(Continued from P«go A 1)
Though he spent his child
hood helping tend the farm,
Dave did take an off-farm job
one summer, driving truck for a
roofing company. Despite the
good wages, one summer was
enough to convince him that
farming was what he really
wanted to do with his life.
“I hated it,” recalls this quiet
spoken farmer of his brief, off
farm job. “I never wanted to go
back.”
After high school graduation
in 1949, he left again to pursue a
two-year agricultural-degree at
Penn State. But when a key
employee left within a year,
Evans cancelled his college
plans and come home for good to
manage Margaretta Furnace
Farms, with the Guernsey herd
then doubled to 80 head.
In 1953, neighborhood farm
daughter Janet Gilbert became
his wife. Over the years, the
family grew by three daughters,
Victoria, Christine and Corinne,
expanding to include their fami
lies and five grandchildren
through the ensuing decades.
Dairying was phased out in
1971, giving way to more grain
and beef production. Today,
Evans farms 900 acres within a
five-mile radius of the farm
planted to com, wheat, barley,
soybeans and hay and annually
feeds out 50-80 head of fat cat
tle. Just as his own farming
interests have altered over the
years, so Dave Evans has
watched agriculture in general
to adapt to progress.
“Marketing has changed,”
asserts this grain producer, who
has a keen eye for the daily com
modity price swings. “When we
started, a farmer could make a
living with a strong back. Now, a
farmer has to be a business per
son. You must market right, buy
right, sell right.”
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“It’s just different today,”
Evans insists.
While commodity marketing
plays a big role in Evans farm
ing operation, he has no hard
and-fast philosophy, except per
haps to remain flexible.
“We store, we spot market,
we contract,” Evans ticks off as
his marketing methods. Having
40,000 bushels worth of bin stor
age room has, in most years,
proven to be a reasonable hedge
against grain price vulnerabili
ty. But, he is quick to point out
that this past season, with grain
prices- leveraging downward
since harvest, goes against most
marketers’ experience.
Figuring soybean futures to
be somewhat flat long-range,
Evans leaned heavier toward
corn acres for this planting sea
son. And, though a long-time,
no-till advocate, Evans will
readily lug a chisel plow onto
fields as he sees a need based on
soil and weather conditions.
While farming is Dave Evans
lifelong vocation, the machine
love of his life is not the tractors
or combines neatly parked away
in the farm sheds. That honor
goes to another motorized “vehi
cle” parked nearby in its own
private shelter: his Cessna 172
four-seater, private airplane.
Evans became intrigued with
flying in the 19505, taking
lessons between cropping and
milking cows. Lack of time and
the cost of flying limited his
involvement. Life without a
milking string left a little more
free time; and, in 1971, he pur
chased his first plane. Then,
Dave Evans got serious about
learning to fly.
A 1400-foot airstrip, licensed
since 1972, is kept neatly mown,
with the nearby small, open
sided shelter housing his prized
plane. Six years ago, daughter
Corinne also earned her wings;
now, father and daughter often
fly activities together. Janet,
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though not a pilot herself, enjoys
passenger status. Evans holds
an instrument rating, allowing
him to fly in less than clear, per
fect weather, while Corinne is
working on her instrument
clearance.
“It’s a different world up
there,” grins Evans, whose
enthusiasm for flying is almost
contagious. “And, since our
daughter flies, it’s even more
enjoyable.”
Still, the sleek little Cessna -
his third and “maybe last” plane
- is not just a hobby aircraft, but
an important farm tool. Evans
often flies to pick up equipment
parts, holding machinery down
time to a minimum during criti
cal planting and harvest win
dows.
The plane has also brought
opportunities for the Evans’ to
travel and vacation in unique
ways. Though he has never
flown north into Canada, Evans
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often sets a heading for south, to
places like the Atlantic coast,
Florida, the Bahamas. Both
Pennsylvania’s Ag Progress
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ble Empire Days agriculture
expositions are near-annual des
tinations on the Evans’ flight
log. And, when a large group of
private planes converged a few
years ago on the Dominican
Republic for a celebration and
tour honoring the landing of
Christopher Columbus, Dave
and Corinne were among the
pilots.
Evans is quick to emphasize
the safety of flying, though - of
all things - a bag of potato chips
once gave them a brief scare.
“We usually fly in the 3,000 to
4,000 feet range, but that day
we headed up to 7,000 feet,”
explains Evans. “Janet had an
unopened bag of potato chips
along in the back. All of a sud
den there was this loud bang.”
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Though the exploding sound
initially startled the Evans, con
cern turned to laughter when
they realized the air pressure
change had caused the chip bag
to burst. It also left them won
dering what would have hap
pened if they had flown at a
higher altitude the day they had
hauled a whole case of York
County potato chips along on a
flight.
Sandwiched between crop
ping operations, moving cattle
and flight plans, Dave Evans
has also made time to serve the
York agriculture community in
many ways. He is chairman of
the York Farm Services commit
tee, chairs the Agway local com
mittee, serves on the
Agribusiness committee of the
Chamber of Commerce and has
been active on the York Farm
and Natural Land Trust for land
preservation.
(Turn to P«fl« A 29)
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