M2— Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 5,1981
OUR READERS WRITE
(Continued from Pag? A 10)
Further, you have lo assume
that he is willing to accept a very
modest return on his savings, with
a payback period of many years.
The only motivation for using soil
conservation practices today (e.g.
forages and beef instead of con
tinuous corn up and down the hill)
is the feeling of satisfaction that
comes from knowing you are doing
the right thing.
Soil conservation is a kind of
saving. That is, the farmer accepts
a lower spendable income today in
the hope of a greater income in the
years to come.
Our economy has been biased
against saving for many years.
Just look at what has happened to
investors in 5 percent savings
accounts.
Farmland has become a
speculative plaything for doctors
and dentists. Why make a long
term and not-very-lucraUve in
vestment in productivity if you are
planning to sell off lots on the road
frontage in a few years?
I wish we could solve the
problem in a way consistent with
the fanner’s freedom to farm his
own way and make his own
choices. With low inflation and
stable prices, farmland would lose
its attraction as an inflation hedge.
The value of a long-term in
vestment in productivity could be
assessed more accurately and
would be more attractive. The
same would be true for industrial
corporations General Motors
and so on.
Unfortunately, I am afraid we
are going to solve the problem with
regulations instead of incentives.
Certain practices, such as fall
plowing after soybeans, will
YORK CALCIUM
The Economical Replacement
For Oyster Shells
YORK CALCIUM CHIPS
Ca 39%
Mg Less than 1 %
• YORK CALCIUM CHIPS are an easily utilized
source of supplemental Calcium to produce
harder egg shell
• Mixes uniformly with the feed
• Uniformly consumed by the birds
• Soft Gray “Chips” - Look for them in your feed
ALL THIS AT LESS THAN
y 2 THE COST OF SHELLS!
simply be forbidden. Farmers will
have to submit proposed cropping
schemes in triplicate to a Land
Inspector, just as a builder must
have new construction approved
by a Building Inspector.
Fanners will have to contend
with all the nuisance, red tape and
waste of time that builders have to
put up with. City people, who out
vote the farmers many times over
in this area, would support this
because they are used to the
regulatory approach to solving
problems.
The federal government has
tended to focus on engineering
structure rather than cropping
schemes. Examples are terraces,
drain tile and dams. But much of
soil conservation can be summed
up in one phrase: grow grass.
If there is forest on the moun
tains and grass on the slopes, you
won’t need a dam. And, if sloping
ground is not planted in grass, the
dam won’t work anyway because
of siltation. So we should focus on
ways to make it profitable for
fanners to grow grass or at least
more grass than they are growing
now.
Dairy pnce supports have this
effect up to a point, but only to the
extent that the dairyman is feeding
hay rather than silage corn and
grain. Price supports for com tend
to expand the acreage in this crop
surely this is not what we want.
It is well-known that there is
very little erosion from acreage
planted in pasture or meadow.
Where it is profitable to grow
grass, the soil conservation
problem will solve itself.
David Hamilton
Robbinsville, N. J.
CHIPS
OU MAKE THE C
Grain industry benefits
When two sports teams play
each other, an impartial, in
dependent official is present to
administer a pre-determined
uniform set of rules. When two
parties contest an issue in court, an
impartial, independent judge is
present to administer a uniform
set of laws. When contestants enter
a state fair, impartial, independent
judges grade the entries under a
uniform set of standards.
Much the same situation
prevails when grain is bought and
sold. Both the buyer and seller are
more confident they are getting a
fair deal when the quality of that
grain is determined by impartial,
independent inspectors under a
pre-determined uniform set of
grade standards.
This nationwide, uniform set of
grain standards, known to all in
advance of the transaction and
subject to official appeals, is what
1 refer to when I describe service
to the gram industry as me of the
major functions of the Federal
Gram Inspection Service.
Under the new thrust of this
administration, and with the
concurrence of the Congress, the
Federal Gram Inspection Service
has been operating under a shift in
emphasis since Oct. 1. While fees
for grain inspection services were
charged before, they have now
been increased to reflect more
accurately the costs of providing
those services.
The user fee concept is not new
it has existed for many services
provided by the government. And
in the past year, many other
agencies have either adopted user
fees for the first tune or increased
existing fees to defray the costs of
operation.
In the Federal Gram Inspection
Service, we recognized that in
creased fees would have an impact
on gram transactions, and that
there had been complaints that'
OR
costs wefe higher than necessary
to provide the services.
The agency had grown rapidly
smce enactment of the U.S. Gram
Standards Act m 1976 to enable it to
administer the added respon
sibilities mandated by the
legislation. But early in 1961 we
recognized that the agency was
ready to enter its second phase
that the experience of the first five
years had been assimilated and we
were ready to begin continuous
operation under a leaner and more
efficient structure.
And 1 mean leaner. When we
learned we would be asked to
obtain about 90 percent of our
operating funds from the users of
our service Instead of the 60
percent in past years we moved
to reduce our staff in Washington
and the field by about 25 percent.
We removed a layer of
management by closing our five
regional offices and we restruc
tured the whole agency so that the
field offices now report directly to
one person m Washington.
It must be clearly understood,
however, that the reduction in'staff
will not result m a lack of adequate
staff, a decrease in prompt
responses or a weakening of the
integrity of the system. It will
mean that the staff will be leaner
and taking proper care of work
local peaks will require more
advanced planning and
scheduling.
In addition to the efficiencies
gamed from a smaller, better
organized staff, we are also
reviewing existing procedures to
see where they can be improved,
and examining proposed
procedures more closely before
they are issued.
We will be delegating to the
private and state agencies more
responsibility to supervise their
own employees and to ensure the
quality of the service they provide.
Roosevelt Ave. Ext., York, PA 17405
OYSTER SHELLS
Co 39%
Mg 7%
CONTACT YOUR LOCAL
FEED DEALER & START
SAVING sss!
YORK STONE
& SUPPLY CO.
This will result in more decision
making at the local level while
holding down costs users must pay
for supervision.
We have been told that despite
these cost-cutting measures, the
new user fees will result in a
decrease in demand for official
services. Because the new fees
have been in effect only since Oct.
1, it is too early to estimate the
actual impact they will have. But
scone grain firms have already
indicated to us they will shift to
unofficial services, and some have
(Turn to Page A3l)
Now is
the Time
(Continued Irom Page A 10)
accurate records of all treatments.
In cases where excess tolerances
are found, it might save time and
money.
To Store Firewood Outside
We are more energy conscious
than we’ve every been - this is
certainly a good trend. Most homes
are equipped with a real energy
saver - the fireplace. A lot of people
will be using then* fireplace more
than ever before so they’ll be using
more firewood. Proper storage is
important.
When storing your firewood,
keep it outside the house - insects
many hibernate in the wood piles.
If you keep m inside, they’ll think
it’s spring and wake-up, come out
and be a pest in your home. If this
happens, use an ant and roach
aerosol for control. It is a lot easier
just Jo keep the firewood in a cool
garage or some outside shelter.
The important thing is to keep it
dry, even if it means covering it
with a plastic tarp. Wet firewood
takes a lot of heat just to dry d out.