Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER
Mifflin County Farm Bureau President Tim Harrop spoke to members of the bureau in addition to other members of the community.

ALLENSVILLE — Mifflin County Farm Bureau held its fall meeting on Sept. 25 at the Heritage Family Restaurant where members shared a meal before discussing local business. The discussion also revealed that the Bureau’s Ag Literacy Program only reaches one elementary school in Mifflin County.

Today is the official start of Ag Literacy Week. “Soil in Jackie’s Garden” is this year’s book for literacy week; this book is about the plant life cycle and composting and highlights the science of renewable agriculture.

Agriculture is a huge part of Mifflin County, and the Bureau hopes to share all it can with local youth to prepare and educate them on the impact of farm life.

The Bureau came up with an idea to promote literacy week when they teamed up with 4H. These two organizations provided community members the opportunity to purchase a book for $12 to be donated to a classroom in the Mifflin County School District.

For a $12 donation, a classroom receives a book, a nameplate with the sponsor’s name, and an activity for the classroom to participate in. The teacher will keep this book in their class library for the students to look at any time.

You can donate by contacting Tina Goss at (717) 543-6128 or Sonieta Harrop at (717) 437-5818.

During its meeting, the Farm Bureau approved Dakota Harpster and Adam White to serve for another two-year term on the Board of Directors for Region 2; Granville, Lewistown, Wayne, and Bratton Township.

Ernie Harrop and Lucas Parkes were also approved for another two-year term on the Board of Directors for Region 4; Armagh and Brown Township.

Chelsea Fultz was introduced as the new Young Ag Professional Chair.

“Young ag professionals is important to be an advocate for young people to teach them where their food and dairy comes from,” said Fultz.

In other news, Farmers Care is officially slated for March 14, 2025.

Eric and Dustin Kauffman at Woodedge Farm in Reedsville received thanks for hosting the third-grade ag tour with over 400 students participating in 20 stations.

Lisa Savitts of the USDA, FSA office that serves Mifflin, Juniata and Perry County, went over upcoming deadlines which included the Oct. 31 deadline for organic producers to submit their applications for reimbursement and the Nov. 15 deadline to report fall crops.

Savitts wanted farmers to know that the DMC has no more predicted payments for the year for the milk program, but farm loans are still available including FSA youth loans for children and young adults ages 10 to 20 years old for up to $5,000 with low-interest payments.

Commodity loans are also available for corn harvest. Farmers are instructed to put the corn into the grain bin, and the FSA will take that corn for collateral to give applicants a short-term, nine-month loan with low interest. When borrowers sell the corn, they must contact the FSA office to pay it off.

Savitts also shared a link she would like all farmers to check out at climatesmart.org.

Additionally, the annual Farm Bureau meeting in Hershey is slated for Nov. 17 through Nov. 19.

Charlene Shupp Espenshade, executive director of Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation explained that the foundation finally received all of the money to build a new ag lab with grant money coming through this week after two years of raising funds.

The foundation currently has six ag labs on the road with 149 schools booked.

The Mobile Agriculture Education Science Lab is a 40-foot mobile classroom that travels across the state of Pennsylvania bringing an interactive field trip experience directly to schools and students in grades K-8.

This lab is equipped with more than 30 STEM-based science experiments and lessons, a certified teacher, and all the supplies needed for a hands-on learning experience. Each science experiment is designed to emphasize a different aspect of agriculture, including Pennsylvania’s commodities, the environment, biotechnology, food, and fiber.

While in the lab, students work to solve a problem as they form a hypothesis, collect data, and draw conclusions while using the scientific method. Each lesson in the Mobile Ag Lab focuses on increasing student knowledge of the importance of agriculture and its impact on their daily lives.

Schools can still sign up for mobile ag labs to visit their school.

If you’re interested in being a member of the Mifflin County Farm Bureau you can contact Neil Dembeck, regional organization director for Region 2 at ntdembeck@pfb.com. Region 2 consists of Dauphin, Lancaster, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, and Union Counties.

You do not have to be a farmer to become a member of the Farm Bureau.

The bureau plays an important role in agricultural communities, from its annual charitable campaign to benefit Ronald McDonald House charities to its advocacy to provide farm-fresh products to food banks. It also advocates for rural communities’ access to quality health care, infrastructure, and the Internet.