"You've got a friend ..."

We met on neutral ground --- the parking lot of a nearby restaurant.  We all got cautiously out of our cars and trucks, looking around for friendly faces.  The organizer waved us over to the trunk of her car that served as a desktop that morning.  At last the final group arrived, with license plate and door insignias that normally strike fear into the hearts of farmers. The all too familiar logo of the Department of Environmental Resources reflected the sun’s early rays.  The atmosphere on this August day started off on the cool side in many ways.

We divided our ranks and split up into a vehicle caravan and headed to the field.  My driver was Luke Brubaker, a well-respected Lancaster County farmer.  Joining our group was a farm couple from central Pennsylvania and a staff person from the Attorney General’s office.  Riding with someone from the state’s chief lawyer’s office was a bit disconcerting, but we decided to make the most of the opportunity to share with her our perspective on environmental rules as farmers.  We were pleased to find this person receptive and knowledgeable about the laws that govern agriculture, and sympathetic to the struggles farmers have year-round with Mother Nature and on occasion with ill-natured local government officials.

Our first stop was a Berks County farm that raises ducks, utilizing everything but the quack.  As we disembarked from our caravan carriers, the tour group, that numbered several dozen people, clustered around the farm’s management staff and listened to the details of how their operation supplies eggs, duck, feathers, and fertilizer to consumers.  We heard a litany of government agencies listed by the manager that inspect, investigate, and regulate this agri-business each and every day.  We divided into two groups, forcing the commingling of farmers and government regulators and elected officials.  One state senator and a state representative from the area joined the tour of the facilities.

We slipped on bio-security boots and entered one of the long houses for the egg laying ducks.  The engineering of the building kept the ducks and the sawdust floor litter dry.  The water fountains were elevated over a slatted floor so that duck droppings and water drippings were collected and flushed into the waste treatment system.  The cool breeze carried little odor through the curtained building despite the hundreds of ducks that were waddling contentedly from nesting boxes to food containers, or just resting on the floor.

The group asked lots of questions and got plenty of answers at the duck farm.  Egg washing, duckling hatching, slaughtering and processing, and final waste management were all observed and discussed.  It was impressive how well managed the entire operation was, and how carefully every segment fit into the farm’s location and environment.  The only issue that particular day was the layer of dust that coated every vehicle since there had been no rain for weeks on the dirt roads meandering through the facilities.

It was obvious the farm was taking special care to produce a safe product while at the same time caring for the land on which the ducks were raised.  What struck me the most was a comment made by one of the managers that all the care the company takes in ensuring a safe and wholesome food product can evaporate in a few hours once their trucks deliver the birds to their customers in the big cities.  Despite all the inspectors that swarm around the farm on a regular basis, when the ice on which the birds are delivered melts away before the ducks are sold or properly stored, and there is a “bad” duck, the fingers are pointed back to the farm.  That is unfair and frustrating, but unfortunately part of doing business.

We went from ducks to horses, and visited a young couple’s farm where boarding, training, and riding lessons were partnered with beef cattle to help earn a living.  Recently purchased from the previous generation, this couple was continuing the family tradition of farming, but from a new perspective.  No more dairy cows were milked in the barn.  The Hereford replacements were part of a growing freezer beef direct marketing effort for the new generation owners.  Agriculture education was a key part of the operation, as the couple invites the public to horse shows at the farm.  They are helping people understand where food comes from, and focus the message that the horses, cattle, and chickens that call this farm “home” are livestock and not pets.  As visitors, we heard the message loud and clear, along with how difficult, but not impossible, it is to take over a farming business.

I was impressed by the obvious transition plan that was being followed as this farm changed hands.  The young couple bought the farm from her parents at an age when they have plenty of energy to apply to the tasks that farming demands.  They were making changes, improvements, and redirecting the operation to fit their needs and interests.  They are ensuring that their children have the opportunity to be raised on the family farm and can discover whether a future in farming is in their destiny.

The regulators were observant, and questioned why the stream in the pasture was not fenced.  The couple pointed out that cost, construction, and design were factors that made stream bank fencing an option they were deferring at the moment.  They stressed that keeping livestock out of the stream would have to be partnered with sensible fencing layout that allows flash grazing to control invasive weeds.  Both sides --- farmers and regulators --- heard each other and seemed to find an understanding based on common sense.

By lunch time, our group of farmers and regulators felt more comfortable in each other’s company.  The conversation hummed as we networked about stewardship and pollution controls, unreasonable regulation and the need for better understanding between farmers and their non-farm neighbors and regulators.  While I won’t go so far as to say the old Pennsylvania slogan --- “You’ve got a friend …” --- was the end result of this environmental farm tour with the state’s mud cops and lawyers, what was achieved was a better appreciation of each other’s jobs.  Kudos to the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau for putting the time and energy into these types of programs, bringing farmers and environmental regulators together, in real barns, on real farms, for better understanding.

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