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These nine Master Farmers of Maryland and Pennsylvania work success five different ways.

John Vogel, Editor, American Agriculturist

August 8, 2016

7 Min Read

The Mid-Atlantic Master Farmers of 2016 are David and Linda Burrier of Union Bridge, Md.; Francis and Daniel Mains of Newville, Pa.; David Masser and Julie Ballay of Sacramento, Pa.; Charles and Bonnie Ulmer of Cogan Station, Pa.; and Martin Yahner of Patton, Pa. This 82nd Master Farmer class will be honored during the Master Farmers Association banquet in Dover, Del., on Aug. 5.

This career achievement honor, established in 1927, is one of the nation’s longest-standing awards recognizing farmers with exemplary management and ag community leadership skills. The award is co-sponsored by Cooperative Extension of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, along with American Agriculturist, and with generous support of AgChoice Farm Credit and Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit.

Following are cameos on these new Master Farmers. We’ll soon be sharing next-level details about their successes in follow-up features.

Burriers started farming twice
David and Linda Burrier’s Linganore Farm in Carroll County, Md., is a 1,160-acre grain and hay business, and a sustainable agriculture model. After building a grain farm in the mid-1970s, David suffered losses in an elevator bankruptcy, sold his farm and downsized. He became partially paralyzed due to a back surgery in 1993 and began working for a fertilizer company.

In 2002, he and Linda married. In 2003, they purchased his parents’ farm and started farming again. By 2006, they were back to farming full time again.

Fields are strip-cropped and rotated. Their “never-till” mentality has paid off in rising yields, organic matter and fertilizer efficiency, plus less labor, machine and fuel costs. With a large part of the Burriers’ income portfolio coming from hay and straw, they can stack 40,000 bales away with a stack wagon and forklift with three people in a shed built for that purpose.

Precision-ag technology, and the data from it, has already proven the benefits of cover cropping and increased nutrient efficiency on Linganore Farm. The Burriers employ GPS technology on their sprayer booms, corn planter and dry fertilizer spreader. The latter, plus stabilizing nitrogen, saved 15% on fertilizer, paying for that investment in one year. Growing test plots for two seed companies has helped them evaluate new varieties and steadily increase overall yields.

For their involvement in greater agriculture, David earned a DuPont’s Young Leadership award, and Linda received Syngenta’s Leadership at Its Best award. Both have had numerous leadership roles in the United Soybean Board, Maryland Ag Commission, Mid-Atlantic Soybean Association, Farm Bureau, their local Southern States Cooperative boards and more.

Mains duo diversifies into beef
Francis and Daniel Mains, a father and son from Cumberland County, Pa., add to their family’s Master Farmer legacy. Francis’ brother, Richard, was a 1991 Master Farmer; his father, Norman, was a 1971 honoree.

Francis and Daniel are the principal owners of Mount Rock Jerseys and Mount Rock Farming, with nearly 1,300 acres, 1,285 dairy cattle, a trucking business, and a new 185-head dairy and beef enterprise. Daniel is the managing partner of both companies.

Mount Rock Jerseys are bred via artificial insemination using sexed semen, according to genetic potential. A portion is bred to produce Jersey-Simmental calves. All calves are raised on the farm, starting out as automatic group feeders. Dairy-beef calves are contracted to feedyards.

The Mains business strategy is to minimize risks via diversification. They’re marketing animals from the dairy side for genetic sales with plans to reduce milking herd numbers to 350, while internally growing the beef enterprise to a 300 cow-calf operation. On the corporate side, they haul their own milk, operate their own trucks for feed and commodities, and do their own field operations involving double-cropped barley and wheat, plus soybeans and corn for grain and silage.

The Mains have been longtime members of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, and have served in county leadership roles for the Conservation District, Farm Service Agency and the Farmland Preservation Board. Francis was Cumberland County’s 2000 Conservation Farmer of the Year.

Daniel was a founding member of the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania, secretary of the Dairy Stakeholders, an AgChoice Farm Credit director. He’s a Pennsylvania Beef Council board member and a corporate director for Land O’Lakes.

Masser and Ballay aggressively grow company
The brother-and-sister team of David Masser and Julie Ballay leads Sterman Masser Inc., headquartered in Schuylkill County, Pa. Their parents, Keith and Helen Masser, were 1998 Master Farmers. Armed with engineering and business degrees plus marketing skills, these young farmers have taken the 5,000-acre family potato-growing, packing and shipping business to new heights. It now distributes more than 300 million pounds of potatoes annually.

SMI’s three business entities, including Keystone Potato Products and Masser Logistic Services, employ 330 people. The KPP division turns off-grade potatoes into fresh-cut, cooked and dehydrated products. Off-grade products are sold as pet feed; peels go for animal feed.

SMI is part of the national Fresh Solutions Network, a market development group involving eight potato and onion farming companies. They’re constantly developing new consumer products, breeding potato varieties and marketing to major retailers, including Giant and Wegmans.

David and Julie still consider themselves potato farmers first, reflecting their family’s seven-generation heritage. David is president of SMI, chairman of Fresh Solutions Network and first vice president of Pennsylvania Cooperative Potato Growers, and serves on the fresh-cut processor board of United Fresh Produce Association.

Julie is SMI’s vice president and chief financial officer, overseeing the business’ financial, food safety technology and human resource administration. She’s a board member of Schuylkill/Carbon Farm Bureau board and an environmental coordinator. She also serves on the American Farm Bureau Federation’s food safety issues advisory committee, plus an advisory committee for Penn State’s College of Engineering.

Ulmers help new farmers get their start
Bonnie and Charles Ulmer from Lycoming County, Pa., farm more than 2,500 acres of corn, soybeans, alfalfa, grass hay and wheat. They also rent out dairy facilities to families wanting to start farming. They, too, started their career by renting a dairy farm. By 2001, they were debt-free.

The Ulmers then added a new dairy freestall facility housing 200 cows plus a parlor – but not for their own use. Hampered by Charles’ three separate injuries, resulting in finger and hand amputations, they stopped milking cows to create opportunities for young families to get started in the industry.

The couple has started seven young farmers on three Ulmer Farms dairy facilities. Some are still operating on Ulmer Farms with 45% of the milk checks coming back to the Ulmers in payment for feedstuffs. Ulmer Farms supplies feedstuffs for five herds totaling about 600 cows.

Charles splits field operational duties with brother Steve, who is employed by the farm. Steve runs their GPS-guided corn planter and forage chopper. They grow 700 acres of wheat, and use cereal rye cover crops on all corn ground, sometimes on soybean fields.

Ulmer Farm received Pennsylvania’s Dairy of Distinction Award and numerous milk production awards from the Dairy Herd Improvement Association. Charles is a past president of Pennsylvania DHIA and serves on AgChoice Farm Credit board and its audit committee.

Yahner teamed with brother to double farm size
Martin Yahner partners with brother, Rick, in Yahner Brothers Farms in Cambria County, Pa. Their grandfather, Paul Yahner, was a 1960 Master Farmer.

Martin is general manager of their 2,550-acre operation that produces grain and forage crops, finishes 400 head of feeder steers annually and markets freezer beef. He handles the financial and marketing side of the business.

Rick handles the maintenance side. His machine shop innovations and designs greatly improved the farm’s efficiencies for hauling grain, silage and fertilizer products stretching out 19 miles. That allows Martin time to be more involved in agricultural and local civic issues.

On-farm variety test plots have helped them select 89- to 90-day corn hybrids that match 99-day corn for this Allegheny Ridge farm – with lower drying costs. Part of their corn acreage is chopped for steer rations; the rest is sold as cash grain, along with oats, wheat and soybeans, plus hay and straw.

The farm’s cropland acreage has doubled since 1996. Their on-farm grain storage also has grown from 40,000 bushels to 150,000 bushels since 1996 — built by themselves with new and used bins. Purchasing a second side-hill combine — again, used — doubled their harvesting capacity. Adding a new continuous-flow grain dryer also doubled their grain drying efficiency and capacity.

Yahner Brothers Farms imports trailer-loads of black and black-whiteface yearlings from the Virginias that are quality-assured, and highly probable to grade Choice or Prime and earn “Certified Angus Beef” premiums. Fed under roof and following detailed protocols, they negotiated for processors to pick up trailer-loads of finished steers at the barn.

Martin was instrumental in getting a 30-megawatt wind farm built on the Alleghany Ridge. He has had leadership roles in Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and American Farm Bureau Federation. He’s on PFB’s executive committee, Friends of Agriculture Foundation board and national legislative committee, and chairs PFB’s wildlife damage control committee. He also serves on AFBF’s energy committee.

About the Author(s)

John Vogel

Editor, American Agriculturist

For more than 38 years, John Vogel has been a Farm Progress editor writing for farmers from the Dakota prairies to the Eastern shores. Since 1985, he's been the editor of American Agriculturist – successor of three other Northeast magazines.

Raised on a grain and beef farm, he double-majored in Animal Science and Ag Journalism at Iowa State. His passion for helping farmers and farm management skills led to his family farm's first 209-bushel corn yield average in 1989.

John's personal and professional missions are an integral part of American Agriculturist's mission: To anticipate and explore tomorrow's farming needs and encourage positive change to keep family, profit and pride in farming.

John co-founded Pennsylvania Farm Link, a non-profit dedicated to helping young farmers start farming. It was responsible for creating three innovative state-supported low-interest loan programs and two "Farms for the Future" conferences.

His publications have received countless awards, including the 2000 Folio "Gold Award" for editorial excellence, the 2001 and 2008 National Association of Ag Journalists' Mackiewicz Award, several American Agricultural Editors' "Oscars" plus many ag media awards from the New York State Agricultural Society.

Vogel is a three-time winner of the Northeast Farm Communicators' Farm Communicator of the Year award. He's a National 4-H Foundation Distinguished Alumni and an honorary member of Alpha Zeta, and board member of Christian Farmers Outreach.

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