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A36-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 21,2001
‘Boot Camp’ Teaches
Ag Conservation Basics
(Continued from Page A 1)
Monday’s “Level II” training
was directed toward employees
with one to three years experi
ence, building on last year’s
two training sessions. A possi-,
ble Level HI training may be
offered in the future.
NRCS representatives and
cooperative extension agents
were instructors for the various
classes.
Participants broke evenly in
two groups in either an engi
neering or agronomy track for
the week. In the engineering
track, students identified soils,
studied hydrology, and were
educated on construction ma
terials. After studying con
struction materials they would
also went on a field trip to a
concrete plant.
Soil health, the revised soil
loss equation, pasture manage
Although much of the training was conducted outdoors,
students in the engineering track studied soil close up
even in the classroom.
Lefever Joins
Lancaster Farming
(Continued from Page A 1) ■
ick County, Maryland.
“My experience growing up
was mostly about the production
side of farming,” Lefever said.
“We worked hard to grow feed
and milk the cows. The milk
truck came every other day and
we made a good living.”
With the increasing need in
today’s economy for farmers to
actively sell their own products,
Lefever said he is impressed by
the growing number of them
finding innovative ways to pro
duce and market while demon
strating a strong commitment to
land and the environment.
From the home farm, Lefever
went on to earn a bachelor’s
degree in biology from Goshen
College and a certificate in sec
ondary education from Millers
ville University.
After employment in several
jobs related to his education as
well as a stint in construction,
Lefever returned to his farming
roots in 1997 when he took the
position on the Maryland farm.
“I’ve taken various jobs and
enjoyed some of them,” Lefever
said. “But I discovered that part
of me would always be lost with
out some kind of connection to
agriculture.”
In 1998, Lefever and his wife,
Katrina, bought the 10-acre re
mains of a turn-of-the-century
dairy farm near Hanover where
they garden and raise Jacob
sheep.
Lefever is grateful for his
wife’s own strong connection to
the land and livestock.
“Whenever she has an oppor
tunity, she’s either planting
something or working with the
ment, and plant identification
were the topics for the agron
omy track. Trips to farms to
note pasture and intensive
grazing system was also on the
agenda.
The two tracks converged on
Thursday and Friday for gen
eral conservation planning, as
participants discussed how to
plan a farm for economic via
bility and conservation of
water and soil.
Many of the participants
were returnees from last year’s
training.
Laurel Rush, Washington
County Conservation District,
is an agriculture conservation
technician who attended the
boot camp last year after only
three weeks on the job.
“I couldn’t wait to talk to
come back and talk to everyone
else to find out what their expe
riences and ideas were,” said
animals,” he said.
In the years since college, Le
fever has been steadily engaged
in various kinds of writing, in
cluding correspondent work for
the Hanover Evening Sun and
the York Sunday News.
He credits his mother, Ruth,
for influencing his interest in
writing and reading. She has
written articles for various
church publications and maga
zines.
Acording to Andy Andrews,
Lancaster Farming editor, Le
fever’s responsibities will center
on dairy.
“Dave will be responsible for
our key issues, including the
June Dairy Issue, dairy special
publications, government pro
grams, and work on foraging
around, the Pennsylvania
Forage and Grassland Council
section,” Andrews said.
“Of course, Dave will also
contribute to other coverage
areas as well.”
For Lefever, writing has
always been a tool for trying to
make sense of complex situa
tions and problems, whatever
they might be.
“Along with farming, writing
is one of the biggest challenges I
can think of,” he said. “You
never get to the end of it.”
Lefever said it’s satisfying to
have the opportunity to combine
two central parts of his life
agriculture and writing to
earn a living.
“Some of the most creative
and dedicated people 1 meet are
farmers and others involved in
agriculture,” he said. “I look
forward to meeting many more
of them as part of my new job.”
Twenty-nine technicians spent a week at Fort Indiantown Gap to further their educa
tion about agronomy and engineering in agriculture.
Rush. “That’s where you learn
the most. It helped define what
I was going to do in my
county.”
In the classroom phase, stu
dents in the agronomy track
learned that sand, silt, clay,
bacteria, and fungi can be
thought of as a living thing, ac
cording to Barry Frant/., re
source conservationist for the
NRCS.
Soil has a structure similar
to a funnel, said Frantz, getting
denser the further down into
the earth.
The amount of tillage deter
mines how much the cell struc
ture at the top is maintained.
Mid Atlantic Farm Credit
Reports To Stockholders
(Continued from Page A32)'
trayed logging as corporate
greed or as weird, because the
media continually interviewed
outspoken but strange charac
ters such as one who wore a T
shirt proclaiming “I eat owls.”
For the environmentalist view
point, the media selected a calm,
likeable, parent saying all they
want are clean water and air for
their children.
News perspectives such as
this fuels anti-logging attitudes.
And the same tactics are used
toward American agriculture,
which is often pictured as using
harmful chemicals and polluting
the air with animal odors, Vin
cent said.
Farmers know these extreme*
aren’t true, but the truth is dis
torted for those removed three
generations from the farm.
Unfortunately, public policy
is being based on ignorance,
Vincent said. To get out of the
mess we are in, we must fight
the enemy ignorance.
“Tell people the truth. We are
the true environmentalists. We
pay the price first if we do bad
things to food and water. If we
weren’t doing an amazing job,
people would be starving by
now,” Vincent said of agricul
ture.
Democracy works but it is not
a spectator sport. Rural popula
tion is considered disposable
and politically impotent because
of its small numbers compared
to urban areas. But, Vincent be
lieves, if the 56 million people
who live in rural areas band to
gether, they can make a differ
ence.
“The world is run by those
who show up. Commit yourself
to one hour a week to write a
letter to the editor or go to the
school to talk about who you are
and what you do,” Vincent said.
Frantz also educated students
on the importance of worms, as
their tunnels act like direct
conduits for rain to penetrate
the soil.
In the engineering track, stu
dents learned about engineer
ing equations used to
determine moisture, density,
and compaction levels for soil,
which could be plotted on a
curve based on the percentage
of moisture to determine the
maximum density.
Behavior characteristics of
soil, such as plasticity and con
sistency, are also important to
an engineering plan.
Youths are ready to hear from
people with hope instead of
hearing that they are inheriting
a dying planet.
“If we aren’t careful, we will
become an importer of raw
products and exporter of crazy
environmental ideas,” Vincent
said.
At the meeting, J. Robert
Frazee and Gerrie McGuire,
chief financial officer, elabo
rated on the inner workings of
Farm Credit.
This past year, $34 million
were returned to member
owners despite incurring signifi
cant costs in consolidating five
associations into one. The con
solidation was planned in order
to save taxes to make Mid Atla
ntic stronger than ever.
“We could not have achieved
successes without the support of
the people we serve. Much has
been done and much remains to
be done, but commitment to
serving member-owners remains
a priority,” Frazee said.
These are some of the goals
that Farm Credit accomplished
this past year;
• Diversified loan portfolio
risk so that no industry repre
sents more than 22 percent of
portfolio.
• Strong capital base because
they are the largest association
in the AgFirst Farm Credit dis
trict and the eighth largest in the
country.
• Improved efficiency by trim
ming $2.2 million in operating
costs as a result of the consolida
tion.
• Expanded mortgage pro
gram to meet changing needs of
members.
• Influence in communicating
agriculture perspectives with
legislators.
Members also voted on board
member nominees. The results
will be announced July 9.
Pa. Dairies
Benefit From
DMLA Program
(continued from Page A 1)
check in the mail for $25,000.
Capp has been managing his
own dairy operation for a year
and a half, starting up again
after his father retired from
dairying three years ago.
Capp said he’s already been
putting the money to use on the
farm.
“It helps you get caught after
on bills (and) make improve
ments you don’t have enough
cash flow to do,” he said.
Capp said that so far he’s
used the money to replace a skid
loader, upgrade the free stall
barn to make it more comfort
able, and replace a few cows.
Payment rates under the new
signup are about 65 cents per
hundred weight (CWT) Total
payment eligibility under (he
former program was limited to
26,000 CWT of milk per base
year, but DMLA 111 raises that
limit to 39,000 CWT.
At a limit of 39,000 CWT, all
of the milk from a herd of about
175 cows or less with a typical
rolling herd average would be el
igible for payment under the
new program. That includes
most of the herds in southeast
ern Pennsylvania.
According to Jennifer Her
shey, executive director of the
FSA offices in Lebanon and
Dauphin counties, a herd pro
ducing 15,000 CWT of milk per
year —a typical level for the
area— would be eligible for
about $9,700 of relief.
Hershey said that 146 of the
320 dairy farms in Lebanon
County signed up under the first
two DMLA programs. As of
April 16, another 42 have ap
plied for the new payments.
The payments are intended to
offset the 35 percent reduction
in year 2000 milk prices from
the previous 5-year average,
Hershey said. She also noted
that relief is important to farm
ers still recovering from the
drought of 1999.
“A lot of farmers were still
buying feed until last fall to
make up for the drought,” she
said.
Hershey said that although
many dairy producers in the
past declined to accept govern
ment payments, more are doing
so in order to remain viable.
“We’re seeing many new pro
ducers. . . saying ‘this is of eco
nomic significance to my
program,’” she said.
Farmers interested in apply
ing for the new funds should
contact their county FSA office
as soon as possible.