-Grower and Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 9,2002
212
Lancaster-York Heritage Region Agritourism Initiative Begins
LANCASTER (Lancaster
Co.) The recently created
Lancaster-York Heritage
Region is in the process de
veloping a map and guide to
farm markets within the
region. The purpose of the
map and guide is to connect
residents and visitors to the
area with seasonal farm-fresh
produce and value-added
products. The project will
also help promote farmers
who directly market the pro
duce they grow.
The map and guide will in
clude places that consumers
can access farm-fresh pro
duce such as historic down
town farmers’ markets,
farmers’ markets, country
markets, on-farm markets,
producers’ markets, on-farm
retail outlets, historic mills,
community supported agri
culture farms (CSAs), and
wineries. It will help con
sumers find locally grown
fruits, vegetables, meats,
dairy products, eggs, wines,
honey, milled grains, grapes,
etc.
Another important ele
ment of the project is the in
terpretive information that
the guide will provide on the
history of growing and pro
ducing food in the Lancaster-
York region. Among the
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topics that will be discussed
will be the importance of
farming to the region, the
people that farm the land, the
cultural influences of food,
and mention of how some
area businesses have evolved
from small on-farm produc
ers to large international
snack food corporations.
The map and guide will be
an attractive, full-color piece
with photos and a foldout
map. A complimentary Web
page is also being developed.
The project is being funded
through a grant from the
Pennsylvania Department of
Conservation and Natural
Resources, along with fund
ing from the two county con
vention and visitors bureaus.
The Lancaster County Plan
ning Commission is coordi
nating the development of
the map and guide.
The Lancaster-York Heri
tage Region is an official
Pennsylvania Heritage Park.
It was designated by then Lt.
Governor Mark Schweiker in
August 2001. The mission of
the Heritage Parks program
is to highlight Pennsylvania’s
unique industrial heritage to
promote tourism and eco
nomic development. Agricul
ture has been one of the
State’s leading industries for
more than 300 years.
A management/action plan
prepared for the Lancaster-
York Heritage Region pro
posed five interpretive
themes to implement the
goals of the State Heritage
Parks program in this area.
The map and guide to farm
fresh produce is part of the
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“foodways” theme of the
Lancaster-York Heritage
Region plan.
If you own, operate,
manage, or otherwise know
of a farm market that sells
seasonal farm-fresh produce
Insect Pest Not So Pesky
WOOSTER, Ohio The
strawberry bud weevil, an
insect that feeds on
strawberry plants, may not be
as much of a concern as once
originally thought.
Though labeled a pest be
cause of the considerable
damage the insect can do to
strawberry plants, entomolo
gists have found that the
strawberry bud weevil, com
monly known as the clipper,
restricts its range along a
field’s edge, making it easier
to control the insect through
smaller, more economical
pesticide applications.
“Monitoring weevils in un
sprayed fields over a three
four year period showed that
the insects move only about
8-10 meters (24-32 feet) per
year,” said Joe Kovach, of
Ohio State’s Integrated Pest
Management Program. “The
pest occurs more often on the
edge of the field rather than
the center, so why spray a
whole field if you can effec
tively control it by just spray
ing along the border?”
In addition, researchers
found that the damage the
insect does to a bud may con
tribute to an increase in the
size of the fruit that is pro
duced. The strawberry bud
in Lancaster or York County
that may be a good candidate
for the farm-fresh map and
guide, please send your
name, phone number, name
of the market, address, and
any other pertinent informa-
weevil feeds on unopened
flower buds, preventing them
from developing, and hence
producing little or no fruit.
Research has shown that this
clipping results in bigger fruit
size from the remaining buds
on the plant.
Kovach, a researcher with
the Ohio Agricultural Re
search and Development
Center in Wooster, Ohio, dis
cussed these latest research
findings at the Ohio Fruit
and Vegetable Growers Con
gress and Ohio Roadside
Marketing Conference in
February in Toledo, Ohio.
“Some fruit, like apples,
are compensators. That is,
they produce bigger fruit
when their buds are re
moved,” said Kovach.
“Recent research has shown
that strawberry plants do the
same thing.”
Studies have indicated that
if the prinlary bud is clipped,
the secondary bud produces
bigger fruit. Additionally, if
the secondary bud is clipped,
the primary and tertiary buds
produce bigger fruit.
“We think it takes a lot of
energy to open that flower
bud. If a bud is clipped before
it opens, then that energy is
allocated to other unopened
tion to Scott Standish,
Deputy Director for Long-
Range Planning, Lancaster
County Planning Commis
sion, 50 North Duke Street,
P.O. Box 83480, Lancaster,
PA 17608.
buds, hence producing larger
fruit,” noted Kovach.
Kovach stated that some
strawberry cultivars are
better compensators than
others. Seneca topped the list
of 11 compensating cultivars,
with a 44 percent increase in
fruit size after clipping the
primary bud. Mohawk, Mira
and Jewel followed with 20-
25 percent increase in fruit
size. Other cultivars, such as
Lateglow, Earliglow and
Cavendish rounded out the
list with 10 percent or less in
crease in fruit size.
“These results tell us that
maybe growers should plant
strawberries that compensate
for clipper injury in border
rows of the field, so bigger
fruit is produced with mini
mal yield loss. And then
plant non-compensation cul
tivars in the middle of the
field,” said Kovach.
Kovach stated that farm
ers might not have to spray as
much on compensating cul
tivars to control the insect
and recommends that farm
ers wait until at least one clip
is present on a primary bud
or up to 20 on secondary and
tertiary buds in order to con
tinue producing a successful
crop.