AlD—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 7,1981
We
Farmers' rights are going to come to the
test, soon.
We've already heard a lot about a country
‘cousin’ animal’s rights. And now it’s time
for the human counterpart of the ag world to
stand up and be counted, too.
Although most farmers think their deeds are
the legal documents that constitute their
inherent right to farm, many have been finding
that those pieces of parchment don’t
guarantee the landholdings they represent
can be used for farming.
Other factors, such as local zoning and court
rulings, have made decisions for farmers
sometimes without their approval or
knowledge that have taken their farmland
out of production, either directly or indirectly.
In small, stuffy meeting rooms, handfuls of
people with no particular training in land use
or development, pass judgement on the lands
that have been tilled and tended by hard
working farmers for generations. They ‘rule’
that those lands can no longer support large
numbers of poultry, hogs, and cattle, that
farmers can only spread manure or perform
tillage operations during certain time periods;
that new outbuildings and silos can be located
only where they meet specific distance
requirements and won’t annoy non-farm
neighbors regardless of how this affects
present structures and operational layout.
And the legislated atrosities against
agriculture continue to grow as local boards
add new faces from suburbia who wield their
acquired powers to enact new ideas about
what country life shoud be like
Although this sounds like science fiction, a -
tale out of someone’s wild imagination, un
fortunately, this happens to be a true life story
for many Pennsylvania farmers.
Not all the harassment to farmers has to
come from local legislation, however.
Neighbors, too, can make our Com
monwealth’s agrarian community members
question why they stay in the business of
feeding these people who complain about
every season's noise and smells. Some of
these work-away neighbors even take their
complaints to court, suing their hard-working
farm neighbors for spreading, spraying, and
anything else that annoys them.
One Dauphin County hog producer recently
discovered his lot-owning, split-level neighbor
had decided actions could speak louder than
NOW IS THE TIME
To Winterize Small Engines
Many small engines on farms
and around homes will be hard to
start next spring. But you can
change that by properly win
terizing your small engines. Here
are some suggestions:
After running the engine to reach
operating temperature, drain the
crankcase and refill with new oil of
proper weight, as specified m the
operator’s manual.
Add a few teaspoons of gasoline
stabilizer into the gas tank and run
the engine for several minutes to
make sure the stabilizer flows
throughout the fuel system. It’s
actually better to drain the gas
Off the
Soymdiing
By Sheila Miller, Editor
have a
right to farm
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
tank and run the engine until it
stops.
K the engine is water cooled, be when winter winds can drive
sure the anti-freeze in the cooling through our homes and push the
system is sufficient for the lowest heating bills up. Buildings that are
temperature. Use an anti-freeze protected with trees, or some other
tester for this check. type of windbreak, will require less
Remove the spark plug and pour heat. Under present conditions,
about a tablespoon of clean oil into everyone should make a special
the cylinder. Also, clean and regap effort to conserve energy and
the spark plug or replace it with a reduce fuel bills,
new one. ' 0 f evergreen trees
Use an air gun to blow loose dirt
and chaff from the engine. Remove
and service the air cleaner.
Finally, cover the engine with a
piece of canvas and store in a dry
place under cover.
Board
yeas and ‘nays’
words. So, as tne farmer proceeded to empty
his manure storage pit, hauling the slurry to a
field located some distance away "from the
dividing boundary line, his neighbor loaded a
gun, and fired in the direction of the spreader.
Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident. But,
now, the township officials are deciding on
what regulations need to be drafted so that
future violence will not occur.
Township officials are not the only ones
looking into the problem. State legislators are
considering a bill introduced by Lancaster's
Rep Noah Wenger which would protect
agricultural operations from nuisance suits
and ordinances.
HB 1823 would protect farmers who are
performing normal, necessary operations from
being sued or shackled by local laws for
creating an occassional ‘country’ odor, or a
little corn fodder dust Squealing pigs, bawling
cows, whirring fans, and reverberating
machinery engines, all part of the overall farm
picture of pastoral tranquility and scenic
beauty, would not be allowed to be singled out
as offensive by non-farmers who share the
quality life the country has to offer.
But, HB 1823 needs the support of the farm
community it's trying to protect. A similar bill
was introduced by Rep. Wenger last year. It
passed the House with a favorable vote only to
die in a Senate Committee Even in its initial
test in the House Ag Committee, HB 1823 met
with two opposing votes out of the 22
legislators who acted on the bill. One
representative’s comment was that farmers
who sold the lots off to neighbors in the first
place shouldn’t be given any special con
sideration.
What about those farmers who never sold a
single lot, but watched as other farmers pared
out parcels to urbanites and suburbanites who
yearned for the ‘good life?’ And what about
those farmers who learn their non-farm
township officials have passed an ordinance
that limits what type of livestock they can
raise, and how many head are allowed.
Yes, this is the decade for Farmer’s Rights.
Let's hope it passes the legislative test, and
farmers receive the support and backing we
deserve from our government. For in the end,
what good are all their efforts to preserve
farmland, if farmers are lost to nuisance suits
and ordinances 7
To Evaluate Tree Windbreaks
We are approaching the season
planted upwind from buildings will
help a great deal. This is not a
common practice here in the East;
however in the Midwest, most
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WHO BUILDS
THE BARRIER?
November 8,1981
Background Scripture:
' Romans 8.
Devotional Reading:
Galatians 5:16-24.
In those tunes when God seems
absent from our lives, when it
appears that he is not present to
help us m our trouble or sorrow, it
is customary for us to assume that
he has for some reason placed a
barrier between himself and
ourselves. It is also customary for
us to assume that the reason for his
absence is his displeasure with
us—something we’ve done or not
done, something present in our
lives that shouldn’t be there or
something lacking that should be.
The Psalmists frequently
complained that God had forsaken
them: "O God, why dost thou cast
us off forever?” (74:1). King Saul
was convinced that God no longer
listened to his prayers. Even Jesus
cried on Calvary, “My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? ”
'lf all of these—and more
experienced a barrier between
God and themselves, it is not so
surprising that we have also ex
perienced it.
According to the Flesh
Yet, the Bible seems to indicate
that it is really not God who
abandons us, but we who abandon
him. If there is a barrier between
us m times of great need, it is
Farm Calendar
Today, Nov. 7
North American National
Livestock Expo, Louisville, Ky.
Continues until Nov. 21.
Eastern Limousin Breeders Fall
Sale, 7 p.m., Frederick, Md.
Fairgrounds.
Springfield, Bradford Co. 4-H Good
Grooming Club, 1:30 p.m.,
Extension Office.
Championship Rodeo, Farm Show
Building, Harrisburg, Con-
tinues tomorrow.
Lancaster 4-H Sheep Roundup,
Tun Fleener’s home, 2418
Harrisburg Pike, 12:30 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 9
Poultry Servicemen’s Seminar,
6:30 p.m., Holiday Inn North,
Rt. 501, Lancaster.
PFA annual meeting, Hershey
Motor Lodge Convention
Center. Continues to Wed-
nesday.
Lancaster County 4-H Beef Show, 1
p.m., Stockyards.
Adams County Home Energy
Workshop, 7 p.m.. Extension
office. Continues Nov. 16, 23, 30
and Dec. 7.
HAY HAWS
Jl-
“I told my kids someday all this would be theirs when I
retire. I haven't seen hide nor hair of them since!”
because we have perhaps un
wittingly erected it ourselves. God
does not desire to separate himself
from us even in the midst of our
sin.
One of the ways m which we
build such a barrier is to focus our
whole attention and being on the
material side of life. Whether our
hangup is food, drinking, clothing,
money, power or our other
material pleasures, we stifle our
spiritual selves when we fail to
recognize that we are both flesh
and spirit. It is not that God
becomes angry with us for our
material preoccupation, but that
these “things” erect a barrier that
tends to shut him out. Thus, Paul
reminded the Romans that “all
who are led by the Spirit of God are'
sons of God” (RomansB:l4).
Who is to Condemn?
Another way we build a barrier
between ourselves and God is by
failing to really accept his
forgiving grace. Although in our
minds we “know” that it is through
God in Christ that we are freed
from our guilt, we still may live as
if we don’t believe it. We act as
though we are more powerful
sinners than be is a Saviour. So
Paul reminds us in Romans, “It is
God who justifies, who is to con
demn?” (8:34). To live with
unrelieved guilt is to actually
reject the grace of God.
“Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ?” asks the Apostle
(8:35). His answer: Nothing or no
one! "For I am sure that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor anything
else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus our JUird” (8:38),
Unless we ourselves build the
barrier
Dauphin County Beef Roundup.
Tuesday, Nov. 10
Extension Income Tax Workshop,
Bedford. Continues until
Thursday.
Lebanon County DHIA, 7 p.m.,
Prescott Fire Hall.
PennAg-Penn State Dairy
Workshop Day, 9 a.m.-3:30
p.m., Harrisburg Sheraton
West.
Cumberland County 4-H Beef
Roundup and Sale, Carlisle.
District 4-H Beef Show, 9 a.m., sale
1 p.m., Lancaster Stockyards.
Berks Equine Council, 7:30 p.m.,
Ag Center.
Lebanon County 4-H Horse
Banquet, 6:30 p.m., Schaef
ferstown Eire Hall.
Bradford County West DHIA
Annual Meeting, 7:45 p.m.,
Canton High School.
Farm-City Banquet, Holland
Union Building, Dickinson
College Campus.
4th Annual York County Crop
Improvement Show, 7 p.m.,
Dover High School.
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