The "Betcha don't have one of these in your newspaper!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading the "Ag Week" section of the Lancaster Newspaper Sunday News which arrives naturally each Sunday.  As I leafed through it, looking at all the farming news and stories, I realized that there aren't too many places on earth that receive a weekly newspaper section dealing with agriculture in their neighborhood.  The 20-page section was packed full of stories on our environment, employment, business and crops.  The entire color-section was devoted to Lancaster farming and is a publication from not only the Lancaster Newspapers, but from another publication known as Lancaster Farming.  This week's aerial cover features one of the many local farms in Lancaster County and was taken by staff photographer Keith Schweigert.  Just to give you an idea what types of stories and articles appear in this section of the weekly Sunday News, here are a few of today's entries: 

• The Ag Week Schedule which lists a daily agenda of summits, meetings, events and tours that farmers may care to attend during the week.
• A story about the federal crackdown on pollution caused by farming which affects the nearby Chesapeake Bay area.
• Ads on everything dealing with farm equipment, feed, banking and credit, to harvesting.
• A story about an agricultural study dealing with the myriad of job openings in the future for farm workers.
• A chart showing job demand that lists over 24,000 tractor-trailer drivers needed, almost 15,000 maintenance and repair workers needed, 7,000+ industrial machinery mechanics needed, over 4,000 medical and clinical laboratory technicians needed, …… and the list of job openings goes on and on.  So, who says there aren't jobs available, especially in the agriculture fields.
• A story about a young husband and wife who went from farmers to entrepreneurs by opening their own creamery & cafe.
• A story titled "Getting Our Goats" which tells that Lancaster County is one of the East Coast's largest, but littlest-known hubs, in the goat market.
• A story about following one vegetable, Romanesco cauliflower, from farm to plate.
• and ….. a reflective two-page story titled "Faces of Farming" which tells of a new farmer, a retired farmer, an organic farmer, a female farmer and last but not least, a plain farmer (Amish or Old Order Mennonite).

So, you can see that the 20-page section packs so much into it's weekly booklet dealing with farming in Lancaster County.  I'm sure most people don't realize how they get the food they put on their table on a daily basis or where all the food comes from in their favorite restaurant.  Well, Lancaster Newspapers, along with Lancaster Farming, is doing a fantastic job reporting to our local community what is going on outside the bustling city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania with the supplement that I am reading at present.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.