Follow Up on Ag Week

The word about agriculture was spread across the nation this week as the National Agriculture Week was celebrated. While the official event concludes this Saturday, March 22^nd, those of us in the farm community need to keep talking about the importance of agriculture each of the 51 weeks remaining until we mark another Spring Equinox.

In Berks County, we began our organized effort to bring awareness about agriculture to the general public on Sunday when our local paper, the Reading Eagle, ran a story about the week ahead. Monday morning found three of us travelling to the city of Reading to join radio talk show host, Mike Faust, on his WEEU morning show, Feedback. We spent an hour talking about farming and the challenges we face in the industry.

Ken Sanner, a dairy farmer from Greenwich Township who earned the Master Farmer title a few years ago, brought his own cheering section and biggest supporters --- his wife, Denise, and son, Ethan. At six-years-old, this future farmer was fascinated by the inner-workings of the radio station. He listened intently as his dad fielded questions from outside callers and the radio show host. For his good behavior, Ethan took home a St. Patrick’s day gift from Mike Faust. My guess is that this Leprechan's treasure, disguised as a mug, and his radio show memories will be something Ethan will hold onto for years to come, along with all the other souvenirs he will collect as he grows up following his Young Farmer parents’ footsteps.

Also joining me on the radio program was Penn State Extension’s Family Living and Consumer Science educator, Sue Giachero, who took charge of our Ag Day Baby celebration. Sue’s daughter just missed giving us the first Ag Day Baby at Reading Hospital, delivering in the late afternoon on March 19^th. But, Sue got to combine work and pleasure on Ag Day as she presented the basket to another new mom and infant, and still catch a few special moments with her own happy, but tired, family.

Dairy farmer, Diane Hartman, was still waiting for Saint Joseph’s Medical Center’s call on their baby’s arrival as our Ag Day shifted into evening. The hospital remarked that their babies had arrived earlier in the week. We decided to welcome which ever baby was born before or after midnight on March 20. None of us controlled that part of our celebration.

The cooperation we received from the community was outstanding. St. Joseph’s Medical Center had agricultural facts changing every seven seconds on their electronic billboard along one of our major highways. Our County Commissioners officially proclaimed National Agriculture Day and presented a beautiful document that will be displayed at our Ag Center throughout the year. Copies of the proclamation were distributed to the farm businesses and organizations who gathered at the Ag Center on Thursday to network about current events impacting agriculture in our county. They will be posting these proclamations to let people know our county’s top elected officials support the farm community.

Even though our agricultural youth were on spring break, they took time away from their school vacation to be at the Ag Center to present a galvanized water tub filled to overflowing with food items donated by Berks County’s food industry. Bountiful Berks will be become our “buy fresh, buy local” theme in the months ahead. A big thank you goes out to everyone who made this afternoon presentation to our County Commissioners a huge success. They truly appreciate the entire “farm family” that keeps agriculture number one in Berks County.

There was only one question that was posed to me by reporters from the Reading Eagle that I couldn't answer: Is there something farmers do only on the first day of Spring that is tied to the March equinox? I turned to a long-time Pennsylvania Dutch farmer, and we both shrugged our answer: None that we could think of. Planting peas, potatoes and onions was connected to final snowfalls and the moon cycle, rather than when the sun crosses the equator in March and there are equal lengths of day and night everywhere on earth. I referred them to the Old Farmer's Almanac and our Kutztown University's astronomy department for a better response.

I greatly appreciate the coverage given to our event by Lancaster Farming in last week's edition and by following up on the Ag Day Baby story.

I have shared our local experience in this week's blog in an effort to encourage anyone interested in helping to promote our agricultural industry to get involved. The National Ag Day website, organized by the Agriculture Council of America in Kansas, has been invaluable in helping us plan our event. We even posted our Open House on their website calendar at the encouragement of our County Chief Clerk, Terry Styer, who also turned out for Ag Day at the Ag Center. She is already thinking about Ag Day 2009 and what Berks County can do to build on this year’s successful event.

While it took some work and coordination, it was a fun-filled week that brought farm organizations, agri-businesses, individual farmers, and supporting agencies together to deliver the message: Agriculture --- from Field to Plate --- You Can’t Live Without It!

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