AlMjncastar Faming, Satwday, March 2, IMS
Grange proposes new action
to address debt problem
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The
governing board of the nation’s
farm organization, the National
Grange, today urged Congress to
move promptly to stem the in
creasing incidence of farmers
unable to obtain credit to plant
their 1985 crops. The action came
in response to growing criticism
among the farm financial com
munity that the Reagan Ad
ministration’s announced farm
credit package is insufficient to
keep many farm families from
bankruptcy.
In a letter to Sen. Mark Hatfield
(R-Ore.) who chairs the Senate
Appropriations Committee,
National Grange Master Edward
Andersen called for an increase
from $650 million to $3 billion the
amount available for Farmers
Home Administration loan
guarantees, for Congress to
provide $lOO million for matching
funds for private lenders to aid in
an interest rate “buy-down”
program, for elimination of all
requirements that lenders forgive
a portion of interest or principal in
order to qualify for the FmHA loan
guarantees, and for “targeting” or
focusing this lending assistance to
farmers and ranchers who market
up to a maximum of $200,000 in
gross sales per year.
Andersen’s letter points out that
NOW IS THE TIME
To Broadcast Legumes
Alfalfa and red clover growers
who are planning to broadcast the
seed into a stand of winter wheat or
barley should be preparing their
seed now. Research and ex
perience have both proven that
early March seeding will give the
best results. It’s the time of year
when the ground freezes and thaws
frequently, creating a
“honeycomb” condition to the top
soil. This is an excellent way to
give the seeds a light covering of
top soil. If the broadcast seeding is
made in late March, this condition
may not prevail.
The seeds should be of top
quality and be innoculated with
legume bacteria before seeding.
To Attend Poultry
Progress Day
The third annual Poultry
Progress Day will be held on
Thursday, March 7, in the
auditorium at the Farm and Home
Center, Lancaster. The program
will start at 9 a.m. and end at 3
p.m. Lunch will be available. An
excellent program has been
developed by the Poultry
Association Education Committee.
Speakers will deal with
“Management For Profits;”
farmers and ranchers have borne
the burden for the nation’s reduced
inflation picture in the past
months. “The American farmer is
paying for the lower inflation rate
through high real interest rates on
long term debt and by a drastic
decline in asset values,” Andersen
noted. The decline in asset values,
particularly for land and
machinery, has eliminated many
farmers’ main source of collateral
against which loans were made for
crop planting.
The Grange, representing nearly
400,000 members, is also concerned
with the well-being of the farm
communities which rely on farm
income to purchase goods and
services. Andersen warns that
unless means are found to aid
financially distressed farmers,
“thousands upon thousands of
medium-to moderate-size family
farmers will be gone from rural
America and with them the
economic structure that sustains
rural communities.”
The Grange’s credit proposal
goes far beyond that announced by
President Reagan shortly before
the November election and further
refined by Agriculture Secretary
John Block earlier this month.
“The funding levels in the Ad
ministration’s plan are far from
adequate to meet the immediate
needs,” Andersen said,, “and it is so
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
“Working With Your Banner; ”
“Proper Egg Handling;”
“Working With Your Ser
viceman;” “Fly Control;”
“Marketing Order Update;”
“Poultry Health and Disease
Surveillance;” and the important
area of “How Agriculture Affects
Water Quality.”
We encourage poultry producers
and people interested in the
poultry industry to take the time to
attend this important meeting.
To Apply Manure
This is the season of the year that
a lot of manure is applied in
preparation for corn planting. We
need to be concerned with proper
application of liquid or solid
manure in such a way as to
minimize odors and avoid pollution
complaints.
Application should be made from
mid-morning to mid-afternoon to
allow maximum odor dispersion
and manure drying before the
calm, night time hours when
neighbors are home from work.
Fields for disposal should be
downwind, rather than upwind
from neighbors.
Whenever possible the manure
should be plowed under or disked
into the soil as soon as possible
after spreading. This practice not
W HAT DID THE OLD 77ME
AAILKIN& MACHINES UDOK
encumbered wim admmistrati re
and procedural requirements that
our planting season could come
and go before its effects can be
seen.” Andersen points to the
Grange’s historical support for the
moderate scale producers and
suggests that limits to the loan
amounts must be incorporated into
any effective credit package. “We
don’t want to see a credit program
hastily written that bails out the
corporate speculative landowner
leaving the family producers to fall
by the wayside,” Andersen
remarked.
The $lOO million for interest buy
down would be available only to
commercial and cooperative
lenders who also agree to sustain a
similar amount of reduced income.
For example, Andersen explained,
“If in order to keep a farmer in
business his interest must be
reduced by four percent, the lender
would receive half of that loss in
interest income from the U.S.
Treasury.” The Grange feels this
program is essential to ac
commodate the credit needs of
family agriculture this crop
season. Andersen concluded, “We
further hope that Congress and the
Reagan Administration will
reassess its farm lending
programs keeping in mind the long
term financial well-being of
moderate scale family farmers.”
only minimizes odors but also
preserves nutrients and reduces
potential for surface run-off that
causes water contamination.
To Mend Pasture Fences
Pastures can provide cattle a lot
of good, nutritious forage, and it’s
a place for them to get fresh air,
exercise and sunlight. Before too
long, we will be turning our cattle
out to pasture, but let’s not turn
them out too soon. It’s best to let
the sod develop and the ground
firm up. Spend the time now to fix
fences and pick up trash and debris
before the grass gets too tall and
before you’re tied down with
spring field work.
It might also be helpful to section
off the pasture in order to make
best use of the grass. For example,
wet areas and flat areas may be
fenced off from other areas. This
will enable you to keep cows out of
wet areas until the ground firms
up, and could help prevent the
development of foot problems.
During the early spring flush of
pasture growth, you could keep
cattle out of the flat area; save it
for hay, and feed it to the cows
later in the summer.
The Extension Service is an affirmative
action, equal opportunity educational in
stitution
ON RECOGNIZING
HIS DISCIPLES
March 3,1985
Background Scripture
John 13.
Devotional Reading:
John 15:11-17.
The hour of twelve midnight has
come and gone. The house is silent
except for my stereo turned down
low and the noise of my typewriter.
I’m burning the proverbial
“midnight oil” because I have a
deadline to meet and there were
not enough hours in the day.
Although both my mind and body
yearn for the warmth and comfort
of my bed, I turn to the assigned
scriptural passage for the week
and begin to read the familiar
words of John 13. Yet, even though
I’ve read these words many times
before, something not new, but at
least newly urgent leaps out at me
from the printed page:
By this til mm will know that you are my
disciples, If- you haw low for one
another. (13:35].
STABBED BY WORDS
Suddenly, that which began as
the task of finding something to
say to you has become an ex
perience in which God has
managed once again to say
something to me. The words stab
me as an accusation: “How many
people know that 1 am a disciple of
Christ because they witness the
love I bear for others? ”
I would like to think that
somewhere along the way there
have been a few who saw me at
Farm Calendar
Monday, March 4
Lancaster Dairy Days at the Farm
and Home Center, 9 a.m. to 3
p.m.
Mid-Atlantic Workshop for
Disabled Individuals and Their
Families in Rural and
Agricultural Communities,
Salisbury Civic Center,
Salisbury, Md. Continues
tomorrow.
Annual Forage and Grassland
Conference, Hershey Con
vention Center. Continues
through Wednesday.
Wednesday, March 6
Pa. Potato Growers Institute,
Sheraton Inn, State College.
Continues tomorrow.
Lancaster Conservation District
monthly board meeting at the
Farm and Home Center, 7:30
p.m.
Bucks-Montgomery County No-till
Conference, Creamery, Pa.
Lancaster Poultry Progress Day,
9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Farm
and Home Center.
Friday, MarchS
Dairy Breeders Institute, Farm
and Home Cente
work or play and discerned enough
love in what I did and said and was
to determine that I am a follower
of the Jesus Christ-but I’m not so
sure. And you? Do not those words
of our Lord stab you a little too?
In fact, I’m not at all sure that
love plays much of a role in
identifying Christians in our world
today. When Christians “make the
news” tortav, it seldom seems to
have 1* vii tO do with love. Con
flict, yes- “CHURIH SPLIT pv
LEGAL DISPUTE.” Auu
disagreement-- ‘‘CON
SERVATIVES AND LIBERAL
CHURCHMEN CLASH.” Even
violence: ‘‘PROTESTANT
GROUP AMBUSHES CATHOLICS
IN BELFAST. “But, love? Not too
often. Not often enough.
MASTERS AND
SERVANTS
I’m not suggesting that
Christians are never known by
their love or that all conflict bet
ween Christ’s disciples is
necessarily evil. What I’m feeling
at this moment is that there just
isn’t enough love anywhere to
fulfill Christ’s command to “love
one another.” Not in me and not in
many like me.
And just in case the words
themselves might not sink in as
they should, Jesus puts it into a
picture which none of us can fail to
comprehend or forget; “...he
began to wash the disciples’ feet,
and to wipe them with the towel
with which he was girded” (13:5).
Peter protests-as we too would
be likely to do-for it is un
seemingly that he, our Lord and
Master, should wash our feet. But,
unlike many of us, Jesus never felt
diminished by assuming the role of
servant. His dignity, his pride were
not taken away by humbling
himself. And thus was he able to do
humble acts of love-and challenge
us to do so as well. And know this:
both he and the world are wat
ching.
Sunday, March 10
Farm Credit annual meeting,
Williamsburg; continues
through Tuesday.
' Monday, March 11
National Food Policy Conference
in Washington, D.C. at
Mayflower Hotel. Continues
tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 12
Swine Management Conference at
Penn State University.
Wednesday, March 13
Adams County Water Quality Fair,
Bowen Auditorium, Gettysburg
College, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Thursday, March 14
Wayne County Dairy Day, 9:30
a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Wayne
County Veteran’s Memorial
Armory.
York County Potato Grower’s
Meeting, Centre Presbyterian
Church, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Friday, March IS
Pa. Ayrshire Breeder’s
Association annual meeting,
Holiday Inn, Grantville.
Tons of hazardous
pesticides, paints, cleaners
and solvents stored in
basements and garages may
be the country’s biggest
hidden pollution problem,
says International Wildlife
magazine. A regional
government agency in
Seattle estimates there are
more than 100,000 pounds of
the banned pesticide DDT
stored in the Seattle suburbs
alone. Some 25 states are
setting up toxic waste
collection points to help
combat this problem.