the land we own.” Much of the ground the Stablers farm has been in families for gener ations and the relationship between these families and the Stablers is good and long lasting. “We try to be good stewards of both the land and to the owners of the land,” Sta bler said. In the future, Stabler believes agriculture is changing for the bet ter. Fanners are doing a better job of telling their story. “I believe we have gotten on top of the fact that Delegates Approve Merger SYRACUSE, N.Y. The nation’s third largest dairy cooperative was farmed recently with the merger of Milk Marketing Inc., based in Strongsville, Ohio, and Eastern Milk Producers, Syra cuse, N.Y. The merger became effective April 1, by a vote of delegates, with each cooperative holding its own separate voting meetings. The consolidated cooperative has retained the name of Milk Marketing Inc., while also incor porating the “cow’s head” logo of Eastern. The combined membership now sits at 9,000 family farms, includ ing 1,600 affiliates, in 11 states from Indiana to Vermont. The merged dairy cooperative is the third largest nationally, in terms of total milk handled, and fourth nationally, in terms of The group worked under consider able hardships during a time of great political upheaval in Armen ia, going for days and sometimes weeks without fuel for cooking, heating, or even pumping water. Shortly after returning from Ar menia in 1993, Bogle retired from the Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service. When not traveling the country in their 30-foot recreational vehicle, he and wife Carol live in Hot Springs Village, Ark. They have two grown children, Alan and Laurie. we are not the bad guys that society was trying to make us out to be,” Stabler said. “Science and data are coming around to support us on this theory. “Government’s role will be less, which may not be all that bad in the long-term but could be stiffling in the short-term? Tire good farmers will manage this, andlfie bad man agers won’t “And consumers will have to pay for more of what they are beat ing on us for. If we are doing some thing wrong, according to society, and we must change, the consumer will bear the cost rather than agri culture taking the full brunt for the cost of this change.” member-milk marketed. The consolidated business will market and process almost 7 bil lion pounds of milk per year, val ued at about $1 billion. Headquarters will be in Strongs ville, while the Eastern headquar ters is to be a regional MMI office. In a joint statement from Her man Brubaker, chairman of MMI, and Lewis Gardner, president of Eastern, the merger represents “an historic event for dairy farmers and their cooperative. On March 28, in Craning, N.Y., 93 Eastern delegates voted unani mously to approve the merger. Those delegates represented 3,808 farms, or 99 percent of membership. The next day, at MMl’s meeting in Columbus, Ohio, 182 delegates also voted for the merger. Coinci dentally, the number of MMI dele gates voting also represented 99 percent membership. Members now own several manufacturing and marketing facilities. Included are Farmers Dairy Foods Inc., with four manufactur ing plants in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio: a mozzarella cheese plant in Waverly, N.Y., operated by Leprino Foods; Eastern Labor atory Services, a food and environ mental testing subsidiary; and Eastern Best Products, a food and farm product distribution subsidiary.
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