Organic Dairy Co-op
(Continued from Page All)
dairy animals receiving certifica
tion for organic milk production.
The cooperative allows a transi
tion feeding program for new and
certifiable dairy herds. For nine
months, a “significant” portion of
the daily ration must consist of ccr
tifiably organically grown feed.
Then for the 90 days prior to certi
fication for organic milk sales, the
feed must be 100 percent certified
organic.
While producing milk and abs
taining from the use of antibiotics
and breeding and production hor
mones. including oxytocin (for
milk let-down), could be consid
ered financially risky business
practices for those who can’t
afford the loss in production of
Public Auction Register
LATE
SAT. DEC. 28 - 11 30AM
Commercial Items, Col
lectibles, Furniture, House
holds, Tools, Misc. 22 W. Clay
St, Lancaster, PA. (Between
Prince & Queen St.) Former
Lancaster RCS Bus Terminal.
Endy's Auction Service.
MON JAN 6 - 3PM Furniture,
Collectibles, Firearms, Tools
& Equipment, Appliances,
Jewelry, Household Murry
GUN AUCTION
Estate of Andrew C. Long,
With Additions
FRL, JAN. 10,1997
7:00 PM
Location: App. 40 miles north of Harrisburg,
PA, along Route 25, midway between Gratz &
Berrysburg, at Crossroads Sale & Market
I) Browning 12-Ga. Lightning Over & Under
w/Casc, I) Remington Wingmasler Mod. 870 TC
12-Ga.; 3) Winchester Mod. 61 22 MAG R.F
w/Redfield 2X-7X Scope; 4) Winchester Mod. 70
30-06 Spring. w/Leopold 2X-7X Scope; 5) Ithaca
12-Ga. MXB Over & Under w/Case (Custom
Crafted by Manifattura Armiprazzi) Presentation
Piece; 6) Winchester Mod. 43 218 BEE
w/Reclfield 3X-9X Scope; 7) Winchester Mod.
1200 12-Ga. w/Case; 8) Remington Gamemaster
760 .308 Win Caliber; 9) Remington Mod. 1100
12-Ga.; 10) Browning 12-Ga. Over & Under
w/Case, Made in Belgium; 11) H.Krieghoff OHG
ULM Germany Mod. 32 Over & Under 12-Ga.
w/Case; 12) Belgium Double-Barrel Hammer
Shotgun 12-Ga. by Enterprise Arms; 13)
Springfield Mod. 56 22-Cal.; 14) 2 Remington
12-Ga. Barrels; 15) Hand Gun - Colt Detective
Special 38 Special Caliber w/Holster; 16) Hand
Gun - Colt ACE 22 Long Rifle Automatic; 17)
Winchester Mod. 12 16-Ga. w/Choke; 18)
Winchester Mod. 12 12-Ga. w/Choke; 19) Ithaca
Mod. 37 12-Ga.; 20) Ithaca Mod. 37 12-Ga.; 21)
Stevens Mod. 73 22-Cal.; 22) Stevens Mod. 35
22-Cal.; 23) H&R Single Barrel 12-Ga.; 24)
Champion Single Barrel 10-Ga.; 25) H&R Single
Barrel 12-Ga.; 26) Mossberg Bolt Action 20-Ga.;
27) Winchester Mod. 12 12-Ga.; 28) L.C. Smith
Double Barrel 12-Ga.; 29) Hawkins Muzzle
Loader 50-Cal.; 30) Winchester Mod. 94 Carbine,
Pre-64
Misc. Items; Bamboo Fishing Rod, Shakespeare
Wonder Rod & 1 Fishing Tackle Box w/Fishing
Items.
REGULAR AUCTION BEGINS AT 5:00 PM
Community Banks, N.A., Executor
of Andrew C. Long Estate
Shirley G. Helwig, VP/TO
TERMS: Cash. Personal checks accepted
only from persons having an established
account w/auctioneer or approval prior to auc
tion. Items Subject to 6% PA Sales Tax. All
Federal & State Gun Laws will be Observed
AUCTIONEERS: Hockey #AU229L (717-758-6004)
& Dockey-Rombei ger #AUI6B3L (758-4597) &
Deppen #AUI9S7L
* TS : 111 nilaa l« I7OM ?
J P 1..-. 711 1004 3
milk or replacement animals, it is
part of the mainstay of the CROPP
organization.
In a letter from Fiscus, he stated,
”... the standards which have arise
in (CROPP) membership require
ments and testing have been estab
lished by the consumer.
“An example of this consumer
oriented quality control is seen in
the prohibition of antibiotic use on
these dairies.
“This is not a requirement of
mostorganic certification agencies
nationwide, and probably will not
be a requirement of the national
standards which will be imple
mented by the USDA in the near
future.
“The prohibition of antibiotics
Closing Date Monday 5:00 P.M
of each week’s publication
Auction Emponum, 23 N
Water Street, Lititz Clarence
& Dorothy Baker Auction
E M. Murry Associates
TUES. JAN 7 - 9:3OAM Farm
Equipment, Household, Misc
1/2 Mi. South of Topton
Toward Fleetwood, Turn onto
Old Road Toward Bowers,
Go 1000 Ft, Turn into the
Farm Lane at Eli Nolt Mail
box, Berks Co., PA. Selling for
Eli Nolt. Ralph W Zettlemoy
er Auctioneer
and hormones (breeding and lacta
tion) came about in CROPP herds
because the people buying the milk
were primarily concerned about
antibiotic residues in milk in addi
tion to the media alarm about
(BST).”
“Consumers that want milk with
these qualities are willing to pay
the premium prices which these
practices require on the farm, and
then some.”
Hoover said maintaining the
antibiotic prohibition has not
proven to be a problem for j)im,
since he had been drifting toward
production with as few purchased
inputs as possible.
He said he had virtually stopped
using many of the inputs anyway,
when he first heard of CROPP dur
ing the 1980 s. He said he drifted
away from using as much fertilizer
after he compared the local land
grant university extension recom
mendations and found they were
about half of what his fertilizer
cooperative was recommending
for his farm.
About that time, he had also had
a bad experience with retained her
bicidal activity on an alfalfa crop.
What happened was that he
sprayed an herbicide on com and
then drought set in. “I cut the com
early, and put in alfalfa.” Hoover
said. ‘The spray didn’t affect the
weeds, but it damaged the alfalfa.
“My concerns were that I felt I
would raise better alfalfa with no
spray,” Hoover said.
About 1988, he quit using the
services of the fertilizer coopera
tive,, though he continues soil
testing.
About the same time, he heard
about CROPP.
“I saw an article in the newspap
er that they were beginning to sell
organic milk, but CROPP was
about three hours away, so it
wasn’t feasible (to ship milk
there).”
Then, in late 1993, Hoover
attended a CROPP informational
meeting and saw that he met most
of the qualifications for raising the
organic milk.
About the beginning of 1994, he
decided to join CROPP and he got
certified in Match through the
OCIA.
ss
At first, CROPP provided
Hoover with a list of organic feed
TOBACCO FARMERS:
We at Penn Leaf are concerned about
the well-being of all Tobacco Farmers.
Please contact us before you sign any
contracts and let us help you make your
decision. Jerry Winstead, who has over
37 years experience working with
tobacco companies and tobacco farmers,
is now associated with Penn Leaf.
Please call us and let Jerry's experience
work for you.
We support all tobacco Farmers 100%
and hope you will support us at Penn
Leaf.
Thank you Farmers
We are paying top prices for type 609 and
41 tobacco Call if you need trucking
Seed and Cotton twine for sale
Orders taken for bale boxes
PENN LEAF
TOBACCO CO.
IVING DATE!
Mon 12/30, Tues 12/3 i. Thurs 1/2 &
Fn 1/3 - 7 30-4
'USE
TERRE HILI
Tues 12/31,Thurs 1/2 & Fn 1/3 8-4
Grading & Receiving’ George & John Martin
PARADISE WAREHOUSE TERRE HILL WAREHOUSE
Buyer & Trucker. Buyer, Larry Weaver
Bob Carver Home #717-154-7477
Home #717-442-8600 Mobile #71 7-468-6897
Mobile #717-171-3511 Between Terre Hill &
n Bowmansville
„ B °n. 92 , Off 625 on Sawmill Rd
Paradise, PA 17566 (Henry Carman Farm)
717-687-9517 717-445-8309
JW' , 'sh'tfzZ s l -*?*
- Lancaster famringrSaturday;-December-H,- IM6-A3l
suppliers, though later he got an
expanded list from OCIA.
He buys all his grain and protein
products and he is linked in with
about four local organic feed cash
crop farmers who supply his
needs.
Every year he has to be recerti
fied and inspected. If there are no
problems, there is one inspection.
Problems can result in additional
inspections.
However, CROPP has a diffe
rent inspection system than what
applies in general to the average
dairy producer. The average pro
ducer doesn’t really have an effec
tive appeal process comparatively.
In the CROPP system, there is
the organic inspector who reports
to a review committee, the farmer
reports to the review committee
and the farmer works with the
inspector.
Both Fiscus and Hoover said the
arrangement prevents inspectors
from carrying to much unchecked
authority.
Hoover said that initial inspec
tion fee for OCIA is about $125
and they get a percent out of the
sales, based on an income-derived
sliding scale fee.
Member-farmers of CROPP are
all self-bonded and use certificates
of deposit (CDs) for collateral that
are in the farmer’s name and the
cooperative’s name. The coopera
tive uses that as collateral.
In a more recent letter, Fiscus
stated, “Joining our cooperative
truly means that you become an
onwer and we now work for you.
Tn order for the cooperative to
deliver the service you need as a
member/landowner, we need you
to make a commitment to the co-op
both financially and, more impor
tantly to cooperative marketing.
“there are two investment
requirements in our cooperative
which all members satisfy. These
investments help the cooperative
to finance part of the growth that
each new farmer creates.
“The first investment is called a
capital base plan, which is an entry
level investment based on the pro
jected hundredweights to be sold
in the coming year.
“This investment is handled uni
quely by CROPP in that your
investment is in the form of a certi-
ficate of deposit in your name and
the cooperative’s name, which is
placed in an agreed-upon bank.
“You receive the interest and, if
you leave the cooperative, the CD
is released.
“We allow producers in new
regions six months to satisfy the
FARM
EQUIPMENT
capital base plan requirement,
which gives them time to repay
their initial feed investment and to
establish a relationship of integrity
with CROPP.”
A second investment required
for CROPP membership is a 25
cents per cwt contribution which
goes into a revolving loan fund,
use to finance the co-op’s
inventory.
“This 25 cents is automatically
credited to your revolving fund
account and is in addition to your
cash pay price,” he said. “This
amounts to an extra 23 cents over
and above your cash pay price.”
Fiscus said that actually seeing
CROPP sell its locally produced
Organic Valley label milk pro
ducts in mainstream groceries in
the Mid-Atlantic states is months,
if not more than a year away, but
farmers in southern Pennsylvania
and Maryland arc being sought
now to build a production base.
Once producers and processors
and retailers arc in line, the engine
of supply and demand for this pro
duct can begin to work.
Since it may lake up to almost
two years to become certified
organic, Fiscus said he needs to
know of interest soon so he can
help producers start getting on line
with what they need to do.
One thing he said is guaranteed
is the the base pay price for mid-
Atlantic CROPP farmers would be
75 cents per cwL above the usual
CROPP pay price.
“When the conventional milk
price climbs to within $3 of the
then-cunent organic pay price, the
organic price will climb accord
ingly to maintain a $3 minimum
premium,” he stated. “The conven
tional milk price for this pool will
be defined as the Federal Order
No. 2 published blend price for
your zone.”
Pay is based on component val
ues, which are determined on the
overall values of each component
as determined by the products pro
duced for the entiie cooperative.
Fiscus said he will be making
farm visits to help farmers who
have not yet begun to prepare for
certification as organic producers.
He said it should be easier to get
certified now. rather than later,
basically because the federal gov
ernment hasn’t yet become too
involved.
Hoover said that, as far as he’s
concerned. “If I consider my milk
market to the conventional market,
mine is real stable.”
For more information, call Fis
cus at (301) 478-2103.