Alo—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, August 8,1981
If you normally don't pay any
attention to politics, it would
be a good idea for you to make
an exception with HB 767, the
act that caused quite a
turnout at Wednesday’s
hearing of the House Ag
Committee.
This piece of legislation,
although it appears rather
harmless on the outside, could
potentially pack a powerful
blow to ag commodity co-ops
stripping them of a power
they now can wield in making
marketing program decisions
and giving it totally to in
dividual farmers
This power struggle has
pulled the major dairy
cooperatives out into the
open, even though 'Penn
sylvania as yet has no
marketing referendum af
fecting milk The question of
whether the proposed milk
referendum can pass if co-ops
lose the option of voting for
their members who elect not
to vote was called.
It could mean another
defeat for the referendum.
But it would be the wishes of
the producers who cast their
ballots that would determine
the final outcome, not the
block votes of a few
cooperatives.
Fruit co-op representatives
and the potato growers co-op
also oppose HB 767 and the
elimination of block voting.
Even though their referen
dums historically have passed
with individual growers voting
in favor of the marketing
programs, the co-ops
nevertheless appear to fear
losing power
The disturbing thing about
the co-ops’ stands is that they
are upset about giving the
vote solely to the producer
the one who is most affected
by any marketing decisions in
the end. Certain co-ops have
gone on record stating they
don’t feel farmers will exercise
their right to vote in a
referendum that those who
don’t vote are indifferent to
the issue, not opposed to it
So, if a farmer who is a co-op
member chooses not to vote,
the co-op will do it for the
farmer. In the face of the co
op’s block of votes, what
chance does the independent
producer have of making any
impact with one vote? Farm
ers who aren't co-op
members who opt not to vote
don’t have their votes given to
another independent to cast
it's a once and done
decision.
Even those co-op members
who might have voted in the
referendum may toss out their
ballots after they discover
their views are opposite those
of the block voting ‘big
brother'. They see their vote
as a futile attempt to fight the
establishment.
The . co-op's apathy
argument may have some ring
Off the
Somdmg
By Sheila Miller, Editor
Blocking block voting
of truth to it, however it
doesn’t justify our lawmakers
to take away any individual's
rights to vote or not to vote if
they so choose Every
producer must be treated
equally one person, one
vote, whether a co-op member
or not
What it all seems to boil
down to is that co-ops don’t
trust farmers to make the
right decision for themselves
They say they’re too busy to
understand the details of
important referendums and
other legislation affecting
them. They say they don't care
about marketing programs
that will help to promote their
products as much as the co
ops do they're apathetic
and can’t be relyed on to vote,
even if they’re opposed.
Isn’t this a twist 7 Co-ops not
trusting their members to
make their own decisions,
when farmers have trusted co
ops to make the right
decisions sometimes for the
second time around after an
expensive lesson is paid out of
each producer’s pocket.
And, if the co-op is operating
above the board, it would
have to poll its members
before casting the block vote
anyway. So, let's save some
time and energy, and let the
farmers do it for themselves in
the first place.
As was pointed out by a
legislator at the hearing on
Wednesday, the argument
that the present process of
block voting is as represen
tative as our state and federal
government where someone
else does our voting for us
“doesn’t hold". Rather than
each representative receiving
one vote for the people he or
she represents, the block
voting system would allow
other representatives in their
party to vote for them in their
NOW IS THE TIME
TO ATTEND AG PROGRESS
Most farmers do not need much
prodding to visit an agricultural
show whether it is in the county or
halt way across the state.
And, since 1976, tens ot
thousands ot persons have jammed
the Pennsylvania State Univer
sity’s Rock Springs Agricultural
Research Center, nine miles west
ot Boalsburg on Route 45, to attend
the annual Ag Progress Days. The
dates are August 25-27. Activities
start at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. -
on August 26 they run till 7 p.m.
This year’s show should be one ot
the biggest and best ever. Ap
proximately, 250 commeicial
companies will be exhibiting their
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
f hone 717 3M-M5l
DAYS
Board
absence or if they decided not
to vote This, he said, is not
the way it works.
All things considered, we
support HB 767 and the sole
right to vote on marketing
referendums being given back
to the farmer, regardless of
affiliation
However, we feel the vote
should still be based on
volume so that those farmers
most affected by a marketing
program would not be out
voted by small scale producers
whose livelihoods don’t
depend on farming As the bill
now stands, volume would no
longer be a criteria
The % vote in favor of a
referendum in order for
passage is adequate, and
reducing the review period to
3 years instead of 5 years
seems to be more in tune with
our fast-paced world. If
farmers don't review their
marketing program and the
need to adjust to economic
conditions more frequently,
they may soon find themselves
in the same squeeze that
American auto manufacturers
experienced when they didn't
shift to economy cars soon
enough to beat the com
petition.
We are giving farmers the
vote of confidence they
deserve and earn each day as
they continue to survive in a
market world of controlled
prices where costs can't be
passed on to consumers.
Farmers make their own
management decisions, some
involving hundreds of
thousands of dollars, on a
daily basis. The individual
right to vote or not to vote on a
marketing referendum is
theirs, and it’s time the co-ops
and farm organizations listen
to the voices of those they say
they represent.
products tor home, taming, and
country living. These include
buildings, tarn machinery, silos,
teeds, crop seeds and tarm and
home supplies.
Featured exhibits include
energy and resource ettiuent
animal and crop production. Back
again will be special exhibits and
working demonstrations in the
areas ot on-tarm waste disposal,
' soil and water conservation and
satety.
Flan to attend, it will be woith
youi time.
TO EVALUATE CORN
ROOT WORM DAMAGE
Adult beetles ot the noithein
corn luolwouu aie emerguig
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ARE YOU IN OR OUT?
August 9,1981
Background Scripture:
Deuteronomy 29.1-15.
Devotional Reading:
2 Samuel 7:18-22.
A little boy was being guided
1 dragged?) through the museum
ot Natural History by his mother.
"And next,” she assured him, "we
are going to see homo sapiens.
But, when at last they stopped
before the exhibit, the little boy
protested, "That’s not homo
sapiens, that’s a man! ” It took the
patient mother quite some tune
before she was able to explain that
he too was a homo sapiens. It
astonished him to realize that,
without knowing it, he had been a
homo sapiens all along.
What You Have Seen
The little boy’s experience was
not as unique as it may sound. Lots
ot us discover from time to tune
along life’s road that we are part of
something we heretofore didn’t
know even existed. We are all
God’s children, even it we don’t
acknowledge him as Father. All ot
us bear his divine unage, even if
we don’t acknowledge him as
creator.
So it may be with God’s covenant
people: we may be members of
that group without thinking of
ourselves in that light. “Covenant
people” is not a popular term in
Farm Calendar
Saturday, August 8
4-H Dairy Roundup, Dauphin Co.,
Farm Show Complex.
Clinton Co. Fair, Castanea, until
Saturday.
Greene Co. Fair, Waynesburg,
until Saturday.
Chester-Delaware 4-H Swine Sale,
Vintage Sales Stables, 9 a.m.
Adams 4-H Roundup, South
Mountain Fairgrounds.
Monday, August 10
Kutztown Fair, Kutztown, until
Saturday.
Eastern Pa. Championship
Holstein Show, Kutztown, 5
p.m.
Bedford Co. Fair, Bedford, until
Saturday.
Butler Co. Farm Show, Butler,
until Saturday.
Carlisle Fair, Carlisle, until
Saturday.
HAV HAWS
“The farmers don’t write nasty letters anymore-*
they just call up and sob!”
Christianity today. Few of us think
ourselves as being part of the
convenant people of God, but that
doesn’t mean we are not—we
simply may not recognize that we
are.
What makes tor a covenant
people?
Deuteronomy 29 gives us some
clues. For one thing, covenant
people are those who have ex
perienced the grace and power of
God in their own lives. As Moses
put it to the people of Israel in the
land of Moab, “You have seen all
that the Lord did before your eyes
in the land of Egypt...the great
trials which your eyes saw, the
signs, and those great wonders...”
(Deuteronomy 29:2,3). If you have
seen anything of the power and
grace of God m your life, you
belong to the convenant people—
and if you haven’t, you simply
haven’t opened your eyes and ears
to God’s presence.)
Do the Covenant
Another test, according to
Moses’ criteria, is whether or not
in your life you are doing what God
wants you to do. “Therefore be
careful to do the words ot this
covenant,’’ (29:9). We may not be
consciously aware of trying to
perform our covenant respon
sibilities, but if we are trying to do
Gods will in our lives, that is an
indication that we are one of his
people.
The third test, according to
Moses is an awareness that we are
part of something beyond our
selves. We may not think of that
"something” as God’s convenant
people, but so long as we are aware
that others have come before us,
that we are now one with others
throughout the universe, and that
others will come after us, we are in
truth within that great company ot
God’s people bound together by his
love and grace.
Lebanon Area Fair, Lebanon, until
Saturday.
Tioga County Fair, Whitneyville,
until Sunday.
Potter Co. Fair, Millport, until
Saturday.
Wayne Co. Fair, Honesdale, until
Sunday.
Warren Co. Fair, Pittsfield, until
Saturday.
State 4-H Achievement Days, Penn
State, continues to Wednesday.
Tuesday, August 11
Blair County Holstein Club Sale,
Morrison’s Cove Memorial
Park, Dairy Barn, Mar
tinsburg, 7 p.m.
Venango Co. Fair, Franklin* until
Saturday.
Harrold Fair, Greensburg, until
Saturday.
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