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Two Countians Are Named to Farm Transition Board

Posted on: Friday, 2 June 2006, 18:00 CDT

By Reading Eagle, Pa.

May 28--Two Berks Countians have been named to an advisory board of industry leaders, state officials and farmers with the Center for Farm Transitions.

Named to the 13-member board were county Commissioners Chairwoman Judith L. Schwank and Michael Firestine, a Hereford breeder from Marion Township representing Lebanon Valley Farmers Bank, Lebanon.

"Helping farmers transition smoothly into the next phase of their business is vital to the continued success of agriculture and our state's economy," said Dennis Wolff, state secretary of agriculture.

"With nearly 25 percent of Pennsylvania's farms expected to change ownership in the next decade," Wolff said, "the Center for Farm Transitions and the forming of the advisory board are exactly what Pennsylvania needs right now."

Gov. Ed Rendell launched the center in January to prepare for an expected turnover of farms throughout the state and to provide farmers with access to resources as they consider their farming options.

The center helps new farmers, existing farmers who wish to make changes to their operations and those leaving their farms due to retirement or the start of new careers. The goal of the center is to keep farming assets in agriculture.

The advisory board supports the center in its mission to help farmers with professional information services and consultations so they can maintain farming's important role in the state's economy.

"Farmers are going to need to pull from a variety of industry experts to make well-informed legal, business and financial decisions," Wolff said. "The leaders on this board will guide the center, enabling it to aid farmers with various aspects of their transition."

The center's Web site, www.iplantofarm.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Reading Eagle, Pa.

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Source: Reading Eagle

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