—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 10, 1973
10
Future Farmers of America
The 1973 observance of National FFA
Week will fall during the period of February
17-24 The theme this year is, "FFA Unites
Youth With Opportunities.”
In coming years, young people will find
agricultural careers more personalty
satisfying and more rewarding and
productive in terms of providing the food
and fiber for the nation than ever before In
FFA, young people gam experience in
modern agricultural techniques and
prepare themselves to explore and take
advantage of the vast, varied and exciting
career opportunities today Within the
national FFA organization, 432,000
The Protein Shortage
A meat industry publication points out
that most Americans don't even un
derstand what the term “world protein
shortage” means The observation is made
that, “Despite record-breading U S
production of meat, demand here is for
more at lower prices’ In other parts of
(the) world, shortage of protein of all
types—plant as well as animal—is a matter
of life and death, not price ”
In the United States, meat and other
protein foods are available in any quantity
desired For the overwhelming ma/orty of
our people, the problem is not one of
availability but rather one of choosing
which product to buy at what price The
essentiality of protein in the human diet is
made starkly evident by Agency for In
ternational Development figures indicating
that 30 percent of developing countries’
children die before age five, largely due to
madquate levels of protein, calories It is
estimated that around two thirds of the
The Great American Dream of a college
education automatically followed by a
prestigious, well-paying career for the
graduate is history now No longer does a
sheepskin on the wall guarantee a higher
status, economic security acid greater
personal satisfaction In the past, when
college was only for the wealthy or very
ambitious, a degree was a magic key to the
door of success But times have changed,
for on the heels of World War II came a
flood of G I's returning to school, a
skyrocketing birthrate, more mmionty
groups seeking a better education and an
affluent society that could afford to send
millions on to college - all of which resulted
in a subsequent lowering of entrance
standards and bloated enrollments
Thus, the specter of joblessness has
arisen to haunt today’s college graduates,
many of whom cannot find employment in
the fields for which they were trained and
must take jobs at what they consider to be
lower levels of prestige and pay than they
had expected The question is, how serious
is the problem and how do we solve it At
the darkest end of the scale, some predict a
generation of embittered youths who have
invested four years of time and money in a
college degree, only to find they possess
skills for a job that does not exist True,
there are many of these situations, as
witness the unemployed teachers,
mathematicians, aeronautical engineers
and others But most young people should
be adaptable enough to aim their skills in
some other related direction instead of
sitting around in disillusionment in
definitely, waiting for exactly the right
niche to appear Still, an initial period of
frustration is to be expected when the job
market is glutted with college alumni
The present unemployment rate among
recent college graduates is close to 8
percent, compared to 5 6 percent for the
Degrees are Oversold
students study vocational agriculture in
8,000 public schools FFA members learn
by doing, and they are encouraged to
develop their individual potentials, in
terests and skills m agricultural work.
From this experience, they are able to
choose thier courses of study and activity
to best prepare themselves to be the
agricultural leaders of tomorrow.
The United States has the most
productive agricultural system in the
world—the work of the Future Farmers of
America helps assure that it will stay that
way
survivors fail to reach full physical and
mental growth Irreversible damage can be
done at a very early age since 90 percent of
normal brain structure is accomplished by
the age of three, and protein is necessary
for that development Obviously, the food
industry in the United States has made an
immense contribution to human health,
well-being and enjoyment of life.
We have little to complain about as
regards the nation's food supply. We might
well express gratitude to the industry
responsible for the bounty we enjoy But,
as the meat industry publication points
out, it might be more helpful if we sought to
use our agricultural know-how and
technological skill m food production m the
most effective ways possible to help
hundreds of millions of people in other
nations who live on the edge of starvation
and in the gray world of malnutrition
throughout all the days of their
foreshortened lives.
nation’s entire labor force, according to a
Business Week magazine article entitled,
“The job gap for college graduates in the
70’s” But the jobless rate among non
college educated young people is running
close to 15 percent. The matter is put into
perspective in the Business Week article
with the observation that, “The pay is
higher and job security better for the
college graduate who can find work, and it
will still take a degree to get to the very top
in the future But no longer is a college
degree a guarantee of employment.”
Change is the answer to this dilemma.
First of all, society must stop overselling a
college education Our economy can’t
absorb unlimited millions of college
graduates in the white collar work force
The concept that blue collar work is
honorable has been underplayed, and says
one labor leader," A lot of young people
would be much happier learning a skill,
using their manual dextenty, than going to
college” Secondly, coordinated planning
by education and business to try matching
the flow of graduates with what the
economy can use is desperately needed.
Business Week reports that, “Some of the
more grandiose expansion plans of colleges
and universities will be abandoned, and
courses in some of the most overpopulated
fields will be dropped There will be far
more stress on job retraining and on
vocational, as opposed to academic,
education, with more and more cor
porations getting into the business of
training people for a fee The educational
system of the future - academic and
vocatonal - may be designed to turn out
fewer specialists and more generalists
young people able and willing to shift
among a number of different professions ”
■>*• - "i— .VI
| NOW IS
I THE TIME . . .
Max Smith
County Agr. Agent
Telephone 394-6851
To Buy Legume Seeds
The spring growing season is
approaching and some alfalfa
and red clover growers will be
making plans to broadcast the
seeds m winter wheat late this
month or early March. If a
broadcast seeding is to be made
in winter grain, it should be done
very early rather than late
March or April. The seed supply
may not reach, so get your order
in early ; the seeds should be
inoculated and be of top quality,
certified seed Hay is getting to
be a more valuable crop and
warrants the best of care and
planning. Early spring straight
seedings without any nurse crop
are strongly advised if the ground
is open; this method of
establishing alfalfa is one of the
very best in this part of the
country.
To Evaluate Soybean^
We are aware of the great
interest in growing soybeans due
to the high price of soybean
oilmeal and of proteins in
general; no doubt there will be an
increase in the acreage again this
year. However, I’d suggest that
local livestock and dairy
producers take a good look at the
expected production from an
acre of soybeans as compared to
an acre of corn. Both are im
portant in a feeding program but
corn is still the background of the
livestock and poultry feeding
programs. It is doubtful if an acre
of soybeans will match the cash
income or the number of feed
A BAG
WITH HOLES
Lesson for February 11, 1973
Ivckgreund Scripture Hoggai
Devehenel Reading Hosea 515
through 6 6
Augustine is said to have pray
ed once: “Lord, make me pure—
but not now'” He knew what God
wanted him to be and had accept
ed the fact that he would, in fact,
ultimately fulfill God’s expecta
tions But first, there were things he
wanted to do, ex
periences he still
wanted to try. He
would make that
big step upward,
but later.
“Nof yet
come .. .
This is typical
Rev. Althouse of human nature.
As the old saying
goes we want “to have our cake
and eat it, too " We want to do
God’s will, but wo don’t want to
bypass anvthmg valuable along
the way What we really want is
to "have the best of both worlds ”
This is the waj it was in Judah
in those earlv days when the new
ly-returned Jewish captives had
-eturned to Jeiusalem They found
then beautiful temple in rums
and all agiced that it would have
to be rebuilt—someday So from
one generation to another ran the
conviction that the temple would
have to be rebuilt, but no one be
lieved it should be done now.
In time, 'however, God spoke
through one of his seers and cut
through their lationalization.
‘ This people say the time has not
nutrients per acre that most
farmers can get from an acre of
corn
To Transfer Silage
Many producers did not have
sufficient storage for all of their
silage in the permanent storage
silos, and used bunker or above
ground storage units. These have
worked satisfactorily but we
suggest that the silage be moved
into the upright structure while
the temperatures are below 50
degrees; there will be less
heating when transferred in cold
weather. No water should be
needed because the silage will
have already heated and molded
if it was too dry at the time of
ensiling. Rapid transfer into the
upright silo is suggested.
To Invest in Equipment
Many cattle feeders are
operating without satisfactory
equipment to handle and restrain
their cattle. The ease of loading
and unloading through a chute
should not be overlooked. A
narrow chute (26 to 28 inches
wide) with a head-gate at the end
is very useful for treating sick
animals, implanting, or doing
other work on a beast. The less
excitement and confusion caused
the better it will be. Several small
pens for sick animals are very
important for good herd health.
This would be a good time of the
year to build this equpment or
buy it from an equipment dealer.
Proper handling equipment will
repay the owner because of less
excitement, stress, and injuries.
yet come to rebuild the house of
the Lord. The prophet reminded
the returned exiles that God knew
all their excuses and he saw
through them “Is it a time for
you yourselves to dwell in your
paneled houses, while this house
lies in ruins’” (Naggai 1:2,4)
The people were playing the
old “double-standard” game - one
set of values and priorities for
God’s concerns and another, quite
different set for their own God’s
“time” had not yet come because
they were too busy making it
“their tiriie ” Isn’t that what hap
pens with us today, too We com
fort ourselves and take the cut
ting edge off his challenges to us,
by thinking of the big things we
will do for him “some day ” When
we have satisfied our needs, then
we will put ourselves at his dis
posal
Never enough
Speaking through Haggai, how
ever, God takes aim at their bal
loons of rationalization and shoots
them down in flames:
You have sown much, and
harvested little, you eat, but
you never have enough; you
drink, but you never have
your fill, you clothe your
selves, but no one is warm,
and he who earns wages earns
wages to put them in a bag
with holes (16)
To "wait for that day until your
own needs have been met, is to
wait for a time that will never
come The more we get, the less
satisfied we are Somewhere I
read that the per capita giving to
churches was higher during the
depiction of the 1930’s than it is
todaj In other words, when we
are affluent as we aie now, we are
less satisfied with what we have
and less willing to share
Take a good look at your life
has it become a matter of fulfill
ing a bag with holes” 1 ’
[ftosed on outlines copyrighted by the
Division of Christian Education, National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the U S A
Released by Community Press Service 1
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