A publication by and

week
OCT. 7-14 | CELEBRATING LANCASTER COUNTY AGRICULTURE

THANK A FARMER
Hard-working and often overlooked, they are the unsung heroes of our land.

PRODUCING PRODUCE FACES OF FARMING BEFORE THE BUZZ

What it takes to bring Lancaster County’s rich The county’s restaurants
Lancaster Central Market tradition of fairs brings employed the farm-to-table
stands to life every Tuesday, farmers face-to-face with ethos long before it became
Friday and Saturday n PAGE 6 consumers n PAGE 10 a hip buzzword n PAGE 18
2 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

CONTENTS | AG WEEK 2017

PATRICK KIRCHNER | LNP VISUAL EDITOR

INSIDE THIS ISSUE DESIGN BY CHRIS EMLET, LNP ON THE COVER

4 AG WEEK SCHEDULE
A complete list of the events going
14 EXPORTS, FAR AND WIDE
A visualization of where county’s
20 FOOD HUBS
Cooperation is beneficial for
on throughout Ag Week. ag products go across the globe farmers and consumers.

6 BEHIND THE STANDS

Life at Central Market has a life
16
and a rhythm all its own.
KREAM ON TOP
Work for organic dairy farmers is
24 OLD IS NEW
Brilyn Acres preserves early
challenging, but rewarding. farming style, with help.
RICHARD HERTZLER | LNP STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ON THE COVER: This image of a farmer

10 QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Young farmers enlighten urban
18 FARM-TO-TABLE
Local chefs’ relationships with
26 NATURAL PROTECTION
Farmer keeps streams healthy
cutting alfalfa in his field off Landisville
Road in East Hempfield Township serves
as a reminder of the hard work of Lan-
fairgoers on life on the farm. farms is good for everyone. by planting native trees. caster County’s agricultural community.

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LANCASTER FARMING | LNP AG WEEK 2017 3

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4 AG WEEK 2017
AG WEEK SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, OCT. 7
n Event: Interactive display on Penn
Square.
Where: 23 N. Market St.
When: 8 a.m. to noon.
Details: The event takes place during
the Harvest Breakfast at Central Market.
Come ready to ask a farmer about
agriculture. No RSVP required.
More: centralmarketlancaster.com
n Event: 58th annual Harvest Days
Festival at Landis Valley.
Where: 2451 Kissel Hill Road.
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., running through
Sunday, Oct. 8.
Details: A celebration of Pennsylvania
Dutch Harvest traditions at Landis Valley
Village & Farm Museum. Demonstrations
will include apple butter making, tavern
cooking, coopering, spinning and weaving,
heirloom apple tasting and more. Watch
and talk with traditional craftspeople.
FILE PHOTO Lots of family-friendly activities including
A little girl checks out the pumpkins during 2016’s Harvest Days Festival at Landis Valley horse drawn wagon rides, music and food.
Village & Farm Museum in Manheim Township. Entrance fees apply.
   
  



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LANCASTER FARMING | LNP
More: Details at landisvalleymuseum.
org/index.php/visit/calendar-events/
october-7-8/
MONDAY, OCT. 9
n Event: Virtual Kick-Off of videos and
social media interactions to “Thank a
Farmer.”
Details: Videos will highlight local
elementary school children touring farms
and thanking farmers. Also includes
videos created by high school FFA
members. Visit:
­— lancasteragcouncil.com
­— facebook.com/LancasterCounty/
AgricultureCouncil
— lancastercountyagweek.com
­— lancasteronline.com
TUESDAY, OCT. 10
n Event: Apprenticeship program
for agricultural equipment service
technicians, “A Job that Pays.”
Continued, page 5
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LANCASTER FARMING | LNP
Continued from 4
Where: Landis Valley Village and Farm
Museum, 2451 Kissel Hill Road.
When: 10 a.m. to noon.
Details: Pennsylvania Agriculture
Secretary Russell Redding will roll out
a new apprenticeship program for
graduating high-schoolers who are
interested in hands-on learning of how
to service equipment (a field known
as mechatronics). Apprenticeship
opportunities will be available through
local farm equipment dealers. No RSVP
required.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 11
n Event: 3rd annual “Denim & Pearls”
5-Star Dinner on the Farm.
Where: Stoltzfus Homestead and Garden,
3716 E. Newport Road, Gordonville.
When: 6-9:30 p.m.
Details: This farm-to-fork dinner
celebrates the bountiful foods produced
by Lancaster County farms. This year’s
dinner will feature a raffle to win a
Mikimoto pearl and diamond pendant
necklace set in 18K yellow gold, donated
by Ream Jewelers. Raffle tickets sold
ahead of time and at the event. Tickets
required.
More: Information or to purchase tickets,
visit oregondairy.com/product/denim-
and-pearls-dinner-reservation.
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AG WEEK 2017
THURSDAY, OCT. 12
n Event: “Agriculture and the
Environment.”
Where: Lancaster Farm & Home Center,
1383 Arcadia Road.
When: Time to be announced on
lancastercountyagweek.com.
Details: Farmers are the original stewards
of the land. Many farmers in Lancaster
County have installed best management
practices to maintain soil on their farms
and to improve local water quality.
Improving local water is a responsibility
of all residents and sectors of the county,
not just farmers. Find out what the
Lancaster County Clean Water Working
Group is doing to coordinate efforts and
see results.
n Event: Tree planting in New Holland.
Where: 221 Phillip Road, New Holland.
When: 1-3 p.m.
Details: Farms positively impact water
quality in Lancaster County by installing
vegetative stream buffers, along
with other practices. For a hands-on
opportunity to plant trees for water quality
improvement, join the Lancaster County
Conservation District and Tyson Foods at
this farm. Volunteers should bring work
gloves and a shovel, if available.
More: RSVP to Shelly Dehoff, 717-880-
0848; shellydehoff@lancasterconservation.
org.
5
FRIDAY, OCT. 13
n Event: “A Time of Harvest” at Rough
and Tumble Historical Association.
Details: Modern agriculture is a
technologically advanced science. But,
modern agriculture wouldn’t be where
it is today if it wasn’t for pioneering
inventions. Agriculture’s heritage is on
working display at “A Time of Harvest.”
Rough and Tumble’s last show of the year
includes activities for children, as well as
steam trains, gas engines and steam track FILE PHOTO
engines, plus corn husking and machinery The Hands-on House pumpkin farming
demonstrations. Enter the gift shop, tell exhibit runs throughout October.
them you are part of Ag Week, and you
will receive a free show pin. pumpkins. Also, check out the permanent
When: Runs through Oct. 14. exhibit, “Little Valley Farm.’’
Where: 4997 Lincoln Highway East, More: Admission fees apply. Details
available at handsonhouse.org.
Kinzers.
More: Admission fees apply. Details at
roughandtumble.org/viewreference/44/
eventschedules/.
ALL WEEK
n Event: Behind-the-scenes tour
throughout the county.
ALL MONTH When: Tours during the week.
n Event: Pumpkin farming exhibit in The Details: Tours will be available at
Clubhouse at Hands-on House. Lancaster County’s farms and agri-
businesses. Organized by the Lancaster
Where: Hands-on House, Children’s Chamber of Commerce. Tours are free.
Museum of Lancaster, 721 Landis Valley
RSVPs are required and can be made
Road. through Eventbrite, linked through the
When: Special focus throughout October. chamber website. Specific instructions
may apply for the tours.
Details: The number and types of farmers
growing food and fiber is bountiful. More: Details are at lancasterchamber.
Learn more about what it takes to grow com/events.
6 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

BEHIND THE STANDS

BUSINESS

Life at a Central Market stand has a rhythm and cycle all its own
Kathleen JENNIFER KOPF

I
Stoltzfus, JKOPF@LNPNEWS.COM
of Tulip
Tree Hill t doesn’t matter whether your produce
Farm at
Central stand at Lancaster Central Market is large or
Market, small, or how many people work there.
hands an You’ll spend a lot of time tending to pro-
item to a
customer. duce, harvesting it or buying the best at auction.
You’ll spend a lot of time lugging it into refrigera-
tion or packing it into coolers. You’ll load trucks,
unload them and then load them up again. You’ll
write out price signs and then rewrite them as pric-
es fluctuate.
And it really, really helps to be a morning person.
There’s a routine to it all, a rhythm that Bruce
Markey of Meck’s Produce compares to the movie
“Groundhog Day.” But instead of Bill Murray’s Phil
learning how to be a better person by reliving the
same day over and over, standholders at market
find that Groundhog Day rhythm in working out a
structured schedule that works for them.
Here’s how two Lancaster stands run: the long-
BLAINE T. SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Continued, page 7

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This is
Continued from 6 Meck’s
time Meck’s Produce stand and Tulip Tree Produce
Hill Farm, a relative newcomer that’s held in Central
Market.
down a spot for 6 1/2 years.

Meck’s Produce
Twice a week, in the middle of the night,
Bob Meck heads to the big produce auc-
tion in Philadelphia. There, he purchases
everything Meck’s sells at their farm stand
that’s not grown on their 60-acre farm in
southern Lancaster County. Even though
their local crops are extensive, Markey
says, with many small plots devoted to dif-
ferent crops, there’s always something that
needs to be purchased that’s not in season
locally.
So Sunday and Wednesday nights for
40 years, Bob Meck has done the round-
trip drive — roughly 33 times around the
earth’s circumference in all — to keep the
market stand stocked.
Bob is also the guy who has made many
of the price tags — black markered letters,
outlined in color — that are a hallmark of
Meck’s.
The night before a market day, Markey,
who is the stand manager, works either
solo or with assistant manager Phil Bartelt
Continued, page 8 BLAINE T. SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
8 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

Continued from 7 wiped off and disinfected. The refriger-

and Ryan Meck, farm manager, to load ated cases get cleaned.
up a refrigerated truck with produce. And next market day, Groundhog Day
Around 2:30 a.m. on market days, the strikes again.
truck and the workers arrive at the
markethouse on Penn Square to un- Tulip Tree Hill
load.
Customers begin to trickle in at 6 She’s the planter, the crop-tender, the
a.m. and the most challenging part of harvester, the packager, the seller and
Markey’s day begins: customer service. the setup and cleanup crew.
With nine or 10 colleagues on a slower But that suits Kathleen Stoltzfus just
day; a dozen or 14 on brisk Saturdays, fine.
the Meck’s crew works to keep custom- After 25 years as a graphic designer,
ers moving and a runner restocks pro- Stoltzfus started her market stand a
duce continually from the truck kept little over six years ago. And despite the
parked outside. pace, the hours and the risk of running
“Most of the employees aren’t Mecks her own business, she has no regrets.
— they ran out of brothers,” Markey “I was interested in growing things
laughs. “Though a lot of them are relat- ever since I was a kid,” Stoltzfus says,
ed in some way; everybody knows each “but I was also interested in art.” So she
other. A lot of the girls who work here, FILE PHOTO
went to school and pursued that career
they go to school together (or) know Meck’s Produce stand at Central Market in 1974. first before starting to do research for a
each other from church.” transition to a new job and a new, cycli-
As closing time approaches (4 p.m. on Otherwise, it all needs to go back to back in refrigeration until it can be cal pace.
Tuesdays and Fridays; 2 p.m. on Satur- the farm. checked and reloaded — again — for an- Stoltzfus now has a person come help
days), there’s no just turning out the “We’re running stuff out (to the re- other trip to market.” her at the farm one day a week, but all
lights and walking out the door. frigerated truck) as soon as we can turn Behind the stand, there’s another the rest of the tasks involved with run-
“The only things that can stay are, the lights out,” Markey says. “As they’re good hour of work before Markey can ning a market stand fall to her. With
like, potatoes and onions, and that’s taking it out, Phil is trying to fit it back head home: All the wood boards cov- market days on Tuesdays, Fridays and
only if it’s cool” and only on Fridays in the truck on skids for the ride home. ering the market stand floor come up. Saturdays, she reserves Mondays and
when there’s market the next day. There it’s unloaded — again — and put The floor gets swept. Everything gets Continued, page 9

    

 
          
 
     
   
           



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Continued from 8 Kathleen

Thursdays — at least half the day — for harvesting. Stoltzfus,
of Tulip
In the summer, that means working both outside on Tree Hill
the Holtwood and in the farm’s 2,500-square-foot Farm at
greenhouse. Central
Market,
In the winter she spends more time in the green- waits on
house, but the end result is the same: microgreens, custom-
shoots, salad mixes, wheatgrass, some vegetables ers.
and a few fruits that all need to be gathered and put
in cooler bins overnight in preparation for loading
and an early-morning drive to market.
“I try to get here no later than 6:30” a.m., Stoltzfus
says. “We’re not always busy first thing in the morn-
ing, so it’s a good use of time to bag” salad greens,
shoots and microgreens at the market stand.
Since starting the Tulip Tree Hill stand, Stoltzfus
has adapted some of her offerings. Long-term in-
vestments in fruit production have started to pay off,
with early September bringing figs and plums, along
with old-fashioned Concord grapes.
Her produce is not certified organic, Stoltzfus says
— “I can’t stand the paperwork and the fees involved,
and I don’t see a big gain (in pursuing certification)
because I can talk to my customers one-on-one.”
But, because it is an important distinction for many
of her customers, she does follow organic practices.
As a one-woman show, she says, “no, there’s not a
lot of time off — but, at the same time, I enjoy it, and
I’m working for myself, so there’s some satisfaction
in building your own business instead of someone
else’s.” BLAINE T. SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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FAIR QUESTIONS
COMMUNITY

County fairs offer chance to interact with farmers

Garrett CHARLENE M. SHUPP ESPENSHADE

L
Jenkins LANCASTER FARMING
holds a
goat for ancaster County has a rich tradition
Harper
Richards, of country fairs, more than most other
2, and her populous counties in the nation.
mother, For many urban and suburban resi-
Jamie, to
see at the dents, strolling through the livestock stalls at one
Elizabeth- of these fairs offers the best opportunity to meet
town Fair. a real farmer.
Garrett Jenkins, a freshman at Morrisville State
College who just wrapped up a term as FFA state
sentinel for Pennsylvania, knows this for a fact.
He has spent hours answering questions from
these folks while exhibiting animals from his
family’s herd of 40 Boer goats in Bainbridge.
“The fair is the one time that we have the oppor-
tunity to interact with the local community, and
it’s really important to interact with them and tell
them our agriculture story,” he says.
There’s no question too minor or inconsequen-
tial for a fairgoer to ask, Jenkins says, and he’d
CHARLENE SHUPP ESPENSHADE Continued, page 12

  

 
 



   
     



  
 
    
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LANCASTER FARMING | LNP AG WEEK 2017 11

        

  


 
  


   




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12 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

Garrett
Jenkins
answers
questions
from Caitlin
and Jordan
Stoeffler at
the Eliza-
bethtown
Fair’s pet-
ting zoo.

CHARLENE SHUPP ESPENSHADE

Continued from 10
prefer they ask him rather than
search the internet.
“There are a lot of things that could
be portrayed a little differently than
what industry is really doing,” he
says. “This is the chance for the pub-
lic to see these animals be shown, talk
to the exhibitors and talk to the peo-
ple who are doing this day in and day
out and know what they are doing.”
Explaining the farm
Jenkins says people have asked
him to explain everything from live-
stock tags to various animal man-
agement techniques.
He also spends a lot of time cor-
recting erroneous assumptions. For
instance, people tend to believe that
only male goats have horns, when in
fact both male and female goats can
have horns.
Most farmers relish the chance
to have face-to-face conversations
with the public, Jenkins says, but
they’re not always good at relaying
the message in a 21st-century way.
“If you look at the average age of
a U.S. farmer, it’s not coming down
very fast,” he says. “It’s very impor-
tant that the younger folks in this
industry can get out there.
“We tend to be the ones more
wired into the internet and on so-
cial media,” Jenkins says. “It gives
us more chances to share with the
public.’’
His family’s farm has a website
and Facebook page to provide up-
dates on how its goats perform at lo-
cal, regional and national shows.
Those digital platforms also pro-
vide a way for people to reconnect
with Jenkins after a show.
“I know a lot of other farms and
business outlets use social media to
get their story out,” he says.
Jenkins, who is a member of the
Elizabethtown FFA chapter, says
fairs often stimulate young people
to start their own FFA or 4-H proj-
ects, and ultimately careers in agri-
culture.
He says that, after he graduates
from college, he would like to be-
come a dairy herdsman or work in
dairy nutrition or reproduction.

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Lyme Disease Symptoms

Please check if you have the symptoms listed below:
• U
Unexplained
nexpllaiined
d ffever,
ev chills, or
sweats?
• Unexplained weight
Unexp
changes, gain or loss?
• Fatigue, tiredness,
especially around 3 P.M.?
• Unexplained swollen
glands?
• Chronic sore throat or sinus • Facial paralysis - Bell’s
infections
• Testicular/pelvic pain?
• Unexplained menstrual
irregularity?
• Irritable bladder or bladder • Buzzing or ringing in ears,
dysfunction?
• Sexual dysfunction or loss
of libido?
• Stomach problems?
• Change in bowel function,
constipation, diarrhea?
• Chest pains?
• Shortness of breath/cough?
• Heart palpitations, heart
block, racing heart, slow
beat?
• Muscle pain/cramps?
• Joint pain/swelling that
come & go - knees, hips,
ankles, wrists?
• TTwitches of facial or other • Difficulty with speech, think
muscles? one thing and another
• Headaches, sometimes word comes out?
days at a time? • Mood swings, irritability,
• Neck creaks/cracks - depression, crying for no
stiffness? reason?
• Stiffness of the joints or • Disturbed sleep - increased,
back? decreased or nightmares,
night sweats?
• Tingling, numbness,
burning or stabbing • Exaggerated symptoms
sensations? from alcohol?
• Diagnosis of Carpal Tunnel,
Palsy? Chronic Fatigue, Epstein
Barr or M.S.?
• Double or blurry vision,
floaters, pain, light • Do you feel like dying?
sensitivity? • Have you seen multiple
doctors without success?
ear pain, sensitivity to • Do people say you are a
sound? “hypochondriac” or tell you
it’s in your head?
• Dizziness, poor balance,
increased motion sickness?
Partial proceeds of
• Light-headed? book go toward Lyme
• Confusion, difficulty disease research
thinking? for humans and
• Difficulty with partial proceeds
concentration, reading, or go toward K-9 dogs
following plots? in all services.
• Disorientation, getting lost,
going to wrong places?
• Decreased short term
memory loss?
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14 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP | AG WEEK 2017 15

EXPORTS, FAR AND WIDE

LANCASTER COUNTY EXPORTS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY. HERE’S A LOOK AT WHAT WE EXPORT, WHERE IT GOES AND HOW MUCH IT’S WORTH.

C A N A DA

UNITED
KINGDOM GERMANY
WA
OR NY NETHERLANDS
U.S.A. MA
RI BELGIUM
NJ CN
DE
J A PA N

UNITED
CA TX VA MD C H I N A
FL

KINGDOM
SOUTH KOREA
UNITED

GERMANY
DOMINICAN A R A B PHILIPPINES
MEXICO REPUBLIC EMIRATES

NY
BRAZIL
NETHERLANDS
BELGIUM
MA
CN RI

NJ
MD DE
VA
CHILE

FL. REGIONAL NATIONAL INTERNATIONAL

Primarily the East Coast from Massachusetts to Virginia Primarily the East and West Coasts and the South North and South America, Europe and Asia

$256M $166M $632M $468M $161M $730M $291M $120M

n Feed n Snack Food n Candy n Cheese n Poultry n Horticulture Products n Dairy Products n Soybeans

$28M $391M $487M $334M $261M $619M $136M $113M

n Fluid Milk n Meat (other than chicken) n Cereal n Ice Cream n Bakeries n Forest Products n Feed n Eggs
LANCASTER FARMING | LNP AG WEEK 2017 15

DOUBLE TRUCK
WITH PAGE 14.

PLEASE DO NOT
PUT ANYTHING ON THIS PAGE.

THANK YOU.
16 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

KREAM OF THE CROP

BUSINESS

Organic dairy processors enable hardworking farmers to focus on ‘doing their thing’
Hand-dipped ERIC HURLOCK

D
ice cream is LANCASTER FARMING
a big draw
at King’s airy farming can be a tough way to make a
Kreamery.
living, especially when milk prices barely
cover the cost of keeping cows, as they’ve
been the past couple of years.
However, “at the end of the day, dairy farming is still
a good way to raise a family,” says Christ Blank of Salis-
bury Township, where he and his wife, Anna Mae, are
not only raising two children but also a herd of 33 milk
cows and various other animals.
Blank says the farm is just the right size for the four of
them. They can manage everything themselves, espe-
cially since they stopped growing corn and started graz-
ing their herd on grass.
Just before 5 a.m. every day, the cows come into the
barn for milking before returning to the pasture where
they graze until the next milking at 5 p.m.
Then, it’s out to a different paddock in the pasture for
the night.
Blank keeps his herd continually grazing and, by ad-
justing the size of the paddocks with movable electric
ERIC HURLOCK Continued, page 17

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Continued from 16
fencing, he keeps his herd on fresh grass
all the time.
In the summer, it takes 30 days for the
cows to end up in the paddock where
they started. In winter, Blank moves the
herd less frequently and supplements the
cows’ diet with hay he buys from John Di-
etz, an organic hay farmer in York County.
Blank’s farm has been certified organic
since 2010 because he recognized that
the market for organic, grass-fed dairy
products was getting stronger all the
time and — similar to direct retail sales
— would pay better than the market for
regular milk.
“I really don’t work much with the cus-
tomer, and that’s how I prefer it because
I’m busy doing my thing,’’ Blank says.
“So I really appreciate King’s Kreamery
and Oasis stepping in and marketing my
product.”
Blank sells half his milk to Commu-
nity of Oasis at Bird-in-Hand, an organic
dairy processor in Ronks. The rest goes
to King’s Kreamery in East Lampeter
Township, where the milk is made into
grass-fed, organic yogurt.
King’s Kreamery sits along the north
side of Old Philadelphia Pike, just east of
Lancaster city, and is best known for its
hand-dipped ice cream.
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But the creamery also produces yogurt,
butter and bottled milk, and sells a vari-
ety of local cheeses and specialty prod-
ucts like yogurt made from sheep’s milk.
“Ice cream is our main seller now,” says
Melvin Stoltzfus, King’s general manager.
“We’re trying to build the cheese and milk
and yogurt to help with our winter sales.”
Behind the store’s dairy cases and ice We stock Shurco
cream coolers is a clean and shiny pro- roll tarp parts!
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“A lot of people ask us, ‘Do you make From parts to
it yourself?’ ”Stoltzfus says. “Yes, we do. complete systems
The milk comes from a few local farm-
ers. So it does make them feel they’re still with our
supporting local.” custom-fabricated
While the trend lately is for consumers
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18 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

SUPER FRESH FOOD

BUSINESS

Local chefs have yearslong relationships with farms

Tim Carr, MARY ELLEN WRIGHT

W
chef-owner MWRIGHT@LNPNEWS..COM
of Carr’s
Restaurant hen “locally sourced” and “farm-
in Lancaster,
holds a dish to-table” became buzzwords in the
of breaded restaurant industry several years
eggplant and ago, Lancaster County eateries had
heirloom to-
matoes made already long been on that bandwagon.
with produce In this garden spot of a county, local restaurants
from local had years of experience in relying on area farmers for
farms.
produce, meat, dairy products and more.
Over the years, many local chefs have developed
lasting business relationships with those farmers.
Tim Carr, chef-owner of Carr’s Restaurant, gets
much of his produce right across the alley from his
Market Street restaurant in downtown Lancaster.
“For our produce, we use Groff’s (Vegetables) at
Lancaster Central Market,” Carr says.
At that stand, Earl S. Groff and members of his fam-
ily sell vegetables they grow on their Bird-in-Hand
farm.
“Mr. Groff would epitomize the old-style truck
BLAINE T. SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Continued, page 19

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Continued from 18
farmer,” Carr says. “Most everything
he sells at his stand ... he grows at his
place down in Bird-in-Hand.
“A lot of our specials are based on
what Groff’s has right now,” Carr says.
The heirloom tomatoes Carr uses
come from Steve Messner’s small
farm in Strasburg and are grown
there by Peter Kovalec, a local pastry
chef.
“He grows between 100 and 125
tomato plants a year” and sells to a
handful of area restaurants, Carr says.
Carr buys cheese from Oasis at
Bird-in-Hand, a consortium of Amish
dairy farms based in Ronks.
Toeny Morgan, who recently re-
opened his Black Gryphon restaurant
in Mount Joy Township — rebuilt af-
ter a December 2016 fire — also has
long-established relationships with
local farmers.
“Our main meat producer that
we get all our beef and pork from is
Breakaway Farms right over here in
Mount Joy,” Morgan says. “They’re
a phenomenal small, family-run
(farm) — all grass-fed, free-range
(livestock).”
Morgan says he gets a lot of the
chicken he uses at the eatery from
Shady Acres farm just outside Eliza-
bethtown, a family business that spe-
cializes in pasture-raised poultry.
Morgan also buys brown, cage-free
eggs that come from Sandy Ridge
Farm in Elizabethtown.
A lot of the fruits and vegetables in
dishes on The Black Gryphon’s menu
come from Masser’s Produce, which
sells its locally grown fruits and vege-
tables at the Farmstead farmers mar-
ket in Palmyra.
Daniel Quishpe, executive chef at
The Pressroom Restaurant in Lan-
caster, also uses meat and produce
from area farmers in his dishes.
“We try to use a lot of local pro-
duce,” Quishpe says. “And we’re look-
ing for more farms to work with.”
In addition to buying fresh local
produce at Lancaster Central Mar-
ket, he says, he gets some of his pro-
duce from Horse Shoe Ranch in Wil-
low Street, and from Alex Wenger, a
farmer and plant breeder at Field’s
Edge Research Farm near Lititz.
“We just started working with an-
other farm, Mirror Image Farms,”
Quishpe says. The Bainbridge farm
specializes in beef, pork and poultry
from pasture-raised animals.
The Pressroom buys some of its
cheese from Goot Essa, a Howard,
Centre County, company that uses
milk from a nearby Amish dairy farm,
the chef said.
Other local goods
It’s not only meat and produce that
local restaurants get from area farm-
ers.
John Costanzo, general manager
of the Belvedere Inn in downtown
Lancaster, says his restaurant gets
the herbs and botanicals it uses in its
cocktails from Lancaster Farmacy.
“We use them in a lot of our simple
syrups” that go into the specialty li-
bations, Costanzo says.
Lancaster Farmacy is a farm out-
side Lancaster city, run by Elisabeth
Weaver and Casey Spacht, which
grows herbs, tea blends, flowers and
more.
The herbs used behind the bar at the
Belvedere include fragrant holy basil,
which Costanzo said lends an almost
blueberry-like flavor to a cocktail.
Mint is also used in such beverages
as the restaurant’s raspberry-mint
shrub.
Other local chef-based businesses
deal with favorite local farms, as well.
Rebecca and Michael Bedenbaugh
are preparing to start their Lancaster
Fellow Foodies delivery service, the
mission of which is to provide train-
ing and good jobs in preparing and
doing home delivery of ready-to-cook
meals made with fresh, local ingredi-
ents.
Part of the Bedenbaughs’ mission,
they say, is to support small farms,
especially ones that are just getting
started, by buying their meat and
produce once the home delivery food
business begins.
They plan to get some of their pro-
duce from Wenger at Field’s Edge,
and have also been in talks with fami-
lies that run Promised Land Farm in
Millersville — “Their garlic is amaz-
ing,” Michael Bedenbaugh says — and
Horse Shoe Ranch.
“Farm-to-table has always been a
part of Lancaster County culture,”
Carr says.
“Now,” he adds, “it’s becoming more
important — the provenance, where
your food comes from and how it was
raised.”

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20 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

FOOD FOCAL POINT

BUSINESS

Cooperation enables farmers and benefits consumers

Casey Spacht, AD CRABLE

U
executive ACRABLE@LNPNEWS.COM
director of
Lancaster nheard of a few decades ago, the emer-
County Farm
Fresh Coop- gence of “food hubs” in Lancaster
erative, loads County has revolutionized local agri-
and checks culture, providing immense benefits to
boxes of fresh
produce from both local farmers and consumers.
farms across A trio of weekly — primarily wholesale and large
Lancaster quantity — auctions in Lancaster County offer farm-
County for
distribution. ers a dependable outlet for as much produce, flowers
and shrubbery as they want to grow.
They can haul their current crop to market in the
morning, get a guaranteed paycheck and be back to
farming by afternoon.
At the same time, farmers, Plain Sect ones, are dis-
covering the advantage of strength in numbers and
forming cooperatives.
Five of the six cooperatives here have formed since
2006. All five are made up almost exclusively of
Amish and Mennonite farmers.
By pooling money to solve marketing, transporta-
RICHARD HERTZLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Continued, page 21

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LANCASTER FARMING | LNP AG WEEK 2017
A little
Amish Continued from 20
girl at tion and large-order problems, co-
the Leola operative farmers are finding once-
Produce
Auction. impossible niche markets.
Fresh-off-the vine produce is find-
ing hungry markets with trendy su-
permarkets and chic eateries from
Washington, D.C., to New York City.
Push for sustainable food
The growing nationwide demand
for fresh, sustainable farming boun-
ty is feeding the success of both pro-
duce auctions and cooperatives.
Local and regional grocery stores,
as well as such upscale supermarkets
as Wegmans, stock fresh off-the-vine
produce from Lancaster County on
their shelves.
A growing network of consumer-
formed organic and sustainable-
farming food cooperatives has
pushed demand for Lancaster Coun-
ty farmers to grow more and change
how they grow it.
The Mid-Atlantic Food Coopera-
tive Alliance, for example, has 31
co-ops and buying clubs in six states
and purchases $150 million worth of
RICHARD HERTZLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER food from farmers a year.
  
  
des
ll Sha

€‚ƒ„… …
†…
   EZ Roailable
Av

 
 
21
“The whole consumer demand
has driven what you see now in Lan-
caster County,” says Jeff Stoltzfus, a
Penn State Extension food safety ed-
ucator who helped a group of Plain
Sect farmers form the Lancaster
County Vegetable Farmers Coopera-
tive in 2008 with an anchor of local
sweet onions.
The co-op, which started as an
experiment with three farmers in
2003, now has about 100 participat-
ing farmers.
It’s meant more and more farmers
turning corn and soybean acres into
gardens. For some struggling dairy
farmers, the food hubs have become
a life preserver.
“In agriculture, the future is pro-
duce,” Stoltzfus says. “In produce,
people see if they go out there and
do a good job, the market will reward
them.”
By banding together, local farmers
have seen demand for their products
go literally worldwide.
Niche food
The niche markets that local pro-
Continued, page 22
  




 

     

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22 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

RICHARD HERTZLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOS

Above, an
Continued from 21 auctioneer at
duce, as well as dairy products, have found be- Leola Produce
cause of food hubs is dizzying. Auction sells
pumpkins.
You’ll find cultured butter made by participat- Right, people
ing farmers of the Community of Oasis at Bird- survey differ-
in-Hand at restaurants of famed French chef and ent pumpkins
for sale.
culinary authority Daniel Boulud in New York,
Singapore and London.
The burgeoning Lancaster Farm Fresh Coop-
erative offers community-supported agriculture
for everything from herbal medicine to gluten-
free bread to summer cheeses.
Fresh produce sold by co-ops are trucked al-
most daily to eateries in Baltimore, New York,
Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Benefits to consumers
In addition to sustaining area farmers, local
consumers also benefit. Sure, roadside stands for
fresh fruit and vegetables still abound. But chain
Continued, page 23

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LANCASTER FARMING | LNP AG WEEK 2017 23

CHRIS KNIGHT | LNP CORRESPONDENT PHOTOS

A worker pulls stalks of rainbow chard to be packed into boxes for delivery to CSA
customers at the Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative in Rohrerstown.

Continued from 22 farmer and consumer are relative-

grocery stores that once bought old-
er, frozen produce from California
and other distant states now buy lo-
cal and buy fresh.
“Produce auctions have raised the
bar in local produce quality,” notes
Stoltzfus, who grows pumpkins,
strawberries and raises beef cattle
on his farm near Atglen and sells
them at local auctions.
“It has increased the amount of
produce by many acres and has giv-
en a lot of options for consumers to
buy fresh, local produce.”
And cooperatives such as the non-
profit Lancaster Farm Fresh are
based in a strong ethic of land pres-
ervation and combating sprawl.
“We want to create a culture of
goodness,” says Casey Spacht, ex-
ecutive director of the cooperative,
which built a new 68,000-square-
foot warehouse and office in East
Hempfield Township.
“When we started, our goal was to
create this livelihood for farmers to
take care of the land base.”
The way it was
These improved choices for both
ly new.
In the old days, a typical small-
size farmer growing produce had
few choices. He could erect a road-
side stand and hope he sold every-
thing picked that day, or approach
a grocery store and take whatever
they felt like paying.
And stores usually wanted more
produce than a single farmer was
offering or had a vehicle large
enough to haul.
The emergence of produce auc-
tions and cooperatives strength-
ened the farmer’s bargaining
power and marketing has made
Lancaster County-grown a key to
success.
“The auctions and the coopera-
tives allow the farmer to have own-
ership and control,” observes Peg-
gy Fogarty-Harnish, who heads the
Keystone Development Center,
which has help launched several
regional cooperatives.
“The Plain Sect farmers are a
community-based culture and
they know how to work together,
collaborate and understand lead-
ership. They seem to be really
growing this model.”

Workers pack boxes with fruits and vegetables to be delivered to customers at the
Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative in Rohrerstown.
24 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

OLD SCHOOL FARM

COMMUNITY

Brilyn Acres taps local processor to preserve earlier farming style

Lynette DICK WANNER

B
and Brian LANCASTER FARMING
Sauder
sell beef rian and Lynette Sauder live at the end of
and pork
products a lane that leads to a 19th-century farm-
directly to house on 90 acres of preserved farmland
consum- just outside Akron.
ers from
their farm That lane also leads to a style of agriculture that
outside has its roots in the 19th century. But at the same
Akron. time, the Sauders’ small-scale livestock operation
is completely in sync with 21st-century processing
requirements.
Their business, Brilyn Acres, focuses on serving a
growing number of consumers who want to know
who is producing their meat and how they’re doing
it.
The Sauders moved to Brilyn Acres in 2005. The
farm had been owned by Brian Sauder’s grandfather,
who operated it as a small dairy.
The couple didn’t see dairy farming as a viable op-
tion for them, so they bought a few head of Angus
cattle and started selling halves and quarters of beef.
They say it gradually became apparent that most
people didn’t have freezers big enough to hold that
much meat, so they contacted Smucker’s Meats in
Mount Joy for help.
Smucker’s core business is processing locally
grown livestock for farmers who want to market
their own products.
According to Mike Smucker, one of the family
members who run the business, the Sauders are far
from alone in contracting with them.
Having access to a facility like Smucker’s, which is
inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is
necessary for anybody who wants to sell packaged
meat to the general public.
Smucker says his family’s business is booked for
the next year with farmers bringing their animals in
from an area that stretches from western Pennsyl-
DICK WANNER Continued, page 25

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717-687-8484
LANCASTER FARMING | LNP AG WEEK 2017 25

Continued from 24 Their cattle mostly eat grass, except

vania east to New Jersey, north to
New York’s Finger Lakes and south to
Virginia.
Demand is high
Many, like the Sauders, are from
Lancaster County. As Lynette Sauder
sees it, consumer demand is driving
the market, and there doesn’t seem to
be an end in sight.
Brian Sauder, who refers to him-
self as “the farmer’s husband,” sees it
much the same way.
Whatever he calls himself, one sus-
pects the farmer’s husband spends
a lot of time planting and harvesting
the farm’s considerable acreage of
corn, soybeans and grass hay when
he’s not working as parts manager for
Binkley and Hurst, a farm equipment
dealership in Rothsville.
But the farmer herself has obviously
for the final month before they head
to market when they also get corn
grown at Brilyn Acres.
Brian Sauder says the couple buy
Angus calves at about 500 pounds
from farmers they know.
“We buy privately because we need
to be certain they haven’t been im-
planted with any kind of drug or hor-
mone to make them grow faster,” he
says.
The animals remain at Brilyn Acres
for about two years as they grow to a
market weight of about 1,000 to 1,200
pounds.
The Sauders also raise purebred
Berkshire hogs, a heritage breed that
has more marbling than most of the
hogs fed to market weight in enclosed
barns.
The Sauders say they don’t give
their animals any feed with drugs,
hormones or animal byproducts. And
BRILYN ACRES

put in a lot of time researching breeds,
feeding regimens, markets and evolv-
ing consumer preferences.
Angus beef has long been favored by
consumers for its marbling and fla-
vor and was an obvious choice for the
Sauders.
they give them room to roam.
When there’s grass in the mead-
ows, the cattle prefer to stay in the
pastures. Come fall, when grass is in
short supply, they’ll show up at the
barn for an afternoon ration of hay.
And the pigs, Lynette Sauder says,
Brilyn Acres consists of 90 acres of preserved farmland located just outside of Akron.
leave their pen at will to go out and is about a half mile from Brilyn Acres
about, root in the dirt and be pigs “the on Rothsville Road.
way they were meant to be.” But they also sell by appointment
The Sauders sell most of their beef directly to customers who contact
and pork cuts, bacon and hamburger them at brilynacres@gmail.com or
through Reiff’s Farm Market, which 717-859-4513.

  
   

    


 
  
  
 
 
  
  
   
   
 
 
     
   



     

 
    
   
   
  
 
  
 

     

  
     
  
   

   

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26 AG WEEK 2017 LANCASTER FARMING | LNP

BACK TO NATURE
ENVIRONMENT

Farmers’ efforts to help environment benefit their farms

A farm dog PHILIP GRUBER

I
surveys the LANCASTER FARMING
riparian
buffer on n the rich hues of morning light, the red-
Mahlon
Stoltzfus’ buds, maples and river birches along Mill
farm in Earl Creek are stunning.
Township. They’re all native trees, the younger ones
Native
trees and still in protective tree tubes, the older ones big
shrubs pre- enough to shade the stream and give fish the cool
vent ero- water they need to thrive.
sion and
provide a Mahlon Stoltzfus’ cattle — eight or 10 dairy and
cool, shady beef animals he keeps for family use — go down for
habitat for a drink at the stream.
fish.
Usually farmers are told to fence cattle out of
streams. They can destabilize the banks and sully
the water with manure.
But Stoltzfus has used an accepted alternative,
fencing in a small area of the creek for drinking.
Concrete slats on the stream bank keep the soil in
place.
Stoltzfus, of Earl Township, is one of many Lan-
caster County farmers who are doing things on
PHILIP GRUBER Continued, page 27

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LANCASTER FARMING | LNP
Continued from 26
their farms to help the environ-
ment.
Often, these strategies have big
benefits on the farm.
Cover crops such as ryegrass
and radishes enhance the soil
and protect it from erosion be-
tween cash crops.
Many farmers have switched
to no-till implements, which,
unlike traditional tillage equip-
ment, preserve the soil structure.
Large, cylindrical manure stor-
age units keep animal waste from
running off into streams before it
can be spread on fields.
Good for farm and life
Farmers have adopted these
conservation practices not only
for the farm benefits but also be-
cause they improve life in the lo-
cal community.
Riparian buffers — the stream-
side plantings of trees and shrubs
like Stoltzfus’ — are particularly
good at providing homes for
deer and other animals in ad-
dition to reducing erosion and
  
trapping the nutrients that have
been feeding algae blooms in the
Chesapeake Bay.
“We always did like the idea of
habitat for wildlife and birds,”
says Stoltzfus, one of 276 farmers
in Lancaster County who have
contracts with the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture’s Conser-
vation Reserve Enhancement
Program, which funds riparian
buffers.
Together, these buffers cover
1,300 acres, according to Ashley
Spotts, the restoration specialist
for the Chesapeake Bay Founda-
tion who handles the county’s
buffer applications through a
USDA contract.
Stoltzfus planted most of his
trees four years ago, expanding
an earlier planting to cover 8 of
the farm’s 33 acres.
He gave up 2 or 3 acres of pas-
ture for the buffer and spends
time clearing undergrowth
around the young trees so ro-
dents don’t eat the roots.
USDA lease payments compen-
sate him for taking the land out
of production, and Stroud Wa-
AG WEEK 2017 27
ter Research Center in Avondale
sweetened the deal by funding
stormwater improvements on
his farm.
Farm conservation practices
have become a major tool in re-
ducing pollution in the Chesa-
peake Bay watershed, regardless
of who pays for them.
When the cleanup launched in
2010, there were no statistics on
how much conservation work
farmers were doing on their
own dime, so the Environmental
Protection Agency didn’t count
them.
Farmers protested, and last
year a Penn State University
survey documented the acres of
buffers and miles of stream bank
fencing EPA will now count.
Meanwhile, on Stoltzfus’ farm,
the conservation work is paying
off.
Erosion is way down. Deer
and songbirds rustle throughout
the buffer, and algae have disap-
peared, leaving the water clear.
“We’re excited about seeing PHILIP GRUBER
it another five years from now,” Mill Creek flows along a riparian buffer on Mahlon Stoltzfus’
Stoltzfus says. farm.


      
  
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