lO—Lancattar Farming. Saturday. March 6, 1976
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
Our national disgrace
One of the things which never fails
to amaze visitors and immigrants to
the United States is this nation's
abundance of food. Most of us can eat
what we please and as much as we
please. That’s the positive side of our
horn of plenty
The negative side is our national
disgrace the constant waste of
food. It's something which shocked
my family when we first came to
America 20 years ago and continues
to bewilder us to this day. But I’ll put
my own thoughts on that subject
aside for the time being and let
students at the University of Arizona
make the point for me They recently
undertook a project to determine how
much food was being wasted in
Tuscon, population 360,000. Here’s
what they found:
Working with city trash collectors,
students collected random samples
of garbage and inspected it for food
content. Using a little bit of arithmetic
and even less of the “new math," they
Yes, they are
Dairy support prices did not need
further upward adjustment recently,
as had been requested by some farm
organizations. The simple reasons for
this are that: 1. many dairymen
themselves admit that they are in a
good profit situation with present
prices; 2. a further increase in prices
could lead to an unfavorable
response from consumers
something that should be avoided;
and 3. increased prices could lure
farmers to go into dairying and over
supply the market which would result
in a collapse of prices.
Milk prices in relation to feed costs
are now more in line than they’ve
ever been in recent years. Profits are
being made again. Comparing today's
milk prices to feed costs we find that
the money received for 100 pounds of
milk will just about pay for 200
pounds of gram if bulk prices are
Ag Day is every day
March 22 has been set aside as
Agriculture Day “a vigorous,
unified effort to promote better
understanding between rural and
urban Americans”
Think about that for a second Isn’t
that what’s needed every day 7 I
believe so
Farmers farm 365 days of the year,
we all eat every day Anytime a farmer
comes into contact either directly
or indirectly with a city person, he
should make an effort to promote
agriculture That's every day And it
snould be done m a sincere, in
formative manner Not in an arrogant
or even angry fashion which is
characteristic of many union bosses
r~ —
Ir f m
BY DIETER KRIEG, EDITOR
estimated that residents m the town
annually discard some 950 tons of
food most of it edible It was valued
at $9 to $ll million 1
One week’s garbage would provide
enough edible meat, poultry, and fish
to feed 3,000 people for a week. More
than half of the discarded food was
straight waste whole slices of
bread, large pieces of edible meat,
etc. On an overall average, the
students calculated that Tuscon's
residents wasted 10 per cent of their
food purchases. The middle class
group was the most wasteful of all,
they determined. Food waste in their
neighborhood approached 25 per
cent.
What's true for Tuscon is basically
true for every other community in the
United States. What's more, it’s true
for a lot more than just food. We also
waste fuel, energy, building materials,
resources, time, and money to
name a few.
high enough
considered. That gives us a milk-feed
price ratio of close to 2.0 the best
it’s ever been. By comparison, 20
years ago it was only 1.28 and 10
years ago it stood at 1.40 r The late
60’s and early 70’s we r e good years
according to USDA figures when, the
milk-feed price ratio went as high as
1.75. But it dropped again quickly
until it hit 1.35 in 1974 and 1.44 last
year. Looking at it m another way, the
price of 100 pounds of gram went up
roughly 80 per cent in the past 10
years while milk prices gained by
roughly 120 per cent.
Granted, various other costs of
production have gone up too, but by
and large the profit margin is now
sufficient, and to ask for more at this
time would be a step more in line with
George Meany's policies rather than
those of a proud and efficient
American farmer.
After all, how much do farmers
really know about the city man’s way
of life 7 Too often we look at his salary
and fringe benefits without paying
attention to his disadvantages. Too
often we remember only the messy
cow tails which slapped us in the face,
the long hours, the high investments,
and bad weather, while forgetting the
rewards and blessings of farming.
This is not written in defense of the
non-agncultural worker's attitudes
and wage earning power, but to
illustrate that the door to better
understanding swings both ways It
shouldn’t exclude the farmer, and
(Continued on Page 13|
FORMULA FOR
GREATNESS
Lctaoa far March 7,197 S
Background Scripture
Matthew 19 through 21:5.
Devotional Reading
Matthew 19:23-30.
1 have been to the top of the
Eiffel Tower, the Empire
State Building, Chicago's
Sears Building ( at this
writing the world’s tallest),
the Centennial Arch in St.
Louis, I have stood within
the vastness of St. Peter’s
Cathedral in Rome and
visited and even greater
number of other manmade
wonders. Still, no structure
which man has conceived
and constructed has so
impressed me as the Great
Pyramid at Giza in Egypt.
At the pinnacle
Experts disagree on its
percise purpose, but the
great structure seems ob
viously intended as a
magnificent monument to
the greatness of Pharaoh
Cheops. Ironically, however,
it is not so much Cheops who
is remembered today as the
monument itself.
For many people the
pyramid is an appropriate
symobl for the concept of
greatness. Hie great man,
they believe, stands at the
very pinnacle of the
pyramid. The “not-so-great”
stand at varying levels
below, trying constantly to
climb a little higher on the
ever-steeper structure.
Thus, when we think in
terms of success or great
ness', we speak of “climbing
higher” and “moving up.”
It is often erroneously
assumed that Jesus didn’t
understand human nature.
But Jesus understood human
nature better than anyone
else. He knew that most
people dreamed of
“greatness” - or at least of
not “greatness,” then of
success. Contrary to what
many people might assume,
Jesus saw nothing wrong
with wanting to be “great,”
... so long as we go about it
in the right manner!
The inverted
pyramid
Several months ago I
stayed in a most unusual
hotel in the city of Tunis on
the North African coast. The
Hotel Du Lac is actually an
inverted pyramid - a
pyramid resting on its
pinnacle and with its broad
base standing high in the air!
This strange building
reminded me of something
George Arthur Buttrick once
said: “Christ’s idea of
greatness is like an inverted
pyramid; the nearer to the
peak, the greater the burden,
and the more people are
carried m love.”
This is exactly what Jesus
was speaking about: “ . . .
whoever would be great
among you must be your
servant, and whoever would
be first among you must be
your slave ” (Matthew
20 - 26,27). It is all right for a
man to strive for greatness
so long as he knows what
greatness real Iv is'
rtuu wndi is me tormula
for true greatness 7 Jesus
both proclaimed that for
mula and demonstrated it
with his own life; “even as
the Son of man came not to
be served but to serve, and to
! NOW IS
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ToStreu
Swine Sul tattoo
Hog Cholera haa been have any to feed hia
diagnosed at our eastern c*tUe. He referred to com
border once again. Dr. »* one of the moat
Homer Forney of the Penn- economical roughage feeda
sylvania Department of or dairy or beef. The
Agriculture, told ua at a rocking of hay crop* into
livestock meeting laat week ,ila B e one way to reduce
that three herds of hogs have Held and weather losaea, and
been guaranteed in New preserve maximum feed
Jersey; since that time we nutrients. His summary of
have learned of outbreaks in *be hundreds of forage tests
Massachusetts and Rhode 001 Penn State should
Island. This is a serious b» v « ***" very to the
threat to our local hog in- 300 dairymen attending this
dustry and every person •U - d*y session,
connected to swine To Be Prepared
production and marketing Recent weather condition)
should be extremely careful b*ve brought many farmer*
In the most strict sanitation gardeners out of their
practices. Garbage should planning and put
be well cooked when it Is them into the “spring fever”
being fed to bogs. Traffic class - At our Extension
from public places back to Office we have bad several
the farm should be done very cnils about planting garden
carefully; footwear should cm? B * straight seedings of
be well scrubbed and and other early
disinfected before entering chores. The press is in
any hog house or fattening terested in forecasts about
pen. Sick hogs should be possible fruit and or
promptly reported to the pamental damage. Since this
local veterinarian. The hog ** on ly the first week in
enterprise is big business in March, severe cold weather
this part of the state and still possible; the extent of
reckless management can the damage will depend upon
hurt many people. the severity of the weather.
To Plan Pd discourage the planting
Forage Program of seeds or crops this
At the recent Dairy Day *arly, but I would be
program Dick Adams, Dairy Prepared to get the early
Extension Specialist from Jobs done by the middle of
Penn State, discussed the March, if warm weathefc.
merits of a good forage conditions prevail. I-3
feeding program; he To Buy the Bert 3}
stressed that the starting -Many livestock produces
place was the ability to have to invest in a new herd
produce top quality forages sh"* every one to two years.
This is a major decision and
Farm Calendar
talked with Fred Frey of
Quarryville, well known
Angus breeder, about this
several weeks ago and
learned that Fred is still
trying to buy the best Angus
bulls available in the
country; his aim is to use a
bull that will correct some of
the faults in his cow herd.
This sounds like good herd
breeding so will pass it along
to others. The right herd sire
can “make or break” a herd
or flock. We urge buying the
very 'best according to
performance testing results,
if you want to move ahea|^
See page 13
give his life as a ransom for
many” (20:28).
The world seems ad
dicated to the wrong un
derstanding of ‘‘greatness,”
for many believe that it
means to “lord it over”
another. In both Jesus’
words and life, however, we
find the missing formula for
true greatness;... not to be
served, but to serve”!
RURAL ROUTE
i
■Ho youß. Hon/oe, 1 did not know the
Milk inspector was behia/d me whum
l £N<3 A6EO TfßlAM"i?e SPK£AQ£R
.Mac .Smith
County A*r A|(rnl
Telephone
on the form. If the dairymen
can’t produce them, then he
By Tom Armstrong
r A