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10.19.04

By BRUCE HOTCHKISS

CENTREVILLE, Md. — The argument is made that the latter years of the 1970’s and the early and mid-years of the 1980’s were the “golden years” of agriculture on the Delmarva Peninsula.
Looking back, the abiding impression is that, in that time frame particularly, industry – equipment dealers, seedsmen, ag chemical and fertilizer sales representativess, agriculture service companies, the whole lot joined with Extension in an effort to nurse from the land the very best it had to offer, and had fun doing it.
The late Dr. Jim Miller, retired chairman of the department of Agronomy at the University of Maryland College of Agriculture, often remarked at his career’s end: “I had the privilege, I believe, of living through the best years in Maryland agriculture.”
Many would agree. Scores of companies competed in the world of agribusiness. The program for the 1978 Delmarva Soybean Meeting – before soybean and corn industry leaders got together to launch the annual Delmarva Corn and Soybean Conference – listed a total of 64 industry sponsors and supporters. Major farmer meetings on Delmarva could be expected to attract up to 1,500 producers, agriculture business representatives and agriculture educators.
It was in those years that the agriculture industry in Maryland and Delaware engaged in what became known as “the no-till revolution.” The famed “no-till breakfasts,” at which agriculture researchers briefed producers on the secrets of that production system, were able to lure as many as 200 to a 7 a.m. breakfast feast and to education presentations that often lasted beyond 10.
It was in those years, too, that many men and women across the broad spectrum of agricultural business, education and activity earned a special place not only in the history of those times but in the hearts and memories of those who also lived those years.
Name a few? Sure. There was Dr. Miller, of course. His colleague at the University of Delaware, Dr. Billy Mitchell, Bill Blank, Jim McFadden, Mel Bateson, Danny Marini, Dave Woodward, Frank Webb, Tom Fisher, Allan Bandel and Henry Wilson. There are many, many more.
It seemed to be time - for some admittedly past time – to reunite these “legends of Delmarva agriculture.” A committee of four - each member having enjoyed those “golden years” – summoned a meeting for Wednesday, Oct. 13 at the Queen Anne’s County 4-H Park, simply to bring those “legends” together, to provide an opportunity – complemented by crabs and barbecue chicken – to fellowship with old friends, to reminisce about the past and to catch up with each other in the present.
The “Gathering of the Legends” was hosted, in effect, by former Delmarva Corn and Soybean Technology Conferences and by all those who long ago supported the conferences with booth rentals or sponsorships. That revenue has been sitting idly in a bank all of these intervening years.
“It seemed an appropriate way to spend some of those funds, at least to partially repay the companies and the people that put the money up in the first place,” said Paul Gunther, Queen Anne’s County ag agent who hatched the “legends” gathering idea.
The Oct. 13 gathering attracted two score of the men who plied their trade in seeds, fertilizer, equipment, chemicals and ag education in those “golden years” which, Gunther noted, are worth noting because “agriculture is changing, as we all know… it’s not ‘golden’ anymore… We even have to fight to put up a chicken house.”
Those on hand for the gathering included, in no particular order, Mark Fuchs, Allan Bandel, Jim Milliken, Henry Schmidt, Bob Wyant, Jim Parochetti, Lloyd Hayner, Bill Blank, Frank Webb, Milt Nelson, Dan Marini, Sam Bromley, Gary Whitaker, Tommy Hines, Ron Ritter, Henry Wilson, Jesse Crook, Tom Fisher, and Gary Schnappinger. In days gone by, they represented, variously, USDA, MDA, the universities of Maryland and Delaware and Virginia Tech and their colleges of agriculture and Extension Services, Southern States, Lebanon Chemical, Helena Chemical, Stauffer Chemical (which became Zeneca), RhonePoulanc, Ciba-Geigy and Ag Chem.
Unable to attend, because of failing health, was Jim McFadden, who traveled the peninsula in those days hawking the burn-down chemical Paraquat as an essential ingredient in the no-till process and all the while racking up sales records for the Chevron Chemical Company.
“Big Jim” as he was known fondly by colleagues and competitors alike, earned the reputation as “the grandfather of no-till” and became a legend in his own time not only through his sales skills but his story telling abilities, his respect of God’s commandments and his fondness for our founding fathers.
Jim sent his regrets but never shy of an opportunity to spread his “gospel” he also sent these words:

“While we gather here in fellowship, celebrating the ‘golden years’ of agriculture on the Delmarva Peninsula, it is well for us to be aware that we served farmers who were not run of the mill. They were and are a special breed.
“In the early days of no-till, salesmen in Chevron were very interested in what we were doing on the peninsula. They’d come to me and say, ‘Jim what are you doing out there?’ But when they tried to pull it off in their home states, and began talking about putting away the plow – and as Jim put, it, “stop tearing at the bosom of Mother Earth” — farmers got up and walked out and the university people didn’t seem slightest bit interested.
“But our farmers are different … they are as Thomas Jefferson noted, God’s noblemen … recognizing the fact that God had given them dominion over the land and the animals and willing and eager to do the things necessary to coax from the land the Lord’s most generous bounty.
“Jefferson and George Washington should be at this meeting… You should read the letters the two of them wrote to each other… they were like a couple of frustrated county ag agents always seeking a better way to do things.
“So, before you drink that second beer, stop for a moment and be grateful, with a toast, to the men and women whom we served.”