UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Agricultural leaders from five states have honored five Pennsylvania farm families with 2003 Mid-Atlantic Master Farmer Awards. The awards will be presented during a luncheon ceremony at 1 p.m. on March 17 at the Harrisburg Marriott, Harrisburg, Pa.

This year's honorees are Wayne and Marjorie Harpster of Spruce Creek; Jim and Sandra Hoopes of Ulysses; Perry and Adelaide Kretzing of Loysville; John Reed Rodgers of Belleville; and Kenneth Sanner of Kutztown.

They were selected from among 19 applicants and nearly 200 nominees from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Judges rated and chose the winners for their successes in progressive business management, responsible use of resources and exemplary civic leadership.

Established in 1927, the Master Farmer program is one of America's oldest and longest running agricultural honors programs. The award is co-sponsored by American Agriculturist magazine, Penn State Cooperative Extension and the cooperative extension programs of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and West Virginia.

"It's the 'Academy Awards' of agriculture," says John Vogel, editor-in-chief of American Agriculturist. "Following standards established more than seven decades ago, it recognizes outstanding management, land stewardship and community involvement. Our society very much needs such exemplary people who can be inspirations to others."

Judges for the competition were Robert Bruch, coordinator of rural development services for the New Jersey Department of Agriculture; Robert Frazee, president of Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit; and Robert Steele, dean of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. Here are brief cameos of this year's winners:

Wayne and Marjorie Harpster are two of Pennsylvania's most zealous working environmentalists. While the Huntingdon County couple nurtured a productive trout stream running through their family farm, they also built one of Pennsylvania's largest dairy farms. Evergreen Farms -- which is part-owned by the Harpsters' children -- milks more than 2,000 cows and farms more than 3,000 acres. A hunting and fishing sideline enterprise is testimony to their second love.

Evergreen Farms has adopted GPS-based computerized field records, nutrient-management plans and a farm conservation plan and is CAFO-compliant. Manure-based fertility has led the farm to average seven-ton yields for alfalfa-grass hay and nearly 24-ton corn silage yields.

Jim and Sandra Hoopes found their first 300-acre Potter County farm while snowmobiling in 1981. Today, Fox Hill Farms owns 1,400 acres and rents 400 acres to produce green beans for processing and fresh-market spinach, plus timothy and wheat to break the vegetable disease cycle.

Trucking continues to be part of their business as their vegetable markets are in New Jersey and southeast Pennsylvania, where much of their hay and straw is also shipped. They back-haul lime and other fertilizer for local sale and spreading. The Hoopeses use no migrant labor on labor-intensive crops, thanks to machine innovations. Spinach harvesting and packing, for instance, is just a two-person operation with a harvester built to automatically pack the crop in 40-by-48-inch plastic crates.

Perry and Adelaide Kretzing found their success through hard work and smart thinking. Shortly after they were married, the couple rented a dairy farm and started milking 17 cows. Seven years and four children later, the Kretzings purchased their first farm.

Today, Kretz-H Farms owns 500 acres and rents another 65 acres. Their "bread and butter" comes from a 250-cow milking herd. The couple is in the midst of transferring their family corporation over to two sons.

John Reed Rodgers knows all too well the challenges of farming. In the 1970s, Rodgers and wife Gayle milked 450 cows, farmed close to 2,000 acres, and ran a jug milk operation and a farm equipment business. John even became a Dale Carnegie instructor. Then came the high interest rates of the 1980s and financial consolidation. Today, Rodger's Plum Bottom Farm thrives as a 395-acre, grass-based Ayrshire heifer-raising and breeding operation. Much of the land has been gifted to family members or held in partnership with family. He supplies dairy beef to a family-owned café at the Dairyland Barn, converted to a shopping complex by Gayle. Still a Dale Carnegie instructor, he works with farmer outreach programs in this country and in Eastern Europe.

Kenneth Sanner started farming as a tenth-grader, renting a neighboring 25-acre farm and equipment from his father. In 1983, Sanner and his father formed a partnership and purchased a neighboring 100 acres.

Today, Sanner Farms is a sole proprietorship that includes 400 acres rented from the partnership and an 85-cow milking herd of registered Holsteins. He and wife Denise keep milk production costs low by raising crops almost solely with manure as the only fertilizer under a combination of minimum tillage and no-till. He also forward contracts much of his milk production.

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EDITORS: For more information on the winners or the Mid-Atlantic Master Farmer program, contact John Vogel by phone at (717) 334-4300 or by e-mail at Chuck Gill cdg5@psu.edu 814-863-2713 814-863-9877 fax #131