M6-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 14, 1998
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
For the past eight years the
Pennsylvania Vegetable Market
ing and Research Program has ag
gressively promoted Pennsylva
nia-grown vegetables in retail
markets and on newspaper food
pages. For the past two yean, they
have erected billboards promoting
Pennsylvania vegetables during
July and August These promo
tional efforts are funded by Penn
sylvania vegetable growen.
Billboards
In 1997, the Program posted IS
billboards across the state that re
minded consumers that Pennsyl
vania produce was “In Season
Now!” during July and early
August Billboards in the Pitts
burgh, Erie, Altoona, Shippens
burg. Central Susquehanna Val
ley, Scranton, Reading, and Ches
ter County areas were visible to an
estimated daily audience of
234,300 for 30 days. That trans
lates into a potential of 7 million
viewings although naturally most
of the viewings would be repeat
viewings for motorists who daily
used those highways. Of course,
there is also great value in having
a promotional message repeated
many times before the same audi
ence.
The billboard campaign was
made possible by a $lO,OOO
matching grant from the Pennsyl
vania Department of Agriculture.
It was a continuation of the Pro
gram’s 1996 billboard project,
also financed in part with a
$lO,OOO grant from the Depart
ment of Agriculture plus $5,000
from the Pennsylvania Vegetable
Growers Association.
The 1996 project inspired the
Department to work with the Food
Merchants Association on a Pro
duce Pilot Project to erect 25 bill
boards promoting Pennsylvania
produce in 1997 in six southeast
ern counties. These were in addi
tion to the IS erected by the Vege
table Program. They were the
same design as the Vegetable Pro
gram’s and featured an adaptation
of the Vegetable Program’s logo.
The pilot project coordinator, Jeff
Patton, also worked with super
markets to encourage them to pur
chase more local produce. The
Department of Agriculture plans
to expand this produce promotion
project in 1998.
Point-of-Purchase Materials
As part of the Program’s match
ing grant project, new supplies of
price cards and price paddles were
printed for the 1997 and 1998 sea
sons. The design of the full-color
price cards was coordinated with
the billboards while the price pad
dles were given a fresh new look,
proclaiming in green letters
“FRESH! Pennsylvania Pro
duce.”
For the past eight years, the Ve
getable Marketing and Research
Progarm has promoted Pennsyl
vania vegetables by supplying
growers with point-of-purchase
materials for their retail markets.
Besides the new materials printed
this year, growers could also order
full-color posters, “Good Nutri
tion from Asparagus to Zucchini”
consumer brochures, frequent
buyers posters and cards, full
color logo stickers, and logo
slicks.
As part of the Program’s match
ing grant, a larger 7” x 11” full
color price was printed especially
for supermarkets. It was the same
design as the smaller S” x 7” price
card distributed to growers. These
Vegetable Marketing, Research Program
Aggressively Promotes Pennsylvania Vegetables
were made available to the 104
stores in the Produce Pilot Project
as well as to all Weis Market and
BiLo food stores. The idea behind
these price cards is to enable the
supermarkets to identify their lo
cal produce as Pennsylvania
grown with attractive, profession
al signs comparable to signs distri
buted by promotion organizations
from other regions of the country.
The Program also supplied some
Giant Eagle stores with its “Penn
sylvania Proven Produce” posters.
Each year the Program sends
out press releases to newspapers
across the state highlighting the
different local vegetable crops as
they come into season. This year
the results have been especially
favorable.
The press release on sweet com
resulted in 29 articles in newspa
pers reaching 274,670 readers
while the release on cantaloupes
brought in 23 articles in papers
read by 447.416. Releases on to
matoes, peppers, snap beans, cole
crops, and pumpkins and squash
prompted an additional 77 arti
cles. So far a total of 129 articles
have been published in newspa
tpers read by neatly 1.8 million
people across the state. In the
years since the Vegetable Market
ing and Research Program began
its press relations efforts, hun
dreds of newspaper articles have
reached nearly 14 million readers
across the state.
Program Faces Referendum
Every five years the Vegetable
Marketing and Research faces a
grower referendum. The Program
was established in 1988 under the
Pennsylvania Agricultural Com
modities Marketing Act of 1968.
The Act requires the Secretary of
Agricultural to conduct a referen
dum of the affected growers every
five years to see if they want the
Program to continue. The Pro
gram is funded by annual assess
ments which all growers in the
stale ate required by law to pay.
The Vegetable Program’s assess
ment is $25 for any grower grow
ing one or more acres of vege
tables for sale plus $1.50 per acre
for each acre over 10 acres.
Greenhouse vegetable growers are
also required to pay the $25 as
sessment if they grow 1,000 sq. ft
of greenhouse vegetables plus
$1.50 for each 1,000 sq. ft. over
10,000 sq. ft All vegetables,
including sweet com, tomatoes,
snap beans, peas, pumpkins,
squash, cantaloupes, peppers, cab
bage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
ate included in the Program ex
cept white potatoes. Strawberries,
raspberries, blueberries, grapes
and other small fruit are not in
cluded. Greenhouse space used to
grow vegetable transplants is also
not included.
The ballots for the 1998 refer
endum will be mailed March 20 to
every grower currently on the list
of growers. Other growers who do
not receive a ballot in the mail can
obtain one by calling 717-787-
2376.
Vegetable Program Funds
14 Research Projects
Fourteen vegetable projects
will be funded in 1998 by the
Pennsylvania Vegetable Market
ing and Research Program, with
$22,500 in grower assessment
monies and $20,000 from the
Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers
Association. Two additional vege
table research projects are being
funded with a $3,700 grant from
Furman Foods.
Press Relations
Over the past 10 years the Pro
gram has contributed over
$185,000 to fund 92 research proj
ects, mostly at The Pennsylvania
State University. The Vegetable
Growers Association has supplied
another $lOO,OOO over that time
period.
The 1998 projects and their ob
jectives are listed below;
Management of Horsenettle to
Minimize Contamination in Har
vested Beans - M. VanGessel &
W. Kee - Univ. of Delaware
$2,250.
To examine the impact of Basa
gran or Reflex rate arid timing on
delaying the flowering of horse
nettle to prevent contamination of
the harvested beans with horsenet
tle fruit
Increasing Productivity of Plas
tic Sweet Com by Preventing
Stunting - T. Bjorkman - Cornell
University $2,500.
To evaluate the use of the bio
logical control agent Trichoderma
harzianum to reduce stunting and
increase die yield of early sweet
com grown under clear plastic.
Performance of Selected Bean
Varieties in Root Rot and Clean
Soils - G. Abawi - Cornell Univer
sity $3,105.
To determine and compare the
productivity of available bean cul
tivars grown in a field heavily in
fested with root rot pathogens and
a clean soil (fumigated section of
the same field).
Effect erf Tillage, Cover Crops,
Chicken Compost, and Crop Rota
tion on Root Rot Severity and
Yield of Snap Beans - G. Abawi -
Cornell University $3,105.
To evaluate the impact of cul
tural practices on root rot severity
and yield of snap beans. (Find
year of a four-year project).
Breeding Squash and Pumpkins
for Disease and Insect Resistance
- R.W. Robinson - New York
State Ag. Station $3,583.
To breed pumpkins, summer
squash and winter squash for re
sistance to diseases like watermel
on mosaic virus- land -2, cucum
ber mosaic virus, zucchini yellow
mosaic virus, powdery mildew,
and gummy stem blight (black rot)
plus resistance to cucumber
beetles.
Sweet Com IPM - S. Fleischer -
Penn Slate Univ. $3,614.
To improve the monitoring pro
gram using electronic technology
like the internet to collect and dis
seminate the information.
To evaluate transgenic sweet
com for horticultural properties
and insect control at Centre and
Lancaster County sites.
Vegetable Disease Forecasting
for Pennsylvania - A. Mac Nab -
Penn State Univ. $4,500.
To evaluate a disease forecast
network for Pennsylvania vege
table producers, and provide time
ly information to growers on fa
vorability of environment for dis
ease development, and times
when fungicide coverage is most
important
To compare measured environ
mental readings with values pre
dicted from National Weather Ser
vice data, and evaluate variation in
environmental readings measured
by different sensors and/or differ
ent locations.
Pumpkin Powdery Mildew - A.
Mac Nab & T. Elkner - Penn Slate
Univ. $1,721.
To evaluate the level of resis
tance and tolerance to powdery
mildew in new pumpkin cultivars.
Snap Bean White Mold and
Gray Mold Control - A. Mac Nab •
Billboards across the state remind consumers when
Pennsylvania produce Is In season.
Penn State Univ. $1,500.
To determine relative level of
white mold and gray mold toler
ance or resistance in selected
varieties of snap beans.
Cucurbit Viruses - A. Mac Nab
& E. Vorodi - Penn State Univ.
$1,612.
To help improve the knowledge
about what viruses ate most im
portant in Pennsylvania cucurbit
plantings.
To evaluate benefits of virus re
sistance now present in new sum
mer squash varieties.
Calcium Nutrition of Tomatoes
as Affected by Lime, Other Cal
cium Sources and Interacting Fac
tors - C. Smith • Penn State Univ.
$4,000.
To evaluate several lime types
and rates in their effectiveness in
increasing calcium uptake.
To determine the effect of
several other calcium sources on
uptake.
To determine if interacting fac
tors such as higher nitrogen and
potash rates play a meaningful
role in restricting calcium uptake.
Weed Control in Sweet Com:
Alternatives to Atrazine - M. Or
zolek & L. Otjen - Penn State
Univ. $4,000.
To evaluate both experimental
and non-labeling herbicides which
may be acceptable alternatives to
atrazine application in sweet com.
To develop data which may
help support a Section 18 for new
experimental herbicides in sweet
com for Pennsylvania growers.
Development of Early Blight
and Late Blight Resistant Toma
toes - M. Foolad • Penn Stale
Univ. $5,000.
To develop tomato cultivars
highly resistant to early blight and
tele blight diseases and adapted to
Pennsylvania conditions. Both
conventional and molecular/bio
technological approaches of gene
tic improvement will be em
ployed.
Ethylene Timing and Rate
Study - Brubaker Agronomic
Consulting Service $1,700.
To determine the best time and
rate for the application of ethylene
to processing tomatoes to achieve
concentrated ripening.
The Influence of Various Fer
tility Factors on Processing Toma
to Quality and Yield - Brubaker
Agronomic Consulting Service
$2,000.
To evaluate how zero, low,
medium and high rates of manure,
phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen
and calcium affect processing to
mato quality and yield.
Fresh Market Sweet Corn
Variety Trial - Bm baked Agro
nomic Consulting Service $1,200.
To evaluate 10 to 20 se/su fresh
market varieties in terms of early
vigor, rust resistance, pulling ease,
tip cover, green weight, ear size
and tip fill.
Pallman Elected
Program Chairman
Richard Pallman, a Clarks
Summit green wrap tomato grow
er, was elected the new chairman
of die Vegetable Marketing and
Research Board at the Board’s re
organizations! meeting on No
vember 3, 1997. Pallman is also
die president of the Pennsylvania
Vegetable Growers Association
although his term in that position
will end in January.
Pallman, who has served on the
Program’s Board since the begin
ning and on the former Vegetable
Research Advisory Board, suc
ceeds David Miller rtf York. Mil
ler, who served one year as chair
man, was elected vice chairman
succeeding Pallman in that posi
tion.
Daniel Schantz of Zionsvillc, a
former Board chairman, was
named to fill the third seat on the
Executive Committee. He suc
ceeds Frederick Funk of Millers
villc, another former chairman.
Besides Mr. Funk, the other
grower members of the Board are
Robert Constantine of Smock,
Don Geise of Northumberland,
William Goodwin of Lake City,
James Hoopes of Ulysses, Robert
Kilgore of Brogue, and Robert
Trax of Rnleyville, Herbert Geb
ley of the Kutztown Produce Auc
tion represents the collecting sales
agents. The Secretary of Agricul
ture, who appoints the other board
members, also sits on the Board.
Legal Action Taken
Against Non-Paying Growen
Legal action has again been
taken against several vegetable
growen who have not paid the an
nual assessment to the Program.
The action was authorized under
the regulations promulgated in
January 1994 by the Secretary of
Agriculture.
The Department of Agricul
ture’s Bureau of Market Develop
ment sent certified letters to grow
en who had failed to respond to
the 1996 assessment notices. Ten
growen received letters from the
Department of Agriculture’s legal
(Turn to Page A 47)