AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 28, 2003
OPINION
Happy Birthday, Potato Chip!
The United States Potato Board and the Snack Food Association
remind us: this is the 150th birthday of the potato chip.
The chip was an invention by accident. As it goes, in 1853, in a
place called the Moon Lake Hotel in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., a chef by
the name of George Crum was responding to a claim from a customer
at dinner that a potato was simply sliced too thickly. Apparently,
Crum decided he was going to show the customer up. So he mocking
ly sliced a potato paper-thin, fried it, and sprinkled salt on top. “Thin
enough,” Crum probably jeered.
But instead of getting even, the insulting act was a stroke of mar
keting genius the customer beamed with approval. Thus, the debut
of the “potato chip.”
We reprint this story courtesy of the Empire State Potato Growers
Inc., who are gracious to send us their The Potato Newsletter, this one
dated Summer 2003. According to the newsletter, Americans munch
about “seven pounds of these salty snacks each year, generating more
than $6 billion in retail sales.” The U.S. potato chip industry employs
more than 65,000 people and utilizes more than II percent of the po
tatoes produced by U.S. farmers each year.
There’ve been many 150th birthday celebrations so far for the pota
to chip. Both the potato board and the Snack Food Association put on
a couple of these contests:
• “Routing for Dollars” display for the birthday category. The Feb
ruary contest enticed potato manufactures and retail partners to cre
ate chip displays that increased chip sales. Prize: $lO,OOO. Winner:
Dan Charles of Husman Snack Foods Company, Cincinnati, and re
tailer Dave Brown of Harvest Supermarket in Greensburg, Ind. They
took first with their display, which depicts a restaurant setting at the
Moon Lake Hotel.
• The board-hosted Chipping Potato Seminar in Jacksonville, Fla.,
in March attracted more than 120 chips growers and manufactures for
a two-day educational meeting. Afterward, SNAXPO 2003 was con
ducted in San Francisco.
• You can complete a survey and a chance to win free chips from
Snack Food Association member companies. Just go to http://
www.potatohelp.com/chips/.
Empire State Potato Growers reminds us of the Cornell Potato
Field Day on July 9. A meeting will take place at the Thompson Vege
table Crops Research Farm in Freeville, N.Y. A busr will depart at 10
a.m. for the plant-breeding program. The meeting and lunch are free.
RSVP to Don Halseth, (607) 255-5460 or e-mail deh3@comell.edu.
Saturday, June 28
Kutztown Pa. German Festival,
Fairgrounds, Kutztown, thru
July 6, (888) 674-6136.
Windy City Antique Show, Don
ald E. Stephens Convention
Center, Rosemont, 111., thru
June 29, Saturday 10 a.m.-6
p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m.-5
p.m., (800) 526-2724.
Indiana County Lamb Classic,
Indiana County Fairgrounds,
(724)459-7570.
Cherry Fair and Early American
Craft Show, Schaefferstown,
10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Composting Seminar, Indian Or
chard, Copes Lane, Media, 10
a.m., (610) 696-3500.
Farm and Home Safety Day
Camp, Centre County Grange
Fairgrounds, Centre Hail,
(814) 355-4897.
How To Reach Us
To address a letter to the editor:
• By fax: (717) 733-6058
• By regular mail:
Editor, Lancaster Farming
P.O. Box 609,1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
• By e-mail:
farniing@lancasterfarming.com
Please note: Include your full
name, return address, and
phone number on the letter.
Lancaster Farming reserves the
right to edit the letter to fit and
is not responsible for returning
unsolicited mail.
Sunday,Juno 29
Day at the Farm, Pennwood
Farms, Berlin, noon-4 p.m.
Pa. Governor’s School for the Ag
ricultural Sciences, University
Park, thru Aug. 2, (814)
865-7521.
Monday. June 30
Wolfs Comer Fair,-thru July 5,
(814) 755-4222.
Northumberland County’s Ag
Awareness Tour, Wolfe’s
Crossroads Pavilion, Sunbury,
1:30 p.m.,(570) 988-3950.
Ag and Rural Enterprises Sym
posium, “R” Farm, home of
Roger Rohrer family, Stras
burg, 5 p.m., (717) 880-0848.
Ag Awareness Tour, Wolfe’s
Crossroads Pavilion near Sun
bury, 1:30 p.m., (570)
988-3950.
Connecting Local Organic Farms
to Institutions Wholesale Mar
kets, Upper Forty Farm,
Cromwell, Ct., 9 a.m.-2:30
p.m„ (203) 974-8473.
Tuesday, July 1
Transition Cow Management
Workshop, Ralph Frye Farm,
Latrobe, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.,
(814) 865-4700.
Cumberland Co-op Sheep and
Wool Growers’ Wool Pool,
Carlisle Fairgrounds, 8 a.m.-
11:30 a.m.
Wednesday, July 2
Public Hearing Milk Marketing
Board Areas 4 and 6, Room
(Turn to Page A 27)
Editor's note: Because of prior
commitments, Leon Ressler has in
vited a guest columnist for Now Is
The Time this week.
Mary Beth Grove
Extension Agent
Dairy/Environmenl
For June Dairy Month
A big “thank you” to all area dairy
families for their hard work in pro
viding clean, fresh milk for America.
As most folks know, the current price
farmers are receiving for their milk is
the same as it was in the 19705, but
with a 2003 cost of production. Why
not celebrate “June is Dairy Month”
by purchasing an extra gallon of milk
and another pound of cheese this
weekend at the store?
Have you heard about the Lancas
ter Dairy Promotion Committee?
This is a dynamic group of farm
women and men who put in many
volunteer hours with several young
ladies throughout our county to
promote the dairy industry and milk
products. This past year, 27 young
ladies traveled 5,300 miles promoting
our industry at more than 200 store
promotions, farm events, fairs, pa
rades, and schools throughout Lan
caster. This past weekend, a new
Lancaster County Dairy Princess,
Carla Martin, was crowned to reprc-
AT LAST,
THE VICTORY
Background Scripture:
Ezra 5 through 6.
Devotional Reading:
Psalms 96:1-13,
It was in 538 BC that Cyrus issued
his decree permitting the Jews in
exile to return to Jerusalem and re
build their temple. That was the good
news for which the Jews had waited
during their captivity in Babylon.
The bad news, they would learn, is
that there would be all kinds of obst
acles to keep them from realizing
their dream opposition from the
neighboring peoples, changes in the
Persian regimes, a paucity of re
sources in the ruined city of Jerusa
lem, and a lack of consistent dedicat
ion among the returned exiles.
The first attempt at rebuilding the
temple was begun by the first re
turned exiles under Sheshbazzar. But
the hostility of their neighbors and
the sad state of ruined Jerusalem
brought it to a halt. It is unclear just
how many times the project was
started and stopped, but many of the
exiles must have concluded that their
Lancaster Farming
An Award-Winning Farm Newspaper
• PDA Friend of Agriculture Award, 2003
• Keystone Awards 1993,1995 • PennAg Industries 1992
• PACD Media Award 1996 • Berks Ag-Busmess Council 2000
• Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the
Northeast Farm Communicators
sent the dairy industry in Lancaster
(see story page B 2). Anyone with
ideas for a promotion or interested in
learning more about the Dairy
Promotion Committee should con
tact Dale Smith (717) 336-0553.
To Plant Com
Better Late Than Never?
Have you gotten your com planted
yet? Paul Craig, Penn State regional
forage agronomist, states that it is be
coming increasingly risky to plant
com at this late date. Nutrient and
tonnage-wise, it may still be advanta
geous to plant com for silage up until
July 4, unless we get an early frost.
The real question is; when do we run
the risk of fall frost?
With frost, com plants die before
maturing and drying down complete
ly. The leaves are killed and the ears
never mature, while the stalks stay
wet, making for a real mess. Low
lying areas can be “frost pockets,” so
if you still planting com, the
slopes and tops of hills may work
better for late planting.
If you are still planting com, high
er populations and narrow rows have
a decided advantage for late-planted
com. Craig notes you should be
planting 85- to 90-day hybrids, in
stead of the traditionally used 110- to
120-day hybrid varieties. You should
increase planting rates to
30,000-32,000 plants per acre for si
lage. If you nave a 30-inch com
planter, why not plant at 16,000 and
then double back and plant again on
16-inch rows? This will allow for a
plant population of 32,000/acre.
Another consideration for late
planted corn is protection from com
borers. Com borers are caterpillar in
sects that hatch from eggs laid by fe
male moths. Typically there are two
generations affecting com in Penn
sylvania. The adults of the first
generation seek out late-planted com
to lay their eggs in. This second
generation has the potential to signif
icantly injure later planted com. Pro
ducers should select hybrids with ge
netically enhanced protection lor
com borer protection. Be sure to dis
cuss this important consideration
with your seed supplier.
After July 4, consider planting a
BMR forage sorghum, which can
yield upward of IS tons per acre.
Traditionally, sorghum-sudan grass
es have been used in our area to
hedge against drought; but, in this
wet year, they may be a better alter
city and its temple would never be
completed.
A Congruence
So, what finally turned the tide so
that at last the temple was com
pleted? As in so many human en
deavors, it was a matter of the con
gruence of several forces and
developments.
Number one was certainly the tire
less force of two prime movers: the
prophets Haggai and Zechariah. The
writer of Ezra tells us: “Now the
prophets, Haggai and Zechari
ah... prophesied to the Jews of
Judah and Jerusalem in the name of
the God of Israel. Then Zerubbabe
-1... and Jeshua... arose and began
to rebuild the house of God which is
in Jerusalem; and with them were
the prophets of God, helping them”
(Ezra 5:1,2). These two prophets
lighted a fire beneath the lay people
to get the job done.
So the story of the rebuilding of
the temple was one of early failures
and abortive efforts, of despair and
faith, of opposition and eventual vic
tory. Why 515 BC instead of 538
BC? Apart from the fact that a great
temple is not built in a day, the situa
tion in 515 was right, whereas in 538
it had hot been. It took time to over
come all the obstacles.
But underlying these 22 years of
hope and frustration, of two steps
forward and two steps backward,
was the providence of God. As the
writer says, “But the eye of their God
was upon the elders of the Jews....”
and it was God’s ‘providential
watchfulness,” as one scholar terms
it, that brought this project to final
fruition.
Green Lights, Red Flags
What does this have to do with us?
native than getting nothing from
your fields. The sorghums will be es
pecially valuable if we have drought
conditions in the late summer. Here’s
hoping for a late fall!
To Realize It’s Not
Too Early To
Plan For Harvest
Bob Anderson, Lancaster exten
sion agronomy agent, asserts that
now is the time to plan for fall com
harvest. This may seem strange, but
with the cooler temperatures, less sun
than normal, and later planting
dates, most growers should be think
ing about harvest times before
they’re here.
For example, a 95-day com hybrid
requires approximately 2,200 GDD
(growing degree days) to mature, so
it should have been planted by June
13-20 for grain. A 105-day com hy
brid requires approximately 2,400
GDD to mature, so these hybrids
should have been planted no later
than June 6-13 for grain. A 115-day
com hybrid requires approximately
2,600 GDD to mature.
Most of the com that has already
been planted in Lancaster is 2-3
weeks behind schedule. To estimate
harvest date, move the planting date
forward that amount of time. The av
erage GDD accumulation rate for
Lancaster County is 20 per day in
June, 23.5 per day in July, 21.5 per
day in August, and IS per day in
September. If you take the number of
days in each month since your effec
tive planting date, multiplied by the
number of GDD per day for the
month and add each month’s GDD
together, you can estimate when the
corn will be mature and ready to har
vest.
Maturity for silage is approxi
mately ISO GDD (10 days) less than
grain. If our weather continues to be
cool, com harvest will be consid
erably later than normal and many
fields may not mature for grain. In
short, we may have to find a lot more
silo space to take advantage of the
com that is already planted. Any ad
ditional corn planted will definitely
be silo bound. So you should plan
now for a lot of com silage and not
much com grain.
Quote of the Week:
“The main difference between a
farmer and a pigeon is that the pi
geon can still make a deposit on a
new John Deere. ”
Anonymous
We, too, find ourselves confronted
with challenges to do the work of
God. We build churches, establish
ministries, and begin projects that
are inspired by our desire to glorify
God. Like the returned exiles, we
begin with great enthusiasm and, like
them, we encounter stops and starts,
green lights and red flags, progress
and defeat along the way. Like them,
we need prophetic voices to stir us
and revitalize our faith. It requires
cooperation between different call
ings and sometimes between differ
ent generations if the victory is to be
won.
Sometimes, as with the returned
exiles, it also requires an opponent or
more. Tattenai filled that bill for the
Jews in Jerusalem. The governor of
the province Beyond the River, Tat
tenai and some associates came to
Jerusalem to challenge the Jews:
“Who gave you a decree to build this
house and to finish this structure?”
This was not so much an honest
question as it was a challenge and
censure. He would be reporting this
project to the King of Persia, Darius,
so “What are the names of the men
who are building this building?”
(5:3,4).
This was not an idle threat, for
Tattenai sent a letter of complaint to
Darius, a letter that ironically, in
stead of hindering or stopping the
project of the returned exiles, gave it
the boost it needed. Darius not only
told Tattenai and his associates not
to hinder the Jews, but to help them.
Finally, the returned exiles were able
to celebrate “the dedication of this
house of God with joy.” (6:16).
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955'
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
—by—
Lancaster Farming, Inc
A Stemman Enterprise
William J. Burgess General Manager
Andy Andrews, Editor
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