A2B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 18, 2003
Agro 2003, Opening Ceremonies Highlight New, Improved Farm Show
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) “Wait until you see it,”
Gov. Mark Schweiker told more
than 1,200 gathered in the large
banquet room late last week at
the Harrisburg Hilton and Tow
ers. “We’re going to show you a
building that will give you the
same feelings you had in your
belly when you were a little boy.”
Late last week, Schweiker re
ferred to the more than $B6 mil
lion spent on the major new
Farm Show Complex additions
and renovations during the Penn
sylvania Farm Show Agro 2003
International Celebration. This
was a day before the Grand
Opening of the 2003 Pennsylva
nia Farm Show.
Schweiker also reminded more
than 200 international agri-in
dustry guests from 76 countries
that the Farm Show provides a
real showcase of the “might of
Pennsylvania farming, agribusi
ness, and farm families.”
Agro 2003 is the annual kick
off event for the eight-day long
new and expanded Farm Show.
The Farm Show is not only about
the business of farming, Schweik
er noted, but shows the “grit and
determination to till the soil and
grow the enterprise,” he said.
The farm life “is more than a
paycheck and a means to a living
it is an honorable way of life.”
First Union Bank was honored during Agro 2003. From
left, Sam Hayes, state secretary of agriculture; Darvin
Boyd, senior vice president, director of Agri-Finance, First
Union Bank; and Roger Rohrer, vice president, business
banking senior relationship manager, First Union Bank.
Schweiker capped the two-da>
event with an introduction to
Farm Show visitors in the Large
Arena on opening day last Satur
day.
But the evening before the
Farm Show official!) opened.
Agro 2003 honored businesses
and related agri-industr>
throughout the state, in addition
to international agribusiness.
Schweiker recounted his expe
riences in dealing with rural
Pennsylvania during the Que
creek Mine Disaster last August,
when “nine for nine” miners
were rescued after a cave-in, and
what that taught him.
The advantage, he told those
at Agro 2003, was the “built-in
value system” of rural Pennsylva
nia. Schweiker said, “Some coun
tries don’t know that value sys
tem. ... but they know it’s
fruitful, they know it pays off.
It’s part of our collective energy,
part of our collective psyche.”
No country can outdo that de
termination and personal spirit,
no one can “outdo the Pennsylva
nia farmer,” he told the visitors.
With eyes brimming with tears,
Schweiker recounted eight years
with the current administration
(assuming the leadership role as
former Gov. Tom Ridge was an
nounced as President George
Bush’s appointment to head the
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s . . . I I s . 111. .
Turner Dairy was honored at Agro 2003 last week. From left, Sam Hayes, state secre
tary of agriculture; Chuck Turner Sr.; and Chuck Turner Jr.
Agriculture commodity representatives gather for the reception at the start of Agro
2003 late last week.
. The state P° lice .^9 l^,*^,:^.a>WH # ,V®a/;* aJ Fanji Show.