A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 5, 2003
Township Officials Learn About Legal Issues Of Ag Businesses
MICHELLE KUNJAPPU year, they can’t be sued unless
Lancaster Farming Staff there is a direct affect on health
STRASBURG (Lancaster Co.) and safety,” according to Kellett.
“We try to preserve a lot of In addition, a farm can make a
farmland around here, but we try substantial change if the produc
to preserve farms as well,” said er has a certified nutrient man-
Don Robinson, administrator, agement plan.
Lancaster County Conservation The law also allows direct mar-
District (LCCD). keting of products produced on
“There is no sense preserving
the farm if we can’t preserve the
farmer.”
Part of “preserving the farm
er” is enabling producers to oper
ate on-farm businesses. A meet
ing Monday evening at R Farm
in Strasburg brought together
county and township officials to
discuss sideline or incidental
businesses on the farm.
A picnic drew 130 people and
the subsequent meeting drew 70
, jry P -up*. * - ry,
Rapho Township supervisor; and Frank Howe, Leacock
Township supervisor discussed how their township han
dles farm businesses.
officials to have their questions
answered on legal aspects of on
farm businesses.
The Lancaster Chamber of
Commerce and the LCCD spon
sored the evening.
Christine Kellett, director of
the Penn State/Diddnson School
of Law’s Ag Law Research and
Education Center, presented
ideas on “what officials can do to
help keep farmers farming,” she
said.
Kellett first discussed the
“Right to Farm” Law, which “re
ally isn’t a rights law. It was orig
inally put together by legislators
to protect farmers from nuisance
ordinances and nuisance law
suits,” said Kellett.
Under the law, “if a farmer has
been farming the same way for a
Northern Bedford Wins State Judging Contest
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
LOYSBURG (Bedford Co.)
Northern Bedford FFA’s dairy
judging team emerged in first
during FFA Activities
at Penn State.
Carissa Ebersole, a senior and
Bedford County’s dairy princess,
and Andrew Ritchey, a sopho
more, 2003 graduate Jennifer
Cogan, and Kenny Stanton, Ev
erett, made up the winning team.
Jennifer and Michelle Clapper
are also on the team. The six
FFA members show dairy cattle
at area fairs as well as dairy
shows across the state.
FFA members judged on gen
eral knowledge, production re
cords, dairy management prac
tices, linear evaluation, and
ranking of pedigrees. The event
included a written exam as well
as actual judging of several class
es of Holstein and Jersey cows
with the additional requirement
of oral reasons for placement.
The team practiced judging
with emphasis on linear evalua
tion at the Randy Huntsman
farm at Martinsburg and also
practiced at the Steven Ritchey
farm. In addition, the members
gained judging experience in a
the farm despite zoning ord
nances of the local community
if 50 percent of the goods sold are
produced on the farm.
Putting signs out to advertise
products is allowed on site. How
ever “farmers are finding that if
they’re down a road, they’d like
to have the ability to put signs
down the road to point customers
in,” she said.
Township officials could look
for ways to “write ordinances to
help farmers, on a seasonal basis,
guide customers to the farm,” she
said.
A second law which helps
farmers is the Ag Area Security
Act. This law allows a landowner
or group of landowners with 250
contiguous acres to petition the
township to form an ag security
area.
With this law, the owners are
eligible for the conservation ease
ment program, and allows the
township to pass two-tier ordi
nances (less restrictions for ag op
erations).
Another helpful law is the
preferential taxation put forth in
the Clean and Green law, allow
ing farm and forest land to be
taxed at a lower rate (“use value”
as opposed to “fair market
spring event at Penn State and at
the All-American Show in
Harrisburg.
Ritchey finished third in indi
vidual judging and Stanton was
sixth.
The winning team received a
plaque and $l,OOO toward the
cost of attending the national
competition in Louisville in the
fall.
Brittany Boyd, also of North
ern Bedford, received a plaque
and $lOO for her speech on the
bald eagle. She received county
area and regional accolades and
qualified for state competition.
She will be a .sophomore at
Northern Bedford.
A team from Northern Bed
ford composed of Trent Border,
junior; Heather Sparks, senior;
and Nicki Reasy, sophomore,
competed in floriculture. Border
earned silver. Sparks and Reasy
each received a bronze medal.
Northern FFA members Tracy
Carl, Mary Ann Musselman,
Tracy Bupp, and Kaitlyn Eller
also competed in horse selection.
Tyler Hall competed in land
judging.
FFA advisers at Northern are
Kay Kring and James Over.
Host Roger Rohrer Introduces the farm,
which Includes a poultry operation and
quilt and mulch businesses.
Christine Kellett, director of the Ag law
Research and Education Center, pres
ented information on the legal issues of
on-farm businesses.
value,” according to Kellett.)
The law allows a producer to
use two acres toward direct sales
of ag-related products, or for a
rural enterprise.
Special-use or special-events
permits granted by the township
may be one way for farmers in
easement plans to host such
events as concerts, something
that they cannot do if they are in
the Clean and Green program.
Les Houck, Salisbury Town
ship supervisor; Lowell Fry,
Rapho Township supervisor; and
Frank Howe, Leacock Township
supervisor, discussed how their
townships have handled sideline
or incidental businesses.
Houck discussed how the
township is allowing farmers to
use small and outdated farm
buildings, such as old chicken
houses, for storage. Farmers may
also rent out buildings to small
businesses, he said.
Fry’s township allows business
“as long as it is complimentary,
incidental, and doesn’t interfere
with normal farming practices,”
he said. The township also allows
landowners to rent out buildings
“small business incubators,”
said Fry to enterprises such as
woodworking or lawn care.
Leacock Township, said Howe,
is in the process of rewriting ordi
nances and is looking at allowing
Brittany Boyd, an incom
ing Northern Bedford soph
omore, won first place on
the state FFA level in the
junior prepared speech
competition. Her topic was
the bald eagle.
ag-related
business in the
ag districts
“for the pur
pose of keeping farm families to
gether,” he said.
One example is allowing busi
nesses such as contractors that
are based on the farm. As long as
the business is fairly concealed on
the farm, they are approved by
the township, he said.
The evening also included an
introduction to R Farm by Roger
Rohrer. The 125-acre farm in-
Sallie Gregory, education coordinator for the LCCD,
presents information about water to children attending
Monday evening’s event.
U.S. Hog , Pig Inventory Down
WASHINGTON, D.C. U.S.
inventory of all hogs and pigs on
June 1, 2003, was 58.7 million
head. This was 3 percent below
June 1, 2002, and 1 percent
above March 1, 2003, according
to the National Agricultural Sta
tistics Service (NASS).
• Breeding inventory, at 5.94
million head, was down 4 percent
from June 1, 2002, and slightly
below last quarter.
• Market hog inventory, at
52.8 million head, was 2 percent
below last year and 1 percent
above last quarter."
The March-May 2003 U.S. pig
crop, at 25.1 million head, was 3
percent less than 2002, and 2 per
cent less than 2001. Sows farrow
ing during this period totaled
2.82 million head, 4 percent
below last year. The sows far
rowed during this quarter repre
sented 47 percent of the breeding
herd.
The average pigs per litter was
8.88 pigs saved per litter for the
March-May 2003 period, com
pared to 8.82 last year. Pigs saved
per litter by size of operation
ranged from 7.60 for operations
eludes a SO,OOO-bird poultry op
eration and a mulch and quilt
business.
Rohrer is employed with First
Union National Bank as an ag
lender. His wife, Kandy, is a full
time homemaker. She also oper
ates a home-based business,
“Kandy’s Quilts,” that produces
and markets approximately 100
log cabin quilts each year.
They are joined by three chil
dren: Todd is the main operator
of the farm, Mark is a milk haul
er, and Ashlee will be a senior in
high school.
with 1-99 hogs to 9.00 for opera
tions with more than 5,000 hogs
and pigs.
U.S. hog producers intend to
have 2.83 million sows farrow
during the June-August 2003
quarter, 2 percent below the actu
al farrowings during the same pe
riod in both 2002 and 2001. In
tended farrowings for September-
November 2003, at 2.79 million
sows, are 1 percent below the
same period in 2002, and 3 per
cent below 2001.
The total number of hogs
under contract, owned by opera
tions with over 5,000 head, but
raised by contractees, accounted
for 35 percent of the total U.S.
hog inventory, up from 32 per
cent last year.
REVISIONS: All inventory
and pig crop estimates for June
2002 through March 2003 were
reviewed using final pig crop, of
ficial slaughter, death loss, im-
port, and export data in U.S.
level balance sheets. Based on the
findings of this review, a slight
adjustment of less than one-half
percent was made to the March
L, 2003. inventory.