Alo—Lancastfci firming, Saturday, February 9,1980
Lancaster Farming
What was showmanship and
ceremony just a month ago today is
reality.
This weekend when the state's
millions of homemakers head to the
grocery clutching supermarket
advertisements, for the first time
they may notice a tiny map of Penn
sylvania with the words "Penn
sylvania Agriculture We're
Growing Better ”
Weis Markets, in its many ads in
Central Pennsylvania newspapers
carries the logo. Appropriately
enough, they are using it to promote
the crop that Pennsylvania produces
more of than anyone else:
mushrooms.
Gmny Thornburgh, the Governor’s
wife, kicked the program off Wed
nesday afternoon at a Weis store.
Other food stores and chains,
including Giant Foods, Kessler
Meats, the Potato Growers Co-op,
and some canneries, indicate they
will be using the logo in the near
future.
In addition to mushrooms, honey,
apples, peaches, and vegetables
should be ripe for promotion.
The success of the program is
going to depend to a large extent on
THE PARALYTIC
Lesson for February 10, 1980
Background Scripture:
Johns:l-24.
Devotional Reading:
Psalms 40:1-8.
The rums of the Pool of
To Adopt SoO-Saving preserved to the
Practices degree.
This is a good time of the Before the current crops
year to be making plans for are planted fanners might
the 1960 cropping season. consider contour strips,
RURAL ROUTE
Who wants a farm promotion package?
Bethesda or (Befhzatha) are
impressive. Adjacent to the
lovely Church of St. Anne
honoring the Virgin Mary’s
mother, the rums even today
testify to the grand, scale of
the pool and its five por
ticoes.
Nevertheless, each tune I
have stood there, my mind
has been dominated by the
one recorded historical
event that took place there;
Jesus’ healing of the
paralytic. What makes this
event so striking to me is, not
simply that a man was
healed there for Jesus
healed many people but
the seemingly strange
question Jesus asked him:
Along this line many more terraces, diversion ditchens, doing everything possible to
fanners need to take a look and others. All of these conserve soil, water, and spi
at their soil erosion practices will help keep the fertility. th<
problems. The topsoil is a soil and the water on the To Inspect Alfalfa Fields do
very precious resource on all farm. For Weeds bi
the willingness of firms and farm
groups to use the logo
In the past, many Ag Department
promotions have been detrimental to
the processor and the retailer.
However, this new promotion is
designed to help them as well as the
farmer.
In Pennsylvania there is no ap
propriation for the program other
than existing funding for the
Department of Agriculture’s Bureau
of Markets. And that may not be
available forever.
Tight funding isn’t the rule
everywhere. In Texas where they
like to do everything up big there
was a $1,000,000 budget approved
to promote Texas products within
the state.
As usual, Pennsylvania is a bit late
getting into the act. But ifs better
late than never.
New York, Massachusetts, and
New Jersey also have major cam
paigns to market their own products
in their states.
In fact, the lucrative Philadelphia
market has been flooded with
Garden State promotion for years.
It’s to the point where hundreds of
thousands of Philadelphians need to
be re-convmced that Pennsylvania
“Do you want to be healed?”
(Johns:6).
Belaboring The Obvious
It almost seems a cruel
question. Didn’t Jesus know
that this man had been lame
for thirty-eight years a
lifetime for many in that
day? Crippled, helpless and
dependent solely upon
others, of course he wanted
to be healed! What a
ndiclous question!
The very fact that Jesus
encountered him by the pool
of Bethesda was evidence
that he had certainly tried to
get help. From time to tune
there was a disturbance m
the waters of this pool and is
was believed that an angel of
through the 100
servation Service
All land owners should
evaluate their soil saving
practices to be sure they are
highest
produce really is as good as New
Jersey produce.
Still, studies show there is an
instinctive loyalty to state-grown
goods
Back in the late 1960 s when
producers first began talking about
an agricultural products promotion
program, studies were conducted on
how the consumer views Penn
sylvania products.
A bin of peaches from a single
orchard was split into two lots. One
was labeled as a Pennsylvania
product, the other simply as fresh
peaches
Although picked from the same
trees, peaches labeled as Penn
sylvania products outsold the others
five to two.
That study was one of several
which encouraged formation of the
fledgling Pennsylvania Certified
Farm Market program, now moved to
PFA from the Ag Department and a
great success.
But despite the obvious financial
advantage of short-haul shipping of
local produce, we still find stores
catering to shoppers who look for
Maine or Idaho potatoes. The
Washington state Red Delicious
the Lord was responsible.
The first person to enter the
pool after the disturbance of
the waters, it was believed,
would be healed of any
disease or infirmity. So it
was a popular gathering spot
for “invalids, blind, lame,
paralyzed” (5:3).
For thirty-eight years the
paralytic had lam by the pool
and waited for the healing
moment, but he had never
gotten into the pool on time.
But it wasn’t a lack of
desire: “Sir, I have no man
to put me into the pool when
the water is troubled, and
while I am going, another
steps down before me”
not had much of a chance to
grow under the snow this
winter. However, some
fields may still have a heavy
infestation of duckweed.
;on-
By Tom Armstrong
.. A HOG Congress is)
WWW THEV HAVE IN Q
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GIMME, GIMME J
BY CURT HARLER, EDITOR
says...
(5:7). It is more than an
explanation, it is a com
plaint, a bitter one: no one
will take the tune to help him
and others have taken ad
vantage of his infirmity and
cheated him of his chance.
His bitterness is wrapped
around him like a cloak:
paralysis, injustice and no
one cares!
Take Up Your Pallet
Yet, Jesus’ burning
question is much more
relevant and insightful for
both the paralytic and
ourselves than may first be
apparent. What Jesus is
really asking is: Do you
really want to be healed, or
do you want to spend the rest
ite winter or early spring successful when the her
lying can be done while bicides are applied in the
.Ifalfa is still in the late fall or winter. However,
irmant stage. Our her- in fields now showing
cide authorities inform us duckweed infestation, these
Sencor will do a pretty good
job on duckweed.
Growers are urged to read
and follow the label and
instructions very carefully.
Control is usually more
Farm Calendar
Monday, February 11
Red Lion Area Young
Farmers Meeting; 8
p.m.; Vo-ag shop; topic,
Swine Management
Pa. - Md. Roadside
Marketing Conference; 9
a.m.; Sheraton Inn,
Gettysburg; continues
through Tuesday.
Dairy Management
Workshops: Shenango
(somewhat bland tasting for snacks
and mediocre for cooking) still sets
the standard for eating and baking
because of colorful promotion from
Washington
And so, the shoppper’s dollar
travels thousands of miles away, to
be spent on an inferior product, at a
higher price
It's the kind of consumer rip-off
many big city papers should tell their
readers about
In the meantime, the question
arises to how long the Ag Depart
ment will regard the program as its
political darling Over the next
several months new companies will
join the program with much fanfare.
At present budgeting is no
problem. But it may not always be so
Thus the question. Who wants a farm
promotion package 7
Like the Certified Farm Market
program, the logo program needs to
be picked up by a grocers' or far
mers’ group, or a federation of the
two.
With a successful, non-government
run program, Pennsylvania growers
can boast to their Texas friends that
they saved, rather than spent, a
million dollars a year on promotion.
of your life bitter and
blaming others, escaping the
responsibilities of life and
nursing an inner bitterness
that is more crippling than
any physical disease? Are
you sure you aren’t un
consciously clinging to your
disease because you are
literally and figuratively
afraid to stand on your own
two feet?
Shaken loose of his
spntual paralysis, the man
surrendered his bitterness,
his excuses, and his crutch
and chose the gift of
wholeness: “at once the man
was healed, and he took up
his pallet and walked” (5:9).
So can we.
To Plan For Quality
Forage Crop*
To most dairymen, cat
tlemen, and sheep producers
a good supply of quality
(Turn to Page A 18)
Inn, Sharon; continues
through Wednesday.
Tuesday, February 12
Small Gram, Soybean and
Forage Meeting; 9:30
a.m.; York 4-H Center.
Dover Young Farmer; 7:30
p.m.; ag shop; topic,
Farm Crop Records.
Orchard Management
School; 9 a.m. Penn State
(Turn to Page A 18)
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