Press Releases

Butter Sculpture Pays Tribute to Pennsylvania's Farmland Preservation Program

PHILADELPHIA (January 6, 2005) - Excitement surrounds the 2005 Pennsylvania Farm Show with today's unveiling of the annual butter sculpture.

This year's sculpture is crafted from 800 pounds of butter donated by the Land O'Lakes plant in Carlisle. The theme for this buttery work is "Preserving the Pennsylvania Farm," showcasing a farmer coaching a little girl to bottle feed a calf. Surrounding the scene are corn plants in different stages of growth to represent the growing Pennsylvania farmland.

Pennsylvania leads the nation in farmland preservation. Since purchasing the first development rights in 1989, the Pennsylvania Land Preservation Board has preserved 2,513 farms totaling 290,040 acres. Through Governor Ed Rendell's Growing Greener II proposal, the state Farmland Preservation Program would receive funding to preserve an additional 375 farms or 43,000 acres across the state.

"This year's butter sculpture is a tribute to Pennsylvania's dedication to securing agriculture's status, especially the dairy sector," said Gordon Hoover, a Land O'Lakes dairy farmer from Lancaster County and Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association board member. "The sculpture has been a tradition for the past 15 years, and it demonstrates how dairy farmers, dairy processors and the dairy industry are working together to bolster dairy's image."

Sculptor Jim Victor of Conshohocken, who has carved himself a niche in using butter, chocolate and cheese as his mediums, created this year's sculpture. Victor began crafting the design in late December and spent approximately 15 days creating this tribute to Pennsylvania's number one industry, agriculture.

"It's an honor to work with Pennsylvania's dairy industry and to create this butter sculpture on behalf of the state's hard-working dairy farmers," said Victor, who has carved three previous sculptures for the Farm Show.

Invited guests to the butter sculpture unveiling include Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis C Wolff, Pennsylvania Dairy Princess Amy Hartle, and Gordon Hoover representing Land O'Lakes.

The butter sculpture is sponsored annually by Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association, American Dairy Association & Dairy Council Mid East and Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program on behalf of the Commonwealth's dairy farmers. Funded by dairy farmers, the three promotion organizations work to increase dairy product demand through advertising, communications and nutrition education programs.