A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 22, 2000 (Continued from Page A 1) ances” are popping up across the country, and as close to home as the Virginia foothills and eastern Ohio. With a little bit of teamwork, cattle feeders here in Pennsylva nia can provide a missing link in the chain. In fact, they are the initial focus for the state’s new program, “Blueprint for Success for Cattle Feeding in Pennsylva nia.” In March, area cattle feeders and beef industry representa tives convened to get the pro gram details. Wendall Landis, who has hired in February as Pennsylvania’s director of beef quality assurance certification, was introduced. Described as the state’s new beef industry ad vocate and the beef producer’s ultimate resource person, Landis’ role as program director provides a one-stop shop for producer assistance with issues relating to both beef quality as surance and profitability. “I’m a communication link, a liaison between the industry and the cattle feeder. I’m here to help get people and resources to gether, provide tools, and get in formation to help produce quality cattle profitably.” For instance, Landis said, he can facilitate teleconferences to link industry representatives and experts to tackle a prob lems, answer a question, or handle an issue. He stressed that he is looking forward to sup porting the strengths and im proving the weaknesses at the farm level and providing an out side objective opinion. Firestone Farm Tires Call Us First In-The-Field Farm Tire Service Joe's Battery & Tire 2225 Union Blvd. Allentown, PA 18103 1-800-437-4961 New Program Aims To Strengthen Pennsy A committee cross-section of the industry, producers, exten sion, processing and allied agri businesses met for more than a year to look at ways to strengthen Pennsylvania’s $360 million a year beef industry and its producers. The results are what the com mittee believes the state’s cattle feeders “need to do ... to remain a viable part of agriculture in Pennsylvania and to help carry the industry in the next 10-20 years,” said Dr. John Comer ford, Penn State extension beef specialist. “This is not a one year program, it’s not a three year program, this is a continuing process, and I hope you realize it’s available now firestone and in the future.” A join initiative between Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and the Pennsylvania Beef Council, the Blueprint is an organized effort to begin and in tensive one-on-one education program linked to a Ten-Point Benchmark for Quality Cattle in Pennsylvania. The primary ob jective is twofold: to increase the beef value of cattle fed in Penn sylvania through benchmarks and best management practices and to see the industry grow here by improving profitability. 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Paul Slayton, executive direc tor of the Pennsylvania Beef Council, touched on the role of checkoff dollars in the program. “We had meetings to determine if the program fit in for checkoff dollars. This is a consumer driven,.quality assurance project and the answer is an over whelming ‘yes’.” Pennsylvania’s Blueprint pro gram was presented to the Cat for 90 Days! SOLLENBERGER SILOS CORP. Chambersburg, PA 17201 717-264-9588 SOMERSET BARN EQUIPMENT Somerset, PA 15501 814-445-5555 STAR SILOS Myerstown, PA 17067 717-866-5708 tlemen’s Beef Board in Denver, where the terminology was “tweaked” to reflect the con sumer driven value objectives, said Slayton, adding that “it’s going to be tweaked more, for new ideas and to continue to re flect where our efforts are best spent. “The job is vast, but we’ve got an energetic, committed profes sional young man and we’re releasing him today. He’s going to provide you with the tools,” Slayton said as he introduced program director Wendall Landis. 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