Farm Equipment

QUINCY TOWNSHIP, Pa. - More than two acres of wheat were destroyed in a Monday afternoon fire that started when a farmer was baling the straw, a Greencastle fire department spokesman said. Chief Robert Ebersole of Rescue Hose Co. No. 1 said the cause of the fire, which burned a total of four acres of fields, is unknown. The farmer was moving a newly round bale of straw when it caught fire, Ebersole said. He dumped it off the farm equipment he was operating to keep the vehicle from catching on fire.

Alan Hurst, farm loan manager for USDA's Farm Service Agency in Maryland, has announced the FSA on the national level will use $145 million of the $173 million provided in the Recovery Act for its Direct Operating Farm Loan Program, which will give 2,042 farmers direct loans from the agency. "These loans will be used to purchase items such as farm equipment, feed, seed, fuel and other operating expenses and will stimulate rural economies by providing American farmers funds to operate," Hurst said.

SHARPSBURG - The Washington County Rural Heritage Museum will sponsor Spud Fest - a celebration of old-fashioned potato farming - in conjunction with the antique tractor show at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center near Sharpsburg. The event - which will start at 10 a.m. Saturday - will feature the digging of potatoes by a horse-drawn plow. Families are encouraged to help pick up the potatoes, with prizes awarded to youngsters for the most, largest, smallest and most unusually shaped potatoes collected.

The Friends of Washington County Rural Heritage Museum will hold the second annual Spud Fest on Saturday, Aug. 28, beginning at 10 a.m. Potatoes planted this past spring will be harvested after the ground is turned by a horse-drawn plow. All are invited to the event to help pick up the potatoes. Prizes will be awarded to children for the largest, smallest, most unusually-shaped, and most potatoes picked up. Other children's activities include face painting and balloon sculpting.

SMITHSBURG - The scent of Leopard Stew and the hiss of steam engines will fill the streets of Smithsburg this weekend during the 29th annual Smithsburg Steam Engine and Craft Show at the Smithsburg Fire Hall grounds. The show will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, and from 10 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28. The Smithsburg High School Athletic Boosters Club hosts the event, to which an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people turned out last year for its slow-moving steam parade through town, famous Leopard Stew (named after the high school mascot)

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- A bondsman on Monday entered a no contest plea to a misdemeanor count of receiving/transferring stolen property, which stemmed from the theft of farm equipment from Tractor Supply Co. in Hagerstown in June 2009. James Van Fillinger, 42, of Engle Switch Road in Jefferson County, was fined $100 and ordered to pay court cost as part of a plea agreement, according to Berkeley County Magistrate Court records. Fillinger had been charged with two felony counts -- conspiracy and receiving stolen property -- after one of two men charged in the theft told police that the bondsman who arranged for his release from jail had them steal the equipment instead of pay the bail money, according to court records.

A Waynesboro, Pa., man died Friday in a two-vehicle accident near Boonsboro, Maryland State Police said. Thomas M. Smith, 48, of the 11000 block of Gehr Road in Waynesboro, was driving a 2005 International box-style truck when he was struck by a pickup truck traveling in the opposite direction on Md. 66/Mapleville Road near the intersection of Benevola Church Road. Burton Morgan Blythe, 63, was driving a Ford F-250 pickup north on Md. 66 Friday at 1:16 p.m., police said. The Ford also was hauling a trailer that had a tractor and other farm equipment, Cpl. Richard Poffenberger said.

Landmark Equipment, the John Deere dealership serving Hagerstown, and Chambersburg and Carlisle in Pennsylvania, will provide three John Deere tractors for use in the presidential inaugural parade. Hargrove Inc., the official general contractor to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, will use the three John Deere tractors to tow prominent floats in the inaugural parade, including the float representing the new president's home state of Illinois. John Deere brand equipment was chosen because the farm equipment manufacturer is headquartered in Moline, Ill., according to a prepared release from Hargrove.

HARRISBURG - Country music recording artist Michael Peterson will perform at the 2007 Pennsylvania Farm Show on Jan. 10, Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff said. Peterson's performance, starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Large Arena, is to include such signature songs as "Modern Man" and "From Here to Eternity," which earned him his first No. 1 hit. Wolff said Peterson also entertains audiences as a motivational speaker. He has been a featured speaker and singer at both the national 4-H dairy youth and national FFA youth conventions, Wolff said.

SMITHSBURG - Dennis A. "Denny" Stouffer, a leader in the auction industry and a mentor to his peers, recently received the Auctioneers Association of Maryland (AAM) Auctioneer of the Year Award. Stouffer was honored at the president's gala during the 50th Maryland Auctioneers Conference in Cambridge, Md. Stouffer has obtained most designations offered in the industry, including the prestigious Certified Auctioneer's Institute, which is awarded after attending three years of classes at Indiana University.