Lancaster Farming: Ephrata, PA




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Wolff, N.Y. Dairy Farmers Honored at Convention

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:33pm.

Chris Torres
Staff Writer

More than 500 people attended Holstein Association USA’s annual convention in Sacramento, Calif. this week with Dennis Wolff and a pair of farmers from New York State walking away with two of the association’s most prestigious honors.

Wolff, Pennsylvania’s secretary of agriculture, was awarded the 2009 Distinguished Leadership Award.

He was selected after receiving numerous letters of recommendations from supporters and for his past work as a farmer in Columbia County.

“He is a past registered Holstein breeder and he just has, through his service, always tended to keep dairymen at the top of his mind,” said Lindsay Worden, communications manager for Holstein Association USA.

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USDA Considers Making Dairy Imports Pay for Promotion

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:30pm.

Steve Taylor
Correspondent

WASHINGTON — On its face it looks like a slam-dunk: imports of dairy products should be paying for promotion just the way milk produced in the United States is subject to a mandatory assessment to build markets.

A rule under consideration by USDA would compel importers to pay seven and a half cents per hundredweight of milk equivalent on all dairy products entering the country, with the money collected turned over to the entities that run marketing programs funded with the 15 cents per hundredweight levied against farmers on all domestic milk production.

The rule, predictably, is being pushed by the organizations that already are the recipients of the 15-cent checkoff, including the United Dairy Industry Association and Dairy Marketing Inc., many of whose officials have filed pleas to USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service to quickly impose the assessment on imported dairy products.

Not so fast, say a mix of foreign governments, cheese importers, U.S.

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Weatherman Calls for Damp Summer

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:28pm.

Charlene M. Shupp
Espenshade
Special Sections Editor

MANHEIM, Pa. — Drought will not be a problem this year, according to Joe Calhoun, speaking at Tuesday’s “Farming for Success” crop tour here at the Penn State Landisville Research Farm.

The WGAL meteorologist predicted a damp summer.

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Deadly Beetle Discovered for First Time in N.Y.

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:24pm.

Krishna Ramanujan
Cornell Chronicle

The deadly invasive emerald ash borer —a beetle that destroys ash trees — has been discovered for the first time in New York state by Cornell researchers.

“The threat is extreme,” said E. Richard Hoebeke, a senior extension associate in entomology at Cornell.

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No-Tillers Have a Field Day in Gap

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:22pm.

Dick Wanner
Lancaster Farming Staff

GAP, Pa. — If you want to start a no-till program on your farm, the most important part of your program isn’t the kind of planter you use, it’s not the crop variety you plant, it’s not the kind of cover crop you use, and it’s not the herbicide you use to knock your cover crop down before planting.

For the beginning no-tiller, the most important part of the program is patience.

Gideon Stoltzfus said it.

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Holstein Field Night Draws Big, Hopeful Crowd

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:20pm.

Dave Lefever
Editor

LEOLA, Pa. — “You’ve got to be optimistic in this business,” said Frank Regan.

The crowd of more than 400 people who gathered for Lancaster County Holstein Club’s field night last Friday on Steve Lantz’s farm surely understood what the guest speaker from Regancrest Farm was talking about.

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Still Miles to Go, Pa. Budget Misses Deadline

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:15pm.

Charlene Shupp
Espenshade
Special Sections Editor

MANHEIM, Pa. — As of Tuesday, the difference between the state Senate’s budget and Gov. Ed Rendell’s proposed budget was about $1.6 billion. The question now facing both sides of this issue, is how to balance that budget.

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Beware of Hot Hay Causing Barn Fires

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:13pm.

Wet Spring, Early Summer Add to Risk

Penn State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — This year’s unusually wet spring and early summer has led many farmers to store hay that’s wetter than normal, increasing the danger of barn fires, according to an expert in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

“Often, farmers have reported that they know the hay they are baling is wetter than they’d like, but with additional rain forecast, they are taking a chance, hoping to save a better-quality product versus letting the rain cause the crop to deteriorate in the field,” said Davis Hill, senior extension associate and director of the Managing Agricultural Emergencies program.

“We have seen an increase in barn fires during the past few weeks, at least some of which were caused by hot hay igniting through spontaneous combustion.”

Most farmers strive to bale hay that is field dried to 20 percent or less in moisture, Hill explained.

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FDA Tobacco Authority Gets Mixed Reviews

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:11pm.

Rocky Womack
Virginia Correspondent

As expected, on June 22, President Barack Obama signed legislation to grant the authority over tobacco products to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Of course, health advocates were delighted at the legislation’s passage and the president’s signing.

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Summer’s Here! Time to Shed That Heavy Fleece

Submitted by Editor on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 12:08pm.

Michelle Kunjappu
Reporter

LITITZ, Pa. — You may have spent the past month or two packing away your winter clothing, but it’s just not that simple for an alpaca.

These South American natives don’t shed, which simply means, well, they need to be shorn.

Considering that alpacas are relatively new to America (outside of zoos, the first alpacas were imported to the U.S.

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