t f A22>Unca*ttrFaril*«, Saturday, July 22, 1995 Vanishing Acres: Despite Development Pressure, Farmers Find Ways To Thrive (ConUnwU from Pag* A2O) For Stahl, converting an old tobacco curing thad into a house for 1,800 layen yean ago used to be a large undertaking. In 1979. they constructed a house to main* tain6o,ooolayen. At the time, that was a huge enterprise, but pales in comparison to the 105,000- to 120,000-bird houses of today. According to Joe Stahl, the mentality is that many homeowners want to be the last one in and are resistant to any additional development Still, taking on the debt load for that size of operation proved chal lenging for the Stahls. Money remained tight. What troubled them the most was, at the begin ning of the 1980 s, developments skyrocketed in the county and township. A nearby farm went up for sale to developers. In 1988, die Stahls fell to pressure to put a sewer line through their property. Then, in the late 1980 s, develop ment reached a peak. Two new housing projects, Wheat Stone and Rosemont, were constructed to house ISO units near the Stahls. “The whole western border of our farm was affected by it,” said Joe Stahl. To this day. part of a bam remains gutted out near the One nearby farm property was turned into the South moore golf course. Valkovec said he prefers the land to be golf courses rather than houses, because at least some sense of open, lush fields remains. To this day, part of a barn remains gutted out near tbe entrance to development. entrance to the Rocemont develop ment, while the old homestead is being remodeled. Anita and John Valkovec. Klecknetsville, farm mote than 500 acres, including a great deal of rented land in various locations, in the late 1980 s, John Valkovec saw farmland being lost to develop ment at a rapid rate. “We saw that they were selling everything around us,” he said. “We got scared. We started look ing. We w«e going to move to Bradford County. There was a nice dairy farm up there.” Instead, the Valkovec’s decided they couldn’t leave the area they grew up in and loved. Anita said, “It was uprooting everything that we had lived with all of our lives—our families, the whole dairy operation. It was an incredibly hard decision to make.’ ’ Anita admitted, “We saw no future for us here anymore. The whole support of the ag business in the area was dying down.” John said that the ag business support infrastructure the equipment dealers, the repair shops, the supply centers are Fritz, who forms part-time, uses composted manure to reduce odor. Notice the pro ximity of the houses. The spreader is used In the composting process. located far away. Sometimes they sold for a huge amount of money, drive for miles just to obtain as 2 was turned into the Southmoore machine part Golf Course. ‘You don’t have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to milk the golf course. You don’t get up on Sunday and seven days a week to do that.’ “What do you do?” said Anita. “I mean, I hate the developers, I hate what they’re doing, but really the fanner has no one to leave the property to. So they sell it because they can no longer farm it And who buys it? The developer.” The questions that haunted the dairy family; at this late in life, do we want to go into debt? Can we afford to successfully relocate the business in light of depressed milk prices? John said, “The roots run deep. My grandparents moved here dur ing the Great Depression. There’s four generations of us living here now.” But the facts remain: the nearest veterinarian is 30 miles away, in Oley. Obtaining parts is a night mare, said John. They can waste a whole workday simply trying to rind parts often located as far away as Lancaster County for their equipment About seven years ago, accord ing to John, developers offered the Valkovecs $1 million for their 135-acre farmstead. One nearby property, which Valkovec said he prefers the land to be golf courses rather than houses because at least some sense of open, lush fields 1 remains. Old farmhouses still remain in the middle of some of the multi tude of housing developments in A neqrby farm went up for sale to develop ers. In 1988 , the Stahls fell to pressure to put a sewer line through their property. the area. According to Joe Stahl, the mentality is that many homeow ners want to be the last one in and are resistant to any additional development. Jacob Stahl said that some of the housing development neighbors also decided that preserving farm land was a good idea. When some neighbors “found out that we were not minded to sell the farm to development, oh, they were rejoicing. They were all hap py that’s what they wanted to hear.” Clearly, attitudes were chang ing. The move was on to preserve farmland in Lancaster County. The Stahls signed their farm to preservation. ’ ‘We were happy to see the farm preserved, and we were hoping that some farmland would be saved. But not all farmers share that opinion,” said Jacob. Organizations Raise $87,000 At Ephrata Fair EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.) Not only does the Ephrata Farm ers Day Association donate pro ceeds from the Ephrata Fair each year, but many nonprofit organi zations use their stands at the Eph rata Fair as their major fund rais ing project This year’s Ephrata Fair will be held from Tuesday, Sept 26 until Saturday, Sept. 30. Those organizations include Ephrata Area Adult Farmers, Soropdmist International of Lan caster, Society of Farm Women, “The whole time emphasis has changed,” said Fred Seipt. In limes past, we worried about timeliness, management, and many other business considera tions. Production and profitability were forefront Now, the “part of the business with the most profita bility gets the attention,” he said. But Seipt is sincere about what counts in his business. “I might as well admit it the entertainment center is more profitable. It gets the attention.’ ’ Seipt admitted that, recently, haymaking needed to be done and wasn’t because of the chores at the entertainment complex. “The farm is a profit center. also. Buj there’s a whole lot less effort involved in the entertain ment per dollar return than there is on the farm. “You don’t have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to milk the golf course. You don’t get up on Sunday and seven days a week to do that. “Just plain farming, without the retail store, without the ice cream, without the entertainment, would not survive in this area,’’ he said. ‘ ‘ls that because we’re farming for fun? My wife says, why don’t you pack it in? The point is, farming is our love and die changes we’ve made have allowed us to continue.” Editor’s Note: In the final part of the Vanishing Acres series, learning the art of public rela tions developing good neigh* bor relations can go a long way toward farm survivability. Our Mother of Perpetual Help Church, Lancaster County Poultry Association, Knights of Colum bus, Ephrata Rotary Club, Ephrata Recreation Center, Ephrata Pion eer Fire Company, Ephrata Area Republican Committee, Ephrata Lions Club, East Cocalico Lions Club, Democratic Committee of Lancaster County and Akron Lions Club. The total combined net profit for the stands occupied by these nonprofit organizations totaled more than $87,500 in 1994. T*»i
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