The 12th annual Tri-State Conservation Tillage Conference will be held Jan. 27 from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the Radisson Motel in West Middlesex.

Keynote speakers will be Franke Dijkstra and Steve Groff.

Franke is a pioneer no-till farmer from Ponta Grossa, Brazil, where he operates a 1,000-cow dairy operation and manages 4,000 acres of cropland. Franke's message is titled "Learn from the Best, But don't Underestimate Yourself."

Steve Groff and his family manage 200 acres of vegetables and crops on hilly land in Lancaster County. He pioneered the "Permanent Cover Cropping System," which includes tillage, cover crops and effective crop rotations. Steve's message is titled "How and Why I use No-till, Vegetables to Field Crops."

Some other issues that will be discussed are: an update of the PA No-Till Alliance, switch grass, no-till and biofuel, carbon credits, developing an oilseeds market in northwestern Pennsylvania and an update on crop insurance.

This is a super opportunity to talk one-on-one with agribusiness personnel dedicated to conservation tillage. Contact Maryann Frampton from Penn Soil RC&D at 814-226-8160, Ext. 5 for more information.

USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline

The USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline can personally answer your food safety questions on weekdays year-round.

The hotline receives more than 80,000 calls yearly and is staffed by food safety specialists with backgrounds in home economics, nutrition and food technology. The majority of calls come from consumers regarding how to properly handle their food, including food safety during power outages, food manufacturer recalls, food borne illnesses and the inspection of meat, poultry, and egg products. The hotline is one of the rare services where a live person answers a caller's individual questions one-on-one.

Here is how you can contact the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline: telephone, 888-674-6854; e-mail, mphotline.fsis@usda.gov; Web address, www.usda.gov.

Luke Fritz is executive director of the Butler County Farm Service Agency.