A publication by

Ag Week

NOV. 8-14

ENVIRONMENT

Efforts to improve
water quality

CELEBRATING LANCASTER COUNTY AGRICULTURE

EMPLOYMENT

The future of
industry jobs

BUSINESS

The faces of
county farming

CROPS

Farm-to-table
dining trends

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

Ag Week Schedule

Contents

MONDAY

THURSDAY

n Event/focus: Ag careers day

n Event/focus: Places and

Location/time: Pequea Valley

High School, 166 S. New
Holland Road, Kinzers;
10 a.m.noon
KEITH SCHWEIGERT | STAFF

ENVIRONMENT

EMPLOYMENT

Examining efforts to end

Chesapeake Bay pollution
As baby boomers retire, the
need for skilled workers grows

8
10
12
14

BUSINESS

16
18

CROPS

LNP | LANCASTER, PA

Spinoffs: From farmer to

entrepreneur
The faces of farming: A photo
essay of county families
By the numbers: County
agriculture at a birds-eye view
Niche markets: Lancaster is goat
country

TUESDAY
n Event/focus: Agriculture

summit - economic impacts

and vision development for the
future
Location/time: Lancaster
County ag summit, Lancaster
Farm and Home Center;
10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

WEDNESDAY
n Event/focus: Ag and

the environment/Lancaster
Chamber issues briefing
Location/time: Southern
Market Center; 7:30-9 a.m.

A veggie tale: Following one

vegetable from seed to savored
A look at the local trends
in farm-to-table dining

faces of a billion-dollar
enterprise/agribusiness tours
Locations/times: Assorted
businesses and times:
SAUDERS EGGS
790 Schoeneck Road, Ephrata
7-8 a.m. omelets; 8-9 a.m. tour
of the facility

GRAYWOOD FARMS LLC

225 Mason Dixon Road,
Peach Bottom
Tour time: 10-11 a.m.

Locations: Oregon Dairy,

Yoders Country Market,
Weaver Markets

FOUR SEASONS FAMILY

OF COMPANIES
400 Wabash Road, Ephrata
Tour time: 11 a.m.-noon

produced farm-to-plate denim

and pearls dinner
Location/time: Creek Road
Barn at Oregon Dairy (1289
Creek Road, Lititz); 6-7 p.m.
hors doeuvres; 7-9:30 p.m.
meal and dessert

n Event: Agricultural Industry

n Event: Lancaster County-

KREIDER FARMS
1463 Lancaster Road, Manheim
Tour times: 9:30 a.m.,
11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m.

Banquet
Location/time: DoubleTree
Resort, Willow Street, 5-9 p.m.

SATURDAY
food

WENGER FEEDS
101 W. Harrisburg Ave., Rheems
Tour time: 2-3 p.m.
Special info: Participants
should not have been near live
poultry in the past 72 hours.

n Event: Yoders Country

Market tours, activities and

specials
Location/time: Yoders
Country Market, New Holland,
all day

BINKLEY & HURST

133 Rothsville Station Road,
Lititz
Tour times: 9 a.m., 11 a.m.,
1 p.m., 3 p.m.

ON THE COVER: AN AERIAL VIEW OF A FARM ON GYPSY HILL ROAD IN

WEST LAMPETER TOWNSHIP; PHOTO BY KEITH SCHWEIGERT | STAFF

FRIDAY
n Focus: Celebrating local
food

n Event: Lancaster County-

n Focus: Celebrating local

n Event: Lancaster County-

made food promotions and

specials in grocery stores
bakeries, delis and restaurants
and chicken BBQs
Locations: Oregon Dairy,
Yoders Country Market,
Weavers Markets
Weaver Markets will be offering
a Lancaster-produced breakfast
item every day of Ag Week.

made food promotions and

specials in grocery stores
bakeries, delis and restaurants

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Tri-ply in action

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35 Ridge Rd. | Newville, PA 17241 | 717-776-5951
www.abmartin.net

Code
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TPFC
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TPLPW White Painted Lath
x 1 x 12
TPSP
White Poly Strapping wide x 7200

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Roofing Supply, llc
Roofing & Siding Hardware Lumber

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LANCASTER, PA | LNP

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PowerStar Series
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1
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Locate a dealer at newholland.com/na

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LNP | LANCASTER, PA

Environment
AD CRABLE

ACRABLE@LNPNEWS.COM

BAY WATCH
Federal crackdown has state, county conservation groups hustling to help
farmers curb pollution of Chesapeake, assure their efforts are counted

LINDA DAVIDSON

arming-related nutrient and

soil runoff is pegged as the No.
1 obstacle in the federal governments many-year, manymillion-dollar initiative to clean up the
Chesapeake Bay.
Pennsylvania, because the Susquehanna River provides a lifeline to the
bay, is the top target.
And Lancaster County is its bulls-eye.
In three separate crackdowns that
shocked some observers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made
down-the-lane inspections of mostly
Plain sect farms near Intercourse and in
Bart and Eden townships. The aim was
to make sure farmers had the required
plans for soil and manure control.
County officials got the message.
Since then, townships such as Manor,
Brecknock, Earl and East Earl have invited the Lancaster County Conservation District to survey local farmers in
the hope of averting the need for future
crackdowns.
CONTINUED, page 5

An aerial view of a sunrise over the northern tip of Talbot County, Md., flanked by Eastern Bay, which connects with the Chesapeake.

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Continued from 4

In a recent canvassing of 480 farmers in Earl and East Earl townships, the
Conservation District received about 80
requests for help in drawing up the required plans, a project funded by a state
grant.
The Lancaster Farmland Trust also
visited more than 1,000 farmers in eight
townships.

Not doing enough?

Pennsylvania officials and farming
groups have taken issue with EPAs recent criticism that the state isnt doing
enough to meet its commitment to drastically reduce the flow of soil, phosphorus and nitrogen down the Susquehanna and into the bay.
Pennsylvania insists its farmers have
done far more conservation work than
they are being credited for in the computer models EPA uses to tabulate progress.
But we recognize that there is an urgent need for renewed focus on the
Chesapeake Bay, says Neil Shader, DEP
spokesman.
There are clear challenges for Pennsylvania to improve local and downstream
water quality in the Susquehanna watershed and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.
Updating and improving reporting and
record keeping for best-management
practices, for both agricultural and nonagriculture sectors, will be an important
part of this improvement.
Recently, the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts appealed
to farmers across the state to voluntarily
complete an online survey about conservation plans and practices on their farms.
The data submitted will be used to
enter into the Chesapeake Bay model,
the letter to farmers says. This will ensure that the work farmers have already
done is being counted toward pollutionreduction goals.

Counting the uncounted

Here, too, Lancaster County is on the
front line.
The Lancaster County Conservation
District has met recently with state officials on how to tabulate conservation
practices not currently counted.
The problem is on-the-farm best-management practices that arent certified
by a government agency or financed by a
government grant often dont make it to
the computer model used to set policy,
says Christopher Thompson, administra-

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LANCASTER, PA | LNP

tor of the Lancaster County Conservation

District.
DEP is fighting to have the selffunded improvements recognized,
Thompson says. My predecessor (Don
McNutt) felt 50 to 60 percent of bestmanagement practices on the ground
were not being counted.
The Lancaster Farmland Trust in its
survey of farms is documenting existing
conservation projects.
Fifty percent of best-management
practices out there no one knows are
out there, says Jeff Swinehart, deputy
director of the private group.
Typical projects a farmer might do
himself include fencing cattle away from
a stream, planting a buffer of vegetation
along stream banks, and controlling
runoff of manure from the barnyard.
In a data base pilot project funded by the
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,
the local Conservation District is documenting the conservation projects paid
for by the farmers themselves when the
district updates its conservation plans.
A monitoring device is being placed in
the streams near certain conservation
projects to verify that nutrients levels
are being reduced.

County leads the way

The local Conservation District also
has created a computer data base of
conservation projects. Four other counties have since followed suit.
The records will help satisfy some of
the reporting requirements the state
needs in its case to persuade EPA that
Pennsylvania farmers are doing more
than they get credit for.
Lancaster County is a leader in many
conservation efforts and is charting a
course that many others are trying to
follow, Thompson says.
Many of the projects being tallied involve Plain sect farmers, Thompson notes.
There are also English farmers that use
their own money to get things done, because its faster if they dont have to wait
on the application process, he explains.
As an example, he tells of a farmer who
recently contacted the Conservation District about a runoff problem on an access
road that was repeatedly washing out.
When informed that there was an
18-month-long wait for a grant to fund
a repair, the farmer made the repairs
himself, at his own expense.
I can honestly say the ag community here has stepped up to do its part,
Thompson says.

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Legal Counsel Hotline

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NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LNP | LANCASTER, PA

Employment

GROWING
OPPORTUNITY
Ag study projects tens of thousands of job openings
as boomers retire, need for skilled workers grows

AD CRABLE

ACRABLE@LNPNEWS.COM

elp wanted for Pennsylvania agriculture over the next 10 years: about
75,000 workers.
Retiring baby boomers and a growing demand for skilled people to
service automated equipment could result in a manpower shortage
with the potential to significantly affect Pennsylvanias agriculture and related
food-processing industries, state ag officials warn.
The human capital pipeline in all industries will be severely impacted. Companies will not only run out of skilled
people to operate technology, but there
will be more general labor shortages of

workers just to get basic tasks done,

says a new study by the state Department of Agriculture, Agriculture and
Food Careers in Pennsylvania.
CONTINUED, page 7

BLAINE T. SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Satero LaCruz works in the milking parlor at Oregon Dairy in June. Approximately 75,000 job
openings, from traditional farm tasks to skilled service work on equipment, are expected in the
field over the next decade.

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LANCASTER, PA | LNP

Continued from 6

The stakes are high, the study emphasizes.

To remain competitive in the global
marketplace, the agriculture and food
industries in Pennsylvania must resolve
the problem of an aging workforce
and do it soon.
Lancaster County should take note,
says Scott Sheely, special assistant for
workforce development at the state Department of Agriculture.
The county is the top employer in the
state for food processing, with big companies such as Kelloggs, Kunzler, Turkey Hill and Y&S Candies.
Its also number one in the state for
forestry and wood products, primarily
because of the concentration of cabinet
makers here.
Both these industries, as well as on
the farm, are experiencing advances in
technology that need to be maintained.

Mechatronics
Theres even a new field, called mechatronics, which Sheely describes as a

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

combination of an electrician and information technician that will be needed to

service automated equipment increasingly in use for food processing and on
the farm.
Many of our dairy operations are
asking for those kinds of people, notes
Sheely, a Lancaster County resident.
The ag study identifies more than 20
occupations in which skill and labor
shortages exist.
While emerging new jobs such as
farm equipment service technicians
may pose a critical shortage in the years
ahead, more traditional farm jobs also
are projected to be in short supply.
Sheely lists such jobs as heavy-duty
truck drivers, large-animal veterinarians,
sales representatives, teams of assemblers to put equipment together, packers,
mechanics, landscapers-groundskeepers
and entry-level farm workers.
Fortunately, Sheely says, Lancaster
County and surrounding areas are already
becoming a center for such training. He
cites programs at HACC and the Mount
Joy Career and Technology Center.
Its a real competitive advantage,

AG WORKERS
IN DEMAND

Sheely says of the educational training

offered here.

Heres a look at the shortage of

workers projected for the next 10
years in the agricultural industry:
n Heavy and tractor-trailer truck
drivers: 24,296
n Landscaping and
groundskeeping workers: 17,392
n Maintenance and repair
workers (general): 14,784
n Sales representatives,
wholesale and manufacturing
(except technical, scientific
products): 14,418
n Team assemblers: 8,026
n Industrial machinery
mechanics: 7,176
n Industrial truck and tractor
operators: 6,768
n Inspectors, testers, sorters,
samplers and weighers: 5,999
n Packaging and filling machine
operators and tenders: 4,297
n Medical and clinical laboratory
technicians: 4,055

Skills training
The ag department is in the process of
researching how to deploy educational
training so people can learn the skills
that will be so in need.
So many partners have asked about
more career information, Sheely notes.
Where do you train for these jobs, do
you have to go to college? If not, where
can you get additional training? How
can it fit into high school curriculum?
It will be a broad approach and ag officials are working with the military, hoping
to steer veterans into these kinds of jobs
once their service to the country is over.
The state departments of education
and labor and industry also are partnering to address the ag and food occupations shortages.
Its a work in progress, but this department is really taking it seriously to
make sure we have the agriculture and
food resources we need over the nest 10
years, Sheely says.

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NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LNP | LANCASTER, PA

Business
From

FARMER to ENTREPRENEUR
Stories abound of small farming operations that became so much more
CHAD UMBLE

CUMBLE@LNPNEWS.COM

DAN MARSCHKA | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

here are more than crops being cultivated

on Lancaster County farms.
There are new businesses.
While tourism is the most obvious side benefit of
Lancaster County agriculture, a whole host of other
enterprises have been spun off from farming.
Farm machine shops have been molded into factories.
Roadside farm stands have sprouted into grocery
stores.
Dairy farms have churned out ice cream-making
operations.
Just think of all the businesses that started that
support agriculture that actually grew into production companies, said Jack Coleman, a farmer from
Paradise Township.

Bob and Ruthie Fox stand in a field of alfalfa at their Clay Township farm, where they recently opened Fox Meadows Creamery & Cafe.

CONTINUED, page 9

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NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LANCASTER, PA | LNP

Continued from 8

The big deal is the jobs they create

all spun off from agriculture, he said.

Evolution of a farm
Coleman himself is an example of a
farmer who created a whole new business down on the farm.
Now in its 20th year, Cherry Crest Adventure Farm and its corn maze have
become a fall tradition attracting nationwide attention to the farm Coleman
owns with his wife Donna.
Elsewhere, Meadow Creek Barbecue
Supply in New Holland has garnered a
national reputation among professional
barbecuers for its smokers, pig roasters, barbecue pits and grills. That business began in 1980, when Earl Township
farmer Ivan Stoltzfus welded together a
roaster for a neighbors pig roast.
Today, Stoltzfus son Melvin owns the
business, which has a 12,500-square-foot
manufacturing shop outside New Holland
and a retail store on Main Street.
In another example, Clay Township
dairy farmers Bob and Ruthie Fox co-

5OFF

BLAINE T. SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

A worker welds a smoker in Meadow Creek Barbecue Supplys production facility in New Holland.

founded a creamery on the family farm.

Fox Meadows Creamery & Cafe, a
4,600-square-foot complex at Route 322
and Clay Road, opened in May and now
involves two of the Foxes children and
their spouses.

Expert not surprised

Those kinds of business origin stories
dont surprise John Berry, an agricultural marketing educator with Penn
State Extensions Lehigh County office.
He easily lists several more.
Oregon Dairy, they started with milk-

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ing cows, and Turkey Hill, that used to

be a dairy, said Berry, while pointing
out that Herr Foods grew out of a tobacco shed on the Herr family farm in Willow Street in the late 1940s.
Berry said it is natural in places such
as Lancaster County, with its expensive
farmland and high population density,
that farmers become entrepreneurs.
If you were raised on a farm, youre
raised in an environment where people
are working all the time, Berry said. If
theres a problem, you solve it yourself.
In the case of Pequea Machine, a
farmer with a welding shop and a prob-

lem to solve led to a thriving business.

Today, Pequea Machine operates out of
a 100,000-square-foot facility in New
Holland but was founded by a farmer
who made a machine a fluffer tedder
that helped his hay dry quicker.
Dean Severson, a rural planning analyst for the Lancaster County Planning
Commission, said hes seen a dramatic
increase in businesses starting the way
Pequea Machine did.
In a lot of cases, what were seeing is
that this is the primary income source
for the farm, Severson said.
Severson said the business-minded
bent of farmers sometimes creates issues for township officials, who try to
balance new farm-based enterprises
with zoning regulations.
Theres been some loss of farmland
because of all the new enterprises, but
Severson says the spin-off businesses
typically blend well with the local agricultural heritage.
As far as keeping the agricultural
land, we see farms staying as farms
even though a portion of them are being
turned to industrial use, he said.

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NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LNP | LANCASTER, PA

Business

FACES FARMING
of

AD CRABLE

ACRABLE@LNPNEWS.COM

From first-time tillers to those whose forebears worked the land for generations, todays
Lancaster County farmer is anything but stereotypical. Heres a look at the lives of people
who work the soil and make Lancaster farming such a richly textured community.

NEW FARMER

OSH HELLER LEFT Lancaster County and spent 16

years in the restaurant business before moving back
six years ago to farm. He started a produce business,
Creekside Farm Market, on farmland owned by his parents
between Manheim and Mount Joy.
The 34-year-old tapped the knowledge of local farmers, read
Penn State Extension literature, and learned by doing. The
first year he planted on 10 acres; now hes working 44 acres,
producing sweet corn, tomatoes, watermelons and cantaloupes for a roadside market and a community-supported agriculture subscription operation.
He and wife Kristi also have a pick-your-own strawberry
business and make custom Christmas wreaths. She runs the
business side of things.
Sitting in a field of pumpkins on the family farm near Mount Joy
are, from left, Brad, Kristi, Ben and Josh Heller.
DAN MARSCHKA | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

RETIRED FARMER

IKE HIS FATHER and grandfather, Clark Stauffer, 62,

worked the family farm in Ephrata Township hard. But
now, he says, Im ready to get out. All my daughters
and sons-in-law have good jobs.
The widower hates to let go of the farm his grandfather almost lost during the Great Depression, but the 6 a.m. to 10:30
p.m. shifts running the Indian Farm Run Produce operation
have taken their toll.
Being Im all alone here farming is not for a single guy to
run, he says.

Clark Stauffer on his Ephrata farm with daughters, from left,

Michele Brenneman, Melissa Gingrich and Janelle Horst.

DAN MARSCHKA | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

AG WEEK

LANCASTER, PA | LNP

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

11

PLAIN FARMER

mish and Old Order Mennonites own about

half of the 425,000 acres of farmland in Lancaster County. The old ways are still used to
grow crops and raise dairy cattle, and farming is very
much a family affair.
A Plain boy and girl watch their father and family
load small pumpkins on a wagon off East Eby Road.

RICHARD HERTZLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ORGANIC FARMER

xemplifying a growing wave of organic farming in Lancaster County, Casey

Spacht and partner Elisabeth Weaver grow niche offerings such as medicinal herbs, heirloom produce, cardoons, ginger and jicama, a root vegetable.
Spacht, 40, is co-founder and current executive director of the Lancaster Farm
Fresh Cooperative, which has grown from a handful of farms in 2006 to more than
100 now. Almost all their produce, meat, dairy and egg products are certified organic and follow stringent animal-welfare standards.
Standing in their field of certified organic flowers are, from left, Elisabeth Weaver, Quehanna
Spacht Weaver and Casey Spacht. The farm they operate is a member farm of the Lancaster
Farm Fresh Cooperative.

DAN MARSCHKA | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

FEMALE FARMER

s one of only about 500 women who own farms

in Lancaster County, Lisa Graybeal helps her
father and brother run 1,200-acre Graywood
Farms LLC in Fulton Township. At the dairy operation,
she manages calves, field work and employees. She lives
on the farm with husband Andy Wolf.
Farm manager Lisa Graybeal gives a calf milk while her
dog, Fenway, waits on her farm near Peach Bottom.
RICHARD HERTZLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

12

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LNP | LANCASTER, PA

Business
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AG WEEK

LANCASTER, PA | LNP

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NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LNP | LANCASTER, PA

Business

GETTING our GOATS

Lancaster County has become one of the East Coasts largest but littlest-known hubs in the goat market
K. SCOTT KREIDER

LNP CORRESPONDENT

n a Monday at the New Holland Sales Stables, buyers from all over the
East Coast gather around the auction ring to wait for the next sale to start.
But they didnt travel all the way from New York City, New Jersey or
Boston to buy feeder cattle or hogs theyre in the market for goats.
Lancaster County, unbeknownst to many locals, is home to one of the largest hubs
for goat sales on the East Coast. According to some experts, the New Holland Sales
Stable is the second-largest auction for live meat goats in the U.S.
Were kind of the only game in town,
says Michael McDermott, office manager
at the New Holland Sales Stable. On an
average week, we sell about 1,700 goats.
Those numbers can fluctuate, especially
on major religious holidays when demand
is high from Middle Eastern, Greek and
other immigrant communities.
In September, in the weeks leading up to

Eid-al-Adha, an Islamic holiday honoring

the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his
son, goat sales more than doubled.
The Muslim holidays are the ones that
really drive sales, McDermott says. The
holidays, he says, bring a big increase in
goat buyers and they will pay a premium,
with goat prices often doubling.
There arent very many markets that

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sell to kill that enjoy the convenience of

New Hollands location. Its only a few
hours from New York and New Jersey,
McDermott says.
The access to nearby urban populations lets New Holland Sales Stable
fetch higher prices for goats, allowing
farmers from as far away as Nebraska to
sell their goats at the market.

Locals, too
While many of the goats sold come
from out of state, local farmers are starting to get in on the action.
Raising and selling goats for meat,
thanks to changing tastes and changing
demographics in the U.S., is one of many
burgeoning niche markets in the County.

Most of our farms (in Lancaster

County) are very diversified, says Jeff
Stoltzfus, an adult agriculture educator
in the Eastern Lancaster County School
District. That diversification, Stoltzfus
says, makes farmers here more apt to
try new enterprises and enter into niche
markets like the goat trade.
The term niche market can be very
broad, Stoltzfus says, Its basically an
alternate marketing system. Ninety-five
percent of our food moves through places like Giant or Wal-Mart. Generally,
niche marketing is when we go around
that system.
In the case of goat meat, even though
it is in high demand, its not easy to find
a cut of goat meat at your local grocery
CONTINUED, page 15

NOVEMBER 8, 2015 15

AG WEEK

LANCASTER, PA | LNP

Continued from 14

store, Stoltzfus says. That makes it an

unconventional market.
Lancaster farmers are entering into
all kinds of unconventional markets to
meet demand organic meat and produce, kosher dairy, specially branded
Simply Sweet onions, specialty cheeses and of course, goats.
Bob Herr, a retired agriculture educator from Penn State with a Ph.D. in agriculture education, is one farmer who has
been tapping into the goat market since
demand started taking off 15 years ago.
If you look at the future, there are
more and more goat-eating immigrants
coming in, Herr says. The future of the
goat industry is just unmatched with
any other enterprise.
At his home in Narvon, he runs a modest sized Boer goat-breeding farm called
Nix Bessum (Pennsylvania Dutch for
Nothing Better). Herr has 14 does that
will soon be ready to kid, just in time to
sell on the Christmas market, when a
kid can bring more than double the average price.
Im really high on the goat industry,

Industry experts say New

Holland Sales Stables is the
second-largest auction for
live goats in the U.S.

BLAINE T. SHAHAN | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Herr says. Its one of the most expensive meats that you can eat, because
theres so much demand and there is not
enough of it.
Were only producing in this country
about 50 percent of all the goats were
eating. The rest of them are coming from
Australia, New Zealand, and China.
Herr is an expert on all things goat.
He has traveled the country consulting farmers on best practices for raising

sheep and goats and he runs a number

of seminars on the topic.
Herr says he also consults farmers in
Lancaster County, where he says many
Amish and Mennonite small farms are
beginning to raise goats to supplement
their income.
One reason Herr believes U.S. goat production isnt meeting demand is because
many farmers getting started in the trade
dont know how to care for goats.

Many people have the tin can mentality, Herr says, referring to the cartoon misconception that goats are happy eating anything, including tin cans.
He says farmers too often give goats the
leftover hay and feed while giving the
best to other livestock.
But they respond to the way you care
for them, Herr says.
Goats are also very susceptible to disease, and can have difficulty acclimating
to new environments and circumstances, Herr says, which can make goat-raising a risky venture.
But if a farmer has a program to acclimate newly acquired goats and is smart
enough to follow the various religious holidays when goat prices will peak, theres
an opportunity for high returns Herr says.
This goat market has developed such
a demand that little goats that we used
to pay $30 for now would be well over
$100, Herr says.
And with continued changes in U.S.
demographics, Herr is sure that trend
will continue.
There is never going to be enough
goat around.

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16

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LNP | LANCASTER, PA

Crops

STEP

A VEGGIE
TALE
1

Following one vegetable from farm to plate

ERIN NEGLEY

ENEGLEY@LNPNEWS.COM

t first look, Robertas is a simple

pizza place in the Bushwick
neighborhood of Brooklyn
with graffiti out front and a
two-Michelin-star restaurant in the back.
The look is super-casual and approachable, but the food is on a different level.
Last year, foodie website Eater called the
restaurant one of New Yorks most quintessential kitchens powered by its artisanal
everything.
Its menus cycle with the seasons best
produce, and a few weeks ago, chefs there

added Romanesco cauliflower to the broccoli salad. This fall version of the salad has
roasted broccoli, cauliflower and Romanesco, dinosaur kale with a bagna cauda dressing (a buttery, Italian vegetable dip).
Before the Romanesco became the fall
addition to a $15 Brooklyn salad, it traveled 150 miles on a truck from a warehouse in Leola. The day before, it was harvested by hand from a farm in Kirkwood.
The farms like the one raising that
cauliflower continue to cover Lancaster
County, making the local vegetable crop
the most valuable in the state, according
to the latest agriculture census. Some of

is pleased to
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that $20 million worth of produce stays

local at farm stands, grocery stores, restaurants and even feed troughs. Much
leaves the area.
Heres the story of one vegetable from
farm to plate.

The farm
The Romanesco started from seed in
a greenhouse at Sunny Slope Organics in Kirkwood. The farmer and his
family transplanted the seedlings in
waves around June and cultivated them
throughout the summer, said Casey

Spacht, executive director for Lancaster

Farm Fresh.
Since the nonprofit co-op began in
2006, it has grown from seven farmers to
110 member farms. More than 90 percent
of members are Plain, like the owner of
Sunny Slope, who did not want to be interviewed. The co-op started as a way for
farms to share the marketing, sales and
transportation of organic produce.
Co-op farms grow staples such as tomatoes, peppers and corn, but theres
also room to experiment with specialty
vegetables such as bitter melon, exotic
CONTINUED, page 17

... to the warehouse

and the full size thats six inches wide.
When planning, Lancaster Farm Fresh
looks at both sides: market trends and
whether farmers like growing the crop.
This year, member farms are growing
twice as much as last year.
Spacht was a little concerned the heatwave in early September might hurt the
cauliflower crop, but the weather ended
up just right: sunny, good rain and cool
temperatures when needed.
The farmer and his family started harvesting the Romanesco the first week of October and continued for two to three weeks.
They placed the cauliflower into packing

Continued from 16

grains and the out-of-this-world-looking

Romanesco.
This year, three farms grew a total of three
acres of the odd-shaped cauliflower variety.
Members of the co-ops farm share say
they like the Romanesco. Through the
program, they receive a box of produce
from member farms throughout the
growing season.
Some people say, Its so beautiful, we
used it as a centerpiece for our table,
Spacht said.
Chefs love Romanesco, too, both the
baby version, three to four inches wide,

STEP

STEP

NOVEMBER 8, 2015 17

AG WEEK

LANCASTER, PA | LNP

... to the plate.

LANCASTER FARM FRESH PHOTOS

boxes on a wagon pulled by mule or horse.

Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative
picked up the boxes in a refrigerated
truck and stored them in the climate-controlled warehouse in Leola. The produce
is sent to either the farm share members
or wholesale customers within a 150-mile
radius, usually within a day, Spacht said.
We want them to have nutrient-dense
food, he said.

The restaurant
Kitchen manager Jane Orgel keeps Robertas kitchens stocked with quality sea-

sonal local produce from Pennsylvania to

Vermont.
Anything thats better-cared-for and
raised sustainably, its going to taste better at the end of the day, she said.
With the growth and popularity of the
original pizza shop, plus the adjacent
Blanca restaurant and Robertas Take
Out, that makes it even more difficult to
find the large volume of produce at the
right price from one small farm. Orgel,
who handles purchasing for the compounds kitchens, buys the majority of
produce, plus milk and eggs, from Lancaster Farm Fresh.

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18

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

LNP | LANCASTER, PA

Crops

A closer look at eating

FARM
{to}

TABLE

JENNIFER KOPF

JKOPF@LNPNEWS.COM

ou like to-may-toes, and I

like to-mah-toes.
No matter how you pronounce them, as long as they
have the word local in front of them,
those tomatoes are part of a movement
gaining momentum.

But when people talk about farm-totable eating, are they are talking about
cooking with only ingredients that are
in season, grown locally?
Or is farm-to-table shorthand for a
much larger phenomenon that includes
how people look at their food system?
Lancaster Countys food tradition,
like that of many communities with an

CATE SHIPLEY

agricultural background, is defined by

the original farm-to-table philosophy:
You grow or raise your food; you harvest
or butcher it; you prepare or preserve it.
In Lancaster County we have a long and
deeply rooted history of being connected
to the land through agriculture and food
culture, says Alex Wenger, of The Fields
Edge Research Farm near Lititz.

A food researcher and plant breeder,

Wengers long-term goal is to focus on
research that encompasses farming and
seeds and food systems as a whole, he
explains.
Growing up with my grandparents,
I saw what it took to produce all of your
food needs for a year, locally, Wenger
CONTINUED, page 19

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AG WEEK

LANCASTER, PA | LNP

Continued from 18

says via email. And in one sense, this is

what chefs and restaurants are rediscovering when they truly follow the farm-totable philosophy by sourcing all of their
ingredients from farmers in our local
community, year-round.
Farm-to-table is, in Wengers opinion,
one term for relocalizing food systems.
At its best, there is a focus on growing,
distributing, preparing and eating nutrient-rich foods that have been selected to
do well in local soils and climate. These
flavors are then highlighted in a regions
cuisine.
Its similar to the French notion of terroir, or a taste of place, he says. And its
starting to be remembered and revived
across the U.S., especially with chefs as they
look for inspiration for their restaurants.

The local picture

The elements that go into farm-totable eating growing your own food or
purchasing only local food, eating foods
in season, eating foods fresh or preserved
(not by synthetic chemical additives but

by processes such as freezing or pickling)

waned in recent decades.
Americans, even in Lancaster County,
were relying more on purchasing readymade or industrially produced foods for
convenience.
But the skills necessary for individually
raising, preparing and preserving food
never really went away. We have held on
to deeply rooted traditions here longer
than many other places, Wenger says.
Organizations such as the Pennsylvania State Extension offices continue
to offer classes here on canning and
preserving to meet local demand. That
meshes with what Wenger sees as the
local rediscovery of past techniques for
being connected to ones food.
Preservation is a key element of having fresh foods over the winter,. But
dishes have totally different flavor profiles when a food is fermented, pickled,
brined, dried or frozen, Wenger says.

Spreading the word

Both restaurant chefs and home cooks
realize the advantages in following a true

FARM-TO-TABLE
CAN GROW HERE
Alex Wenger says theres an
opportunity in the farm-to-table
movement for Lancaster-based
farmers, chefs and consumers.
I was just in Oregon, and
Ive spent a lot of time in the
Philadelphia and New York
food scenes in the past year,
Wenger says. The more I see,
the more confident I am that
Lancaster and the Mid-Atlantic
region in general could become
a strong local food community
to the point where it could be an
example for other regions.
Here are four reasons for his
assessment:
n Lancaster has some of the
worlds best farmland.
n It has an infrastructure
in place that can support
small, diversified vegetable
operations.
n Theres increased consumer
awareness about food.
n And theres a dedication
by chefs and food businesses
to consistently support local
farmers.

farm-to-table way of eating, and the

world has taken notice.
A New York Times article this summer
highlighted Lancaster Countys farmto-table attitude, mentioning Lancaster
Central Market, Ma(i)son restaurant,
Thistle Finch Distillery and The Prince
Street Cafe (along with PhotOle Photography) as embodiments of the self-sufficient, uber-local creativity.
Chef Robert Irvine, a celebrity chef on
the Food Network, praised the countys attention to local, fresh food in a 2014 LNP
interview prior to an appearance here.
That attention, he said, results in amazing
flavor, steady supplies of produce, money
for farmers and happy visitors.
In 2013, The Club des Chefs des Chefs, a
gastronomic society for the worlds most
exclusive chefs, traveled to Lancaster
County to enjoy a meal from Oasis at Birdin-Hand, a local Amish cooperative. Chefs
for royalty and heads of state from Europe
to Asia to Africa and North America sat together at long tables, sampling pot pie, succotash and other traditional Pennsylvania
German foods that embody a long tradition of farm-to-table eating.

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NOVEMBER 8, 2015

AG WEEK

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LNP | LANCASTER, PA