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Vol. 47 No. 44
N.J. Leaders Tout Ethanol Production In State
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
MICKLETON, NJ. New
Jersey Gov. James McGreevey
joined N.J. Ag Secretary Charles
Kuperus and the N.J. Farm Bu
reau at Brown Brothers Farm
here Tuesday to show support for
a proposed ethanol production
plant in the southern part of the
state.
The plant would be the first
ethanol production facility in the
Mid-Atlantic region, McGreevey
said. Among its potential bene
fits, he cited expanded markets
for farmers, the proximity of
southern New Jersey to major
gasoline refiners for blending
ethanol in the fuel, and the useful
co-products of ethanol produc
tion.
The proposed facility would be
August 23,2002
SIGN-UP PROCEDURE FOR
DAIRY PRODUCERS FOR
MILC BENEFITS
Dairy producers in Pennsylva
nia are now eligible to sign up for
the new Milk Income Loss Con
tract (MILC) payments that are
part of the 2002 Farm Bill. It is a
simple, five-step procedure. This
should be done at your local
Hagner Mister, Maryland secretary of agriculture, Joins the Produce Man after the
start of the Maryland State Fair cantaloupe-eating contest Tuesday afternoon at the
fairgrounds in Timonium. Read more about the fair this issue.
Photo by Andy Andrews, editor
www.lancasterfarming.com
capable of producing about 40
million gallons of ethanol,
120,000 tons of feed-grade dried
distiller’s grain, and 100,000 tons
of carbon dioxide, according to
Ed Stahl of the Garden State
Ethanol Project.
While the final site for the
plant remains to be chosen, Stahl
said the choices have been nar
rowed down to four locations in
Gloucester and Salem counties
south of Philadelphia. According
to McGreevey, the goal is for a
site to be selected by the first
quarter of next year.
Ag Secretary Kuperus touted
the project as the key to a suc
cessful grain business for the re
gion’s producers.
“We need to keep farmers on
the farmland, and make sure it’s
profitable,” Kuperus said.
Farm Services Agency (FSA) of
fice.
• Step 1. Get sign-up form
CCC-580 from USDA. You can
get this form in one of two ways.
Visit your local FSA office or
download the form online (via
Adobe Acrobat reader) at; http://
www.fsa.usda.gov/dafp/psd/
(Turn to Page Al 6)
Four Sections
Peter Furey, N.J. Farm Bureau
director, noted that U.S. lawmak
ers have been been developing
initiatives that include more co
operation between oil interests
and renewable fuel advocates.
“The sparring between petro
leum and ethanol is now finished.
They’ve joined hands,” he said.
Several renewable fuel stan
dard bills have been introduced
in Congress, and a recent analy
sis points to the energy security
and economy-stimulating bene
fits of renewable fuels such as
ethanol and biodiesel.
The Renewable Fuels Associa
tion, National Com Growers As
sociation, and National Biodiesel
Board applauded the analysis
conducted by economist John
Urbanckuk of AUS consultants.
Urbanckuk studied the impact
of increasing the renewable con
tent of motor vehicle fuels from
current levels to four percent by
2016. The study found that such
a renewable fuels standard would
increase the demand for corn
used to produce ethanol from
about 650 million bushels to 2.5
billion bushels by 2016, reduce
crude oil imports by an average
of 302 million barrels annually,
and create 300,000 new jobs by
2016. The study also included fig
ures for soybeans based on pro
jected biodiesel production.
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Weed Control: Landfill's Goats Maintain Greens
MICHELLE KUNJAPPU
Lancaster Farming Staff
NARVON (Chester Co.)
There are probably days when
you’ve envied gourmet food writ
ers while you think of the luxury
cuisine that it is their job to eat.
If weeds and grass are high
end fare, then the goats and
Saturday, August 31,2002
National Guernsey Queen Julie Soilenberger se
lects her favorite Guernsey from the family’s mixed
herd. Turn to page B 6 to read more about this
achieving young woman who credits her mom for in
stilling persistence to follow one’s dreams.
Photo by Lou Ann Good, food and family features editor
sheep on the hillsides of Lanches
ter Landfill are enjoying their
jobs, too.
For the past three spring sea
sons, an increasingly large group
of goats and sheep have been ar
riving at the landfill to keep
weeds and grass low on areas in
accessible to mowers.
“We started with 25 at first,
and have increased to 50 ani
mals,” according to Chester
County Solid Waste Authority
superintendent Gerald Myer.
Dr. Robert Herr and his wife
Betty operators of Nix Besser
Farm, a sheep and goat opera
tion purchase the animals for
the landfill and work as a consul
tants.
“What we’re trying to do is
keep it (vegetation) down,” said
Myer.
The 42 goats are responsible
for the weeds while the eight
sheep prefer to consume the
grass.
“There are quite a few weeds,
so there’s more eating for goats
than there is for the sheep,”
Myer said.
The animals have about 20
acres to graze, plus a sheltered
area with a shed, water, and rub
bing and climbing areas.
“Goats will browse and eat the
things that would become bushy
or trees,” said Betty Herr. The
animals chew down the vegeta
tion that landfill operators do not
want on the landfill, since large
bushes or trees could breach the
liner with their roots.
The flock is a mix of several
breeds, as the Herrs purchase
“anything that we feel that we
$36.00 Per Year
can buy reasonable enough that
will hardy enough,” she said.
They buy all nannies because
they tend to be the most reasona
bly priced.
A former executive director of
the landfill read about the use of
grazing animals to clear power
lines and pasture, and several
years later, when time allowed
for fencing and preparation, a
herd was introduced onto the
brush-covered hillside.
The public relations aspect of
having the animals as part of a
landfill has also been valuable,
according to Myer. “It’s a farm
ing community, so we felt that it
would appeal to them,” he said.
Penn State
Cuts Staff
UNIVERSITY PARK (Cen
tre Co.) Nineteen people are
losing their jobs in Penn State's
College of Agricultural Sciences
and dozens of additional posi
tions are being lost through attri
tion and other changes as a re
sult of funding from the state
and federal governments that
has been cut or has not kept up
with inflation in recent years.
The economic downturn that
contributed to state funding cuts
for fiscal year 2002-2003, com
bined with a multiyear erosion of
$l.OO Per Copy
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