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Of Williamsport Workshop
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
Pennsylvania is at a crossroads
in agriculture that will affect fu
ture generations and the status of
the i'.ommonwealth*s number one
industry.
Currently, 45 percent of Penn
sylvania’s farm operators are age
55 or older. There are two times as
many operators over the age of 65
as under the age of 35.
In the next 10 years, neatly one
quarter of the state’s 44,800 Cairns
will change hands. How we ad
dress this problem will affect agri
culture in Pennsylvania for gen
erations to come.
Working to assist in the suc
cessful transfer of family farms in
Pennsylvania and in turn contri
bute to the revitalization of our
rural communities, the Pennsylva
nia Farm Link program is spon
soring a Beginning and Retiring
Fanner Workshop at Hoss’s Steak
House in Williamsport on Mon
day, Nov. 10. The regional work
shop will address “Passing on the
Farm” issues, including business
planning, farm loan resources,
marketing ideas, start-up strate
gies, goal setting, legal aspects of
farm transfers, farm management,
and communication skills. It will
be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Par-
Leadership for a
Lancaster IT= =*p=f== i=
Poured
Walls
• Agriculture _
• Commercial • Residential L-— —
Call for Prices On:
• SCS approved Manure Storage Pits
• Basements • Retaining Walls
• Footers • Floors
Customer Satisfaction is Our Goal
Lancaster Poured Walls
2008 Horseshoe Rd. • Lancaster, PA • (717) 299-3974
ticipants will be required to pur
chase lunch at Hoss’s.
Participating agencies and indi
viduals include Pennsylvania
Farm Link, Penn State Coopera
tive Extension, Pennsylvania
Farm Bureau, Farm Credit, Farm
Service Agency, and a panel of lo
cal farmers.
According to Executive Direc
tor Marion Bowlan, “In spite of
the decline in family farms and the
obstacles that deter all but the
most devoted, many Pennsylva
nians are looking for ways to enter
fanning.” Beginning farmers are
finding it increasingly difficult to
acquire the capital needed to enter
farming.'
At the same time, Pennsylva
nia’s current farm operators ate
graying. The average age of a
farmer in Pennsylvania is now
over 52. Many farmers reaching
retirement age ate having difficul
ty phasing out of farming while
maintaining adequate resources
for retirement Farm Link is work
ing on innovative ways for retiring
farmers to gradually transfer their
farms to the next generation.
Individuals who want to enter
fanning or farmers considering re
tirement are invited to attend this
workshop on Monday, Nov. 10,
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Develop Independent
PEACH BOTTOM (Lancaster
Co.) A meeting for dairymen
who are seeking to take control of
their own markets was held recen
tly in the Hoffman Building at the
Solanco Fairgrounds in Quanyvil
le, according to Allen Weicksel, of
Peach Bottom.
Weicksel has been a leader
among an independent group of
dairy producers and Burners seek
ing to take control of their busines
ses by developing their own
markets.
The marketing efforts thus far
depend on investments by mem
bers of the organization. Accord
ing to Weicksel, the group has thus
Ear marketed more than $6 million
worth of product in Russia, such as
branded canned sweet com pro
duced for the market taste, and
dairy product
It is seeking to do mote.
Weicksel said he has a number
of “critical points and their mis
sions” in a plan to secure markets
that were discussed during the
meeting.
He said that while the marketing
effort has grown out of the south
ern Lancaster County region to
include a number of others in the
farmer-controlled Overseas Trade
Group, there is much to be done,
and much opportunity to take,
instead of waiting for those with
out a vested interest in success to
get around to deciding when and
where and how international mark-
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Farmers Meet To
ets can be developed.
Weicksel said that the group is
seeking only those farmers “who
want control of their milk markets,
who want to be businessmen and
develop markets and accept the
responsibility for their milk
production.”
Prior to the meeting, he said,
“There’s no reason to come if your
not willing to accept control and
responsibility for the dairy
product.”
Some of the discussion was to
focus on strategies for developing
markets.
Weicksel said it is important to
note that the group of farmers with
whom he is associated is not seek
ing government support programs,
only help in establishing markets.
“The group I work with is
against the floor price and want
government off their back and to
be totally independent.”
The floor price to which he
refered would be a government
decreed, across-the-board mini
mum price to the farmer of $ 14 per
hundredweight of milk, that has
been promoted by some groups as
a way to relieve financial stresses
on dairy farmers, especially family
farmers who have been going out
of business because prices
received haven’t been covering
costs of production.
Some of the strategies Weicksel
said were to be discussed during
the meeting included setting goals
Trade
and timetables.
• A fanner controlled overseas
trade group is critical to the
strategy. The Pa. Producers
Research and Development Com
mission Inc. (PPRDC), is to con
tinue that effort, with a goal of,
over the next two years, to con
tinue to develop an overseas dry
whole milk market with the capa
bility of handling 100,000 metric
tons of dry whole milk by 2000.
■ The creation and maintenance
of a farmer financial pool is to be
handled by the American Raw
Milk Producers Pricing Associa
tion Inc. (ARMPPA), a group
already established. It is to have
the goal of, over the next four
years, continuing to develop a
national membership of 35,000
dairy fanners who are willing
through an assessment program to
develop an overseas dry whole
milk market. The proposed assess
ment would be .0164 percentof the
gross monthly milk check and
would be paid into a trust fund.
• The movement of
fluid milk over the next
four years would be
controlled by the
ARMPPA. It has deve
loped a system of mov
ing milk from the Lan
caster region east into
New York. The goal is
to expand that system to
export fluid milk.
• A goal is to establish
a dry whole milk
cooperative by 1998.
The ideal would be a
dairy farmer coopera
tive with the capability
to produce 1.8 billion
pounds of raw whole
milk for shipment over
seas as dry whole milk.
Discussion at the meet
ing was to further some
of the possibilities for
the cooperative, such as
production contracts,
location, a base price,
etc.
• The finalization of
the program is to occur
when the two groups
PPRDC and
ARMPPA decide
and annoutice four
months prior to shut
down, to allow non
participating dairy far
mers to evaluate the
program and determine
if they want to join.
For more informa
tion, contact Weicksel
at 1718 Slate Hill Rd..
Peach Bottom, Pa., or
call (717) 548-3559. or
fax (717) 548-3642.