A32-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 12, 2000
Gov. Ridge Commits $9O Million
Capital Investment From General Fund
To Farm Show, Evaluation Center,
And Veternarian Facilities
The Pennsylvania Farm Show
Complex will receive $66.2 mil
lion of the total to give the
nearly 70-year-old facility a
“facelift” of the existing historic
buildings. In addition, a new
250,000 square-foot Exposition
Center will be built and will in
clude a trade show exhibit hall,
meeting rooms and conference
support facilities. A covered
bridge will interconnect with the
existing Large Area. A new
parking garage also will be built
with interconnections linking it
to the new Expo Center and ex
isting complex. Dreams of a
hotel on site are also in the
works.
The new facilities will be built
above the flood plain and the re
novations will address existing
flooding issues. A new heating
and air conditioning system for
the entire complex will be in
stalled. Design of the new Expo
Center will begin later this year,
with construction to commence
by summer of 2001. The new
Center should be completed by
December of 2002-in time for
the 2003 Farm Show.
“It doesn’t get any better for
Agriculture than this,” said
Dennis Grumbine, Farm Show
director.
In his now famous evangelis
tic and thumbs up style, Penn
sylvania’s Secretary of
Agriculture, Samuel Hayes Jr.,
introduced Gov. Ridge and at
one point amid vigorous, and
loud clapping and cheering,
shouted into the speakers, “Let’s
hear it for the ‘Gov’.” He cred
ited Ridge and the legislators
with producing the best budget
for agriculture in history.
“We have never had a better
ag budget than we do now,”
Hayes said. “We also want to
thank our legislators for this tre
(Continued from Pago A 1)
mendous support of agriculture
in our state. This is for the con
sumer as well as the farmer. We
want to be good stewards of the
capital we are using. That’s why
we want to keep the Farm Show
Complex in the city of Harris
burg and the Capitol Region.
“This also sends a clear mes
sage to farmers that we recog
nize their accomplishments.
There is no job as demanding as
work on the family farm. We are
leading the nation in farmland
preservation. And here we are
turning some of your tax dollars
back into your profession, back
into your ‘love’. We are evolving
as the state-of-the-art Common-
wealth.”
Penn’s veterinary school will
receive $lB million of the total to
build a new, first rate teaching
and research building. For more
than 100 years, Penn’s veteri
nary graduates have contributed
immensely to Pennsylvania’s ag
riculture industry and their role
has become even more vital to
farmers in today’s competitive
environment. The new building
will provide modern teaching
and learning spaces, and replace
the antiquated facilities cur
rently in use. The school’s inter
disciplinary research programs
will be greatly enhanced by the
three laboratory floors.
Judith Rodin, president of the
University of Pennsylvania said
Gov. Ridge is a staunch sup
porter of Pennsylvania agricul
ture.
“Gov. Ridge recognizes the
important role Penn’s School of
Veterinary Medicine and its
graduates play in maintaining
the health, welfare and success
of the Commonwealth’s live
stock, poultry, and equine in
dustries,” she said. “We are
profoundly grateful to the Gov
ernor for his support for the new
teaching and research building
and for so decisively advancing
the School’s historic mission.”
Among the areas of investiga
tion in the new building will be
infectious disease, a major reem
erging threat to animal and
human health; animal
transgenesis and germ cell re
search, an exciting biomedical
research area that promises
healthier and more productive
food animals; comparative med
ical genetics; and comparative
oncology.
Penn’s vet school contributes
greatly to agriculture through its
many services to farmers and
owners of horses and companion
animals. The School’s two hos
pitals have the largest caseload
of any veterinary university
teaching hospital in the nation
and they play an important role
in maintaining the health and
productivity of the State’s live
stock and equine industry.
The $5.6 million committed
the Livestock Evaluation
Center, will allow the Pennsyl
vania Department of Agricul
ture (PDA) to build a new state
of-the-art facility near the Ag
Progress Days site in Centre
County. The new Center will re
place an old, outdated facility
that now sits near Beaver Sta
dium on Penn State’s main
campus. Construction of the
new Center should be complete
by spring 2002.
PDA directs the Livestock
Evaluation Center through its
Agricultural Generators
Spectrum Detroit Diesel
Automatic
L.P. Gas, Diesel,
Natural Gas Generators
5 to 2,000 KW
UpECI&g AG PROGRESS PA/ APPI
1 WEEK 2000 5% lil I I
! Offer good on NEW generators in sfycfd w| W II ,
IEIEE HIP
K ~ v *,♦» * -*.✓ > « «r <r ->n*«mv >
Power Generation Systems Specialists
Bureau of Animal Health and
Diagnostic Services. The Center
is a testing station that conducts
controlled and uniform feeding
and management tests on either
individual studs or sire groups
within the three major species of
meat animals so that genetic dif
ferences can be measured and
evaluated. The Center is a
unique facility that makes a con
tribution in solving problems
facing the livestock industry.
Experimental feedlots for cattle,
swine and sheep are essential
components for the comprehen
sive research program.
The purpose of the Evalua
tion Center is to investigate
major genetic, biological, physi
cal, and managerial influences
on production efficiency and
product quality in all segments
of the production cycle for beef
cattle, sheep, and swine. It is
critically important to provide a
uniform or standard protocol to
test the animals for economi
cally important traits that can
be used to enhance the commer
cial livestock industry of Penn
sylvania.
“Pennsylvania is positioned
in the center of a major trans
portation and market network
that provides meat products to
the majority of the Northeast,”
Hayes said. “The Livestock
Evaluation Center is a valuable
Average Farm Feed
Costs for Handy
Reference
To help farmers across the state to
have handy reference of commodity
input costs in their feeding operations
for DHIA record sheets or to develop
livestock feed cost data, here’s last
week’s average costs of various ingred
ients as compiled from regional reports
across the state of Pennsylvania.
Remember, these are averages, so you
Service - Rental - New & Used Units In Stock
Wn^MWMWsrßreMs
330 Fonderwhite Road, Lebanon, PA 17042
Call Leonard Martin 717-273-4544
Fax 717-273-5186
tool to help producers keep the
Pennsylvania meat packers sup
plied with quality products for
consumers.”
Gov. Ridge noted that in
planning for this announce
ment, the Adminstration set
aside money in the state’s gen
eral fund specifically for these
projects to avoid the need to
float bonds. This good manage
ment decision will save taxpay
ers $5O million in interest.
The hard work and dedica
tion of Pennsylvania’s farm
families continues to keep agri
culture the number one industry
of Pennsylvania. With $4.1 bil
lion in cash receipts, Keystone
farmers and agribusinesses are
the leading agricultural produc
ers in the northeastern United
States and some of the most pro
ductive in the country.
Agriculture employs more
than 800,000 people and con
tributes more than 44 billion
each year to the state’s economy
this includes support services
such as food processing, market
ing, transportation, as well as
manufacturing all the products
and equipment used on the
farm.
After the formal program, a
reception was held in the exhibit
hall, and Gov. Ridge visited the
Dauphin County 4-H Fair that
was in progress in the building.
will need to adjust your figures up or
down according to your location and the
quality of your crop.
Com, No.2y 2.16 bu., 3.87 cwt.
Wheat, N 0.2 —1.98 bu., 3.31 cwt.
Barley, N 0.3 —1.37 bu., 2.92 cwt.
Oats, N 0.2 —1.32 bu., 4.13 cwt.
Soybeans, No.l —4.15 bu., 6.93 cwt.
Ear Com 70.42 ton, 3.5 cwt.
Alfalfa Hay 97.50 ton, 4.88 cwt.
Mixed Hay —102.50 ton, 5.13 cwt.
Timothy Hay—loo.oo ton, 5.0 cwt.
got mi?
P.T.O.
Generators
25 to 135 KW Units
In Stock!