Farm

Name of business: Valley Crane Service, a division of Valley Directional Drilling Inc. Owner: Perry Crouse Address: 5959 Cumberland Highway, Chambersburg, Pa. Opening date: May 2012 Products and services: Crane rental service Target market: Construction jobs; farmers; residential (roof trusses, pools, etc.); tree removal; mechanical contractors How did you get into your business, and what motivated you to start it? Crouse saw a need for crane service in the area due to the closure of other local businesses that offered crane services.

Farm Service Agency Administrator Juan M. Garcia reminds farmers that the County Committee elections began Nov. 5 with the mailing of ballots to eligible voters. The deadline to return the ballots to local FSA offices is Dec. 3. Newly elected committee members and their alternates will take office Jan. 1. “The role and input of our county committee members is more vital than ever,”  Garcia said. “New county committee members provide input and make important decisions on the local administration of disaster and conservation programs.

Homeowners upset about their unfinished development in the Borough of Waynesboro might be getting a reprieve, according to a representative of the company responsible for the money needed to pave streets, install sidewalks, and finish water and sewer lines. A settlement agreement is being finalized with the municipality, and the bid process to find a contractor for the work in Brimington Farms is starting, Lexon Insurance Co. CEO David Campbell said in a phone interview Tuesday. The Waynesboro Borough Council has been trying to collect more than $1 million in bonding from Lexon Insurance Co., a business that guarantees a developer (in this case DLM LLC and Gemcraft Homes)

A fire that caused extensive damage to a historic home along W.Va. 45 (Martinsburg Pike) early Thursday near Shepherdstown remains under investigation, Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Daniel Henderson said. No one was injured in the blaze, which was reported about 1:30 a.m., according to Henderson. The cause of the fire is being investigated by the West Virginia State Fire Marshal's Office, according to Henderson. Built in the 1830s, the red brick home at 6433 Martinsburg Pike was part of Rock Spring farm, Jefferson County Historical Society spokesman Curt Mason confirmed.

The University of Maryland Cooperative Extension will offer Annie's Project this winter.  Annie's Project focuses on the many aspects of farm management and is designed to empower women in overall farm decision making and build local networks throughout the state. The target audience is women with a passion for business, agriculture and involvement in the farm operation.  Topics for the sessions cover the five areas of risk management - production, marketing, financial, legal risk and human resources.

U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett of the 6th Congressional District recently was honored for his dedication and service to the farm community, receiving the Friend of Farm Bureau Award. The award is the Farm Bureau's method of recognizing members of Congress who have voted with the farm community on priority issues over the two-year term of each Congress. The award program began in 1996, and this year marks its ninth biannual presentation. To qualify for the award, a legislator must have scored a 60 percent or better voting record on priority bills and amendments identified by the national office.

“You can't turn these cows on and off,” said Bill Kilby, whose family has owned a dairy farm in Cecil County, Md., since 1961. “You cannot stop feeding the cows, you've got to take care of them.” That's the simple rationale for why the federal government has continuously, since the Great Depression, passed some sort of agricultural-support legislation. Farmers, unlike computer companies or automakers, can't ramp up production when demand spikes and they can't easily decrease their expenses when prices for their products drop.

What are the biggest challenges to agriculture today? I get asked that question a lot and I find that while the orders of the answer change, the primary answers don't. When I say the order, I mean the order of importance. For instance, a few years ago when the building boom was in full swing, urban sprawl would have been much higher on the list in the Mid-Atlantic region than it is today. That is not to say the urban sprawl is still not a concern. At last glance, they aren't making any more land, and for some reason, prime farm land is also prime development land.

The array of solar panels all facing south give the appearance of a shimmering lake. And by late December, the 300,000 solar panels, each roughly the size of a 46-inch flat screen television near the Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown off Roxbury Road, are expected to generate a peak of 20 megawatts of power per hour. The solar farm annually will produce enough electricity to power 4,000 to 5,000 single family homes, according to an estimate by an official at First Solar Inc., the company leasing the land from the state to run the plant.