Betsy Huber, State Master

From the Master's Desk

 

What an exciting month April was, with the remainder of our annual Regional Meetings, several legislative banquets, and lots of informative meetings. With the weather alternating between winter and spring, 30 degrees and 70 degrees, snow, rain, and sunshine, it was an interesting month for sure!

Regional Meetings
Our attendance this year was excellent. Two of the meetings, Region H and F, had the largest attendance of any regional meeting in my six years, with 68 and 63! Congratulations! The average attendance of the eight meetings was 41, a really good record. Many thanks to all of you who came out to hear National Master Ed Luttrell present his five priorities for the National Grange and how PA State Grange and our community Granges can work with him to achieve these goals. (See front page article.) I hope you will keep up the enthusiasm generated in those meetings and keep working to enliven your Grange. Granges that have lots of activities, that are DOING things, will attract attention and new members to help.

Legislative Banquets
Congratulations to Lycoming County Pomona Grange for an excellent banquet and program on April 4. Over 150 people attended to honor Senator Roger Madigan who will retire at the end of this year after many years of service to north-central PA. This wonderful event made me really proud to be a Granger and proud of the Grange members who planned this grand occasion to honor a great man and great friend of agriculture and rural PA. I was very proud to be a member of this respected organization as we paid tribute and gave thanks to Senator Madigan.

On April 12 Montour-Northumberland-Union Pomona #31 held their annual legislative banquet in Turbotville. This enjoyable evening was well attended by Commissioners from the three counties as well as Grangers. Congratulations for continuing this excellent tradition.

And on April 26 Chester County Pomona Grange #3 hosted 100 at their annual legislative banquet, always well attended by Senators, Representatives, Commissioners, and Grangers.
I know other counties hold these events as well as candidates forums and open houses. This is an excellent way to interest people in your community and draw them into our Grange halls and meetings. We need to stress that one individual may feel helpless to influence our government, but in the Grange when we join together we can make things happen.

4-H Agents Meeting
In April I was privileged also to speak at the spring meeting of the PA Association of 4-H Extension Agents in Punxsutawney. I participated in a panel with Jim Davis, Vice President of the PA State Association of County Fairs, and Wendy Griest, PA Farm Bureau, each of us telling how we and 4-H can work together for the benefit of all. If you are approached by your county 4-H Agent with some ideas for cooperation, please be receptive and welcoming. You may get some new young members out of working together!

 

 

PA State Grange President Betsy Huber meets with
4-H extension agents in Punxsutawney

 

 

 

 

 

 

Penn State Ag Council
The semi-annual meeting of the Penn State Ag Council was April 10 and dealt with the topic of Ag Workforce Development. Several interesting speakers presented their perspectives on the issue, from employers to educators to economic development experts.

Dan Eichenlaub, representing the PA Landscape and Nursery Assoc., said they have developed two excellent high school curricula on horticulture and landscaping, but since these are not considered “high priority” occupations, schools cannot receive federal funding for teaching them. Another challenge is the old stigma that vo-tech is for kids who can’t make it into college. It is difficult to convince parents that these are good career-building jobs and not everyone must attend four years of college to be a success.

Dr. Tracy Hoover, Department Head of Ag and Extension Education, spoke on ag education in the public schools. There are 186 ag ed programs in PA public schools (out of 501 districts total). Almost 8000 students are officially enrolled in ag ed, with about 12,000 enrolled in some agricultural classes. There are 118,000 4-H members in PA and there are lots of new types of projects available, including workforce preparation skills, website development, robotics, life skills (decision making, critical thinking, communication), teambuilding, etc.

Scott Sheely, Executive Director of the Lancaster Workforce Investment Board (WIB), talked about funding available through the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 for job training for family-sustaining jobs in industries that are growing and competitive. Every area in the country has a WIB (21 in PA) appointed by local officials, whose job it is to participate in economic development, oversee the development and operation of Career Link offices, and administer this public funding locally. High priority occupations are identified to be the focus of their available funding.

Penn State has a Latino Agricultural Resource Center in the Dept. of International Programs, Deanna Behring, Director. This Center develops Spanish language instruction programs, such as farm financial planning and analysis and production management analysis, and offers translations of publications and educational materials for a fee. Short courses on Spanish for dairy farmers are also offered at Penn State.

Finally, Mike Oscar from Senator Specter’s office spoke on immigration reform as “political dynamite” and urged us to raise the issue with Presidential candidates as we are not being heard. This is a major local problem-for instance, in Chester County alone there are 327 illegal workers detained in the County prison at an annual cost of $1.7 million. The federal government provides $40,000 reimbursement, leaving the rest to be paid by local taxpayers. After waiting 180 days the detained workers go back on the streets. Immigration reform is a crisis for U.S. agriculture as well as for us as taxpayers. We need to urge our Congressmen and U.S. Senators to take some action immediately to resolve the problem.
I’ve given you lots of ideas to discuss at your Grange meetings or to explore with guest speakers. There are many people in your communities who would love to have an audience, even if small, to listen to their views and issues. Invite them to your Grange!