AiO-Lancasfer Fanning. Saturday, December 31,1988
OPINION
A Good Year For Farmers
If you were to measure agriculture’s success by beneficial
state legislation, you would call 1988 a very good year. The
General Assembly approved and Governor Robert Casey signed
a number of bills that enhanse the position of agriculture in the
commonwealth.
Some of the major bills already signed by the governor are
well known. The creation of an independent Animal Health
Commission wll provide stability for the state’s animal health
efforts. The secretary of agriculture will chair this commission.
And the $lOO million farmland preservation program got
underway with guidelines on funding and how the program will
operate.
In other acts, the state ag department can license and regulate
poultry haulers and dealers and establish standards for cleanli
ness of vehicles and crates. This will help prevent the spread of
disease. In addition, the state Crime Code now contains separate
offenses for ag vandalism. And the coyote attacts on farm ani
mals, especially sheep will receive attention from the state dog
law’s livestock indemnity fund for losses of livestock, poultry
and game birds due to coyotes.
But maybe the greatest success for the farmer was the passage
of the bill that paves the way for local tax reform. While the
legislation must be approved by the voters in a referendum, the
prospects for property tax relief give fanners a lot of hope. The
tax changes if approved will eliminate the local per capita, occu
pation assessment and personal property nuisance taxes and will
allow school districts and municipalities to reduce property tax
es by 25 percent. The reductions will be offset by personal
income taxes up to 1.5 percent for school districts and .75 per
cent for municipalities. Counties will be able to collect a sales
tax of up to .5 percent.
The Pennsylvania Farmer’s Association estimates the tax
changes will save Pennsylvania farmers a total of $23,750,000
annually for an average of $420 per farm. That’s not chicken
feed. In fact PFA’s President, Keith Eckel calls the various
pieces of legislation “A harvest of state legislation-one of the
best in recent memory.”
With all the political manuvering, we come to the last day of
the year and look back. And we conclude they must have had
the farmer at heart in Harrisburg after all.
r if--
Farm Calendar
Saturday, December 31
Deadline for Emergency Feed
Program Applications To Be at
ASCS Office.
Wednesday, January 4
County Tobacco Meeting Show,
Lancaster Farm & Home Cen
ter, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Wayne Co. Dairy Reproductive
Management Seminar, Exten
sion Office, Honesdale, 9:30
a.m.
Schuylkill County Dairy Day,
Penn State Schuylkill Campus.
Thursday, January 5
Northeastern Weed Science Socie
ty Symposium, Stouffer Harbor
Place Hotel, Baltimore.
SOILS PSU Course, 7:30 p.m. to
9:30 p.m., Montgomery Co.,
4-H Center, Creamery, PA.
Future of Lancaster Agriculture,
Lancaster Farm & Home, 7:30
p.m.
Lycoming Co. Annual Meeting,
Hoss’s Steakhousc,
Lancaster Fanning
Established UCS
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Slelnman Enterprise
General Manager
Everett R Newswanger Managing Editor
Robert G Campbell
Copyright ItTC by Lancaalar Farming
Williamsport.
Saturday, January 7
PA Farm Show, Harrisburg Farm
Show Complex, through Jan.
!3.
Dauphin County Annual Meeting,
Dauphin Co. Ag & Natural
Resource Ctr.
Monday, January 9
Pesticide Exam, Lancaster Farm &
Home Center.
York County Family Records
Workshop, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
Extension Office.
Egg Producers Meeting, Lancaster
Holiday Inn North, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, January 10
Annual Meeting & banquet of the
PA Dairyman’s Association,
Sheraton Harrisburg East
Thursday, January 12
SOILS PSU Course, 7:30 to 9:30
p.m., Montgomer County 4-H
Center, Creamery.
Westmoreland/Indiana Dairy
(Turn to Pago A 35)
WELL UNCLE OTIS \/ T PONT >
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NOW IS
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By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
To Attend Farm Show
Events
Time has a way of creeping up
on us, and here it is... nearly Farm
Show time. The Farm Show will
open again this year on Sunday,
January 8 and close on Friday,
January 13. The theme for the
exhibition is “Pennsylvania Agri
culture - The Keystone of our
Economy.” Well, we are proud of
our agriculture because of the hard
work of our family operated
farms. And here is an opportunity
for our farmers to show the con
suming public the high quality
products raised on our farms
today.
Active farmers should recog
nize the many educational meet
ings and banquets that are held
during the week. Many of these
are state-wide organizations and
should have economic benefits to
the producer.
To Sharpen Management
As we look ahead to 1989, it is
difficult to realize just what major
problems will confront the aver
age farmer. It remains to be seen
what effect the political atmo
sphere will have on agriculture.
However, it is evident that profits
will be difficult to realize and
some very good management will
be needed to come out in the
black. Today’s farmer must be a
better businessman than his fore
fathers. A farmer must be able to
handle labor, money, equipment
and keep up-to-date on all regula
tions and cultural practices. A far
mers should practice good public
relations with his neighbors and
respect the rights of others. Good
management is just as important
in farming as it is in any other
industry or business. Work at it
and it will pay dividends.
For Better Water For
The Bay, And Lancaster
An important part of Pennsyl
vania’s Chesapeake Bay Program
is showing farmers in this area that
adopting “best management prac
tices” or BMP’s benefits the Bay
as well as agriculture, according to
Mitchell Woodward, Nutrient
Management Agent with Penn
State Cooperative Extension.
Through the Bay program, far
mers leant improved erosion con
trol techniques as well as ways to
manage applications of manure
and fertilizers. The program pro
vides financial assistance and
technical guidance to landowners
for installation of BMP’s.
During the first two days of the
program.
lower Susquehanna River Basin
were targeted for the initiation of
the program. By late 1986, the
fust 100 farmers were enrolled
and had developed crop nutrient
management plans.
Good progress has been made
since then. Farmers as well as
homeowners, businesses and
industry have all contributed and
made an impact on cleaning up
our water in our county. However,
if the program is to succeed, ulti
mately we all must make a com
mitment, as many farmers and
other have done.
With all of us concerned and
committed to water quality, each
doing what he can instead of plac
ing blame, we can make signific-
Background Scripture:
Luke 4:14-44.
Devotional Reading:
Isaiah 61; 4, 10, 11.
It might appear that, according
to Luke, Jesus began his ministry
in his home town of Nazareth. If
you read carefully, however,
you’ll find that by the time he
arrived there, “a report concerning
him” had already gone out
“through all the surrounding coun
try” that he was teaching in the
various synagogues. (Luk.
4:14-15,). And there was more:
Jesus was performing miracles of
healing. When Jesus came to
Nazareth, he anticipated that his
fellow townspeople wanted to say
to him: “What we have heard you
did at Capernaum, do here also in
your own country” (4:23).
So, it would seem that the peo
ple of Nazareth were receptive to
him and when he read from the
scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue,
Luke tells us “all spoke well of
him and wondered at the gracious
words which proceeded out of his
mouth. Although some commen
tators would disagree with me, it
seems these people were ready to
accept him as a “local boy who
made good,” “Is not this Joseph’s
son" they asked with growing
pride.
If Jesus had left town at that
very moment, perhaps they would
have continued to claim him as
one of their own. After all, the
countryside was buzzing with
accounts of what he had said and
done in neighboring towns and
villages. But Jesus knew these
people and realized that their
receptivity was motivated by
pride, not by faith. They were
glorying in Ids sudden fame and
what they really needed was
humility.
So Jesus quickly brought them
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ant strides in improving water
quality here and in the Chesa
peake Bay.
To Be Sure Ice Is Safe
For Skating
Farm ponds make great ice
skating rinks... that’s so long as
the ice is strong enough. The gen
eral rule on thickness is that two
inches will support one person and
three inches will support a line of
people. Thickness is not always
the most accurate guide though.
Other factors include color and
age. New ice is stronger than old
ice. and clear blue ice is stronger
than slush ice. Be especially cau
tious with ponds that are either fed
by a spring or have a fast moving
current. The thickness of these
ponds will vary considerably.
to earth: ‘Truly I say to you, no
prophet is acceptable in his own
country” (4:24). Jesus saw himself
as a prophet, not a celebrity, and
the purpose of a prophet is to
evoke humility, even repentance,
not pride. If you like what you
hear a prophet saying, you probab
ly didn’t understand his or her
message!
Nobody in the Nazareth syna
gogue liked what they heard Jesus
say. Citing two incidents from
their scriptures I Kings 17:1-16
and 2 Kings 5:1-14 Jesus
reminded them that God’s grace
did not belong to the people of
Israel. God sometimes gave his
help to foreigners and not the peo
ple of Israel. So, in a time of great
drought, God sent the prophet Eli
jah to aid a single Syrophoenician
woman and later, when there were
many lepers throughout the land,
Elijah healed only Naaman, the
Syrian general, of leprosy. What
really infuriated the people of
Nazareth was the reminder that
God had helped strangers ahd fail
ed to bring relief to Hebrews with
the same complaint
WHO BELONGS
TO WHOM?
The people of Nazareth liked
the idea of the kingdom of God,
but the kingdom they looked for
was too small. Their kingdom was
not big enough for outsiders. They
thought that being God’s chosen
people meant that they had the
right to expect preferential treat
ment. If God was going to help or
heal anyone, let it be one of them!
We can understand how they
felt, can’t we? Aren’t most of us
tempted to think that same way?
Wouldn’t it bother us if God were
to send us a prophet who was to
spend much of his time and efforts
outside the church? After all, he
belongs to us, doesn’t he? We’re
the ones who are trying to do his
work on earth. We’re the ones
who go to church on Sundays. If
Christ is going to appear any
where on earth, it ought to be in a
Christian church preferably
ours, of course!
But no, we’ve got it all wrong:
he doesn’t belong to us, we belong
to him. It is his kingdom that mat
ters. Not ours, for they are never
big enough.
(Buod on copyrighted Outlines produced by
the Committee on the Uniform Series end need
by permixtion. Released by Community 4 Sub
urban Press.)
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