Check out these news items and many more in our October 23 print edition, or online at lancasterfarming.com.



Bobby Prigel at his on-farm creamery.



     Here's a new item to add to your list of farming hazards - lawsuits. Bobby Prigel, a fourth-generation dairyman from Glen Arm, Maryland, tends to a herd of 180 Jerseys. He and his family decided a few years ago that they'd like to develop a creamery and ice cream business on a patch of their preserved farmland. After they secured all the required permits, the lawsuits began. Was the operation permitted on preserved land? Did state health officials properly evaluate the creamery before issuing a license? Is their roadside stand legal? Prigel figures the family's $200,00-and-still-growing legal bill has paid off in publicity. Some 400 people showed up for opening day in September. Lancaster Farming reporter Chris Torres called on the Prigels to see how they're making out.

     Chris Torres also attended a recent meeting in Lancaster, Pa., where the federal Environmental Protection Agency told an audience that included farmers and officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that their proposed steps to limit the state's flow of pollution to the Chesapeake Bay were not enough. It was, nevertheless, a quiet meeting, according to Torres.

     Pennsylvania lost 14 percent of its dairy farmers between 2006 and 2009, according to a page one report byJames Haggerty, who writes for the Scranton Times Tribune. That means that about one in every seven dairy families emptied their bulk tanks for good in just a three-year period. The flight was thanks mostly, but not entirely, to a drop in the on-farm milk price from $20.26 in November, 2008, to $12.90 in June, 2009.

     October, you probably already know, is National Pork Month. This week's Home on the Range page features a recipe for happy pork chops, and an easy pulled pork recipe that goes into the slow cooker. And eight other recipes sure to tempt the palate.

     Writing from Moneta, Virginia, Lancaster Farming correspondent Jenneifer Merritt shares her own experience with bringing farmers, parents and school administrators together for a farm-to-school program. She was eager to see her sons, both students at Moneta Elementary, and their classmates eating cafeteria food grown on local farms. The good thing about local food is that it's fresh and flavorful. And, unlike some other cafeteria fare, you can always tell what it is.