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Manager Tells Forum: No
(Continued from Page A 1)
research allowed.
This, in a county that has 8,250
acres of tobacco.
Lancaster County’s number one
field cash crop makes up 92 per
cent of the tobacco grown in the
state. While nearly SO percent of
the growers are of the Plain sects,
some areas of Millersville grow
40-60 acres of it at a bound. Tax
revenue alone from tobacco comes
to about $28,000 per acre.
Total income from sale in the
county is $18.13 million, accord
ing to the 1994-1995 state depart
ment of agriculture Statistical
Summary.
One year, research into a treat
ment for blue mold saved county
tobacco growers about $3 million,
according to Yocum.
And now the cutoff. What’s
going on?
Penn State, like other Northeast
universities, has been feeling the
pressure to downsize, cut costs,
and divest themselves of so-called
‘‘controversial” research. Even
though tobacco is a legal crop, the
connotations placed upon it by
environmental and special inter
ests has led to this decision.
As a result, Yocum
can serve in an exten
sion capacity as a source
of information. But
tobacco cannot be
grown on any approved
Penn State testing areas.
But all is not lost
There are many other
test programs still being
carried out with a great
deal of investment and
time by the Penn State
extension program,
including crops with
lots of promise such as
herbicide-resistant field
varieties of com and
soybeans, vegetables,
flower bedding, and
many others.
Yocum spoke to
about 18 producers and
agri-industry represen
tatives who attended the
forum, which discussed
some of the research
being conducted at the
field laboratory.
Ironically, the center
began as the tobacco
research station in 1909
and was based on a few
acres in Ephrata,
according to Yocum.
Shortly thereafter, the
center moved to 10
acres of rented ground
on Roseville Road, now
a fully developed site
with houses and profes
sional offices. The sta
tion was moved to
Landisville in the early
1950 s and, after a time,
moved again to a
40-acre plot that offi
cially became the Penn
State Southeast Field
Research Laboratory,
encompassing about 88
acres, in 1956.
Incidentally, the farm
sold for $40,000 in
1956. “At the time, the
neighbors said Penn
State was crazy to pay
that much money for a
farm,” said Yocum.
Now, with the new
assessment, the farm is
worth something on the
order of" about
$550,000, according to
Yocum.
In the mid-19505, “tobacco was
grown in every county except the
county with the city of Pitts
burgh,” although a great deal was
still grown in the southeastern part
of the state.
Penn State manages about 5,000
acres in the University Park region
and has research stations in at the
Fruit Research Center in Biglervil
le and a regional reserarch site in
Erie County.
The soils are the same in
Rockspring, home of the main
Penn State research center, as they
are in Lancaster. However, the
environments differ the southeast
ern portion, including Lancaster
County, is more humid with a lon
ger growing season compared to
Rockspring.
The Landisville center has been
a Pennsylvania National Weather
Service reporting station for so
long, that 50 years ago, Yocum
recalled, they were given an award
for 50 years of service.
The center encompasses 110
acres. Yocum is a full-time faculty
member. The center employs two
full-time technicians, a part-time
secretary, and three summer col-
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Most budgeting for the center
comes from state and federal sour
ces “your tax money,” said
Yocum. But because of constant
cutbacks in both federal and uni
versity money, the center has had
to rely on sources of income from
producer agencies such as the state
soybean board and other sources.
The center is host to many field
days, including a weed day in July,
during the year. It also publishes
the summer results on yields of
com, soybeans, small grains, and
forages. Yocum also takes time in
the winter to speak at crops days
and other events.
The research at Landisville,
according to Yocum, is all small
plot, sometimes down to a single
plant When Yocum first started
work at the station they planted
and harvested all the crops by
hand. As funding and other resour
ces improved, mechanical harvest
ing and measuring became the
mainstay at the center.
They examine a wide array of
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More Tobacco Research At Landisville
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cides and pesticides on com, soy
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variety testing, in addition to for
age varieties (60 entries in the
alfalfa trial), clover (20 entries),
and small grains (36 wheat variet
ies and 20 barley). There are 200
flowering crabapple trees under
lest, making up 75 varieties. This
year there are 60 different varieties
of germaniums, 116 varieties of
impatiens, and 30 super petunia
varieties.
Potato varieties in test include
the * 'novel colors,’ ’ such as the red
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skin, blue skin, Yukon gold, and
others. Also, wine and table grapes
are in scrutiny.
One of the big attractions is the
enormous growth of the herbicide
resistant and tolerant com and soy
bean varieties in test. These are
part of the annual weed and variety
tour scheduled on July 8 at the
cento’.
Like other universities, Penn
State has been feeling the budget
crunch. This will play (Hi how
much information on and work
with varieties can continue at the
center.
“The day of a lot of free infor
mation and free seeds arc gone,”
said Yocum. “Farmers must learn
this.”
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