Jan. 22,  2009 – Approximately 50 people, including 18 Rotarians, were present for the Rural/Urban Night Chicken and Waffles dinner at Christ Community United Methodist Church.  The Young Farmers group arranged for an agricultural program.  President Michael introduced Jerry Rhodes who coordinated the meeting.  Jerry then introduced Charlie Benner who presented the “Adopt an Acre” program, which was recently presented to the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce.  The program was developed to demonstrate costs and income potential to operating a local farm.   The example had 50 local investors each buy stock in an acre of land.  Their initial cost of investment was $15/share.  Charlie’s presentation had many photos, which documented the initial soils testing; various choices in tillage methods; fertilizing with a sprayer attached to the planter; and various pieces of equipment.  The photos also documented erosion control methods.  The presentation showed many instances of the high-tech nature of today’s farming.  The farmer chose to plant corn on the investors’ acre.  The corn was considerably taller than “knee-high by the 4^th of July”.  At harvest time ¼ of the corn was sold as silage, ¼ was sold as high-moisture content corn and ½ was stored in bins for future use. Charlie shared the “Budget & Actual” profit statement which documented that this one acre of corn earned the investors $75.00 in total net profit.  Each of the 50 shareholders earned $1.50, or a 10% return on their initial $15 investment.  At the beginning of the program Charlie had asked the audience how much they’d hope to earn annually.  If you’d hoped for $100,000 / year you’d need to plant corn on 1,334 acres. [1,334 acres x $75/acre = $100,050].