AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 29,1989
Uaa«^l*Bs>M
OPINION
Nagging Question
The U.S. Department of Commerce made its final ruling last
week that Canadian pork product subsidies qualify to be addres
sed by a countervailing duty. The decision places a duty of 3.6
cents Canadian (approximately 3 cents U.S.) per pound on ship
ments of fresh, chilled and frozen pork as soon as today’s deci
sion can be published in the Federal Register. The new duty is up
0.1 cent from the preliminary Department of Commerce deci
sion issued in May. The case now returns to the International
Trade Commission (ITC) which is expected to make its final
ruling in early September.
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and co-peti
tioners filed for the countervailing duty on subsidized Canadian
fresh, chilled and frozen pork on January 5. The ITC made a pre
liminary ruling in favor of the U.S. in February. The Department
of Commerce issued a preliminary decision in May, placing an
original bond of 3.5 cents Canadian per pound of Canadian pork
product shipped into the- United States.
“We are pleased that we won this latest decision because it
moves us closer toward having fair trade between the United
States and Canada,” said NPPC President Don Gingerich. “If we
get a positive final decision from the International Trade Com
mission, U.S. pork producers can look forward to a more level
playing field with Canada on trade. We are still concerned, how
ever, that the duty be sufficiently high to do the job it’s intended
to do. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
U.S. pork producers receive no pork subsidies. Meanwhile,
they compete against Canadian producers who are currently re
ceiving an equivalent of $3l (U.S.) a hog in subsidies. A count
ervailing duty petition addresses unfair subsidies and not quo
tas. tariffs or trade barriers. Therefore, it does not conflict with
the Free Tade Agreement signed in January between the United
States and Canada. NPPC supports the Free Trade Agreement,
according to Gingerich.
Because of trade inequities between the two countries, a
countervailing duty was placed in 1985 on subsidized live Can
adian hogs. An effort by NPPC to extend that duty to Canadian
pork products was not successful at that time. U.S. pork produc
ers expressed fears at the time that Canadians would attempt to
bypass the duty on live hogs by processing the animals into pork
products and then shipping the product into the U.S. duty free.
According to NPPC, that is what has occurred. Canadians
have increased their exports of pork products to the United
States by more than 52% swince 1984. Last year, approximately
470 million pounds of Canadian pork was exported into the
United States.
Glenn Grimes, University of Missouri agricultural econo
mist, calculated that hog and pork imports cut U.S. pork produc
er revenues by as much as $3.37 per cwt. last year. Overall, the
exports cost U.S. producers as much as $697 million
in 1988.
We’re pleased that the U.S. pork producers have won this
round in the countervailing duty case on Canadian pork pro
ducts imported into our country. But the nagging question re
mains. Why wasn’t the loophole to bypass the duty on live hogs
rlnspri hack in 1985?
Farm Calendar
Saturday, July 29
Maryland Brown Swiss field Day,
Frederick fairgrounds, Freder
ick, Md., 10:00 a.m,
Sunday, July 30
Pennsylvania Angus field day.
T&J Farm, Dover,
Mercer County Grange Fair, Mer
cer, runs through August S.
Union County West End Fair,
Lancaster Fanning
Established 195$
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A SMwnan ErmrpritS '
Robert G. Campbell __ General Manager
Everett R. Nawtwangar * Men aging Editor
ewW Itoa ky InM,
Laurelton; runs through August
5.
Cecil County Fair, Cecil County
fairgrounds. Fair Hill, Elkton,
Md.; runs through August 4.
Carroll County 4-H/FFA Fair,
Carroll County Ag Center,
Westminster, Md.; runs
(Turn to Page A3l)
OTl£>, DID THAT STORM
HITVOOR PLACET THE
OTHER NIGHT? >
NOW IS
THE TIME
By Jay Irwin
■Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
To Be Aware Of Blue Mold
This hot and humid weather is
ideal conditions for virus infection
on plants. And one bad infection
that’s rapidly spreading in the
county is Blue Mold on tobacco.
Tobacco is a $2O million cash crop
to our farmers so we really need to
be alert for it. Blue mold can be
identified by a purplish mold
growing on the underside of the
leaf and can be observed early in
the morning.
Control measures would de
pend on the age of the plants. For
young tobacco plants, use 1 quart
of Ridomil per acre and cultivate it
in. For larger tobacco plants, use
mancozeb 80WP at the rate of 1.5
to 2 pounds per acre. Mancozeb
would include Dithane M4S;
Manzate 200 or Manex.
We are experiencing ideal con
ditions for the spread of Blue
Mold. . .let’s do all we can to pro
tect this $2O million crop.
To Attend Ag Progress Days
Most farmers do not need much
prodding to visit an agricultural
show whether it is in the county or
halfway across the state.
Each year thousands of people
have jammed Penn State Univer
sity’s Rock Springs Agricultural
Research Center, nine miles west
of Boalsburg on Route 4S, to at
tend the Annual Ag Progress
Days. The dates are August IS-17.
Activities will start at 9:00 a.m.
and end at S:00 p.m. each day.
This year’s theme, “Improving
Your Life Through Education,’’
celebrates 75 years of Cooperative
Extension work in the United
Slates. Bus tours to the research
farms always have been a high
light of Ag Progress Days. A
popular new addition last year
the special topics research tours
will return.
Machinery demonstrations,
which had to be curtailed last year
because of the drought, will return
with a full schedule.
Take a day out of your busy
schedule. ..you’ve earned
it. . .and plan to attend Ag Pro
gress Days. Parking and admis
sion are free.
To Practice Farm Safety
I want to remind everyone, dur
ing this busy hot harvest season,
that safety is very important at all
times.
Reports show that human errors
are responsible for about 85 per
cent or more of all farm accidents.
Many accidents that are blamed
on mechanical failures could have
been prevented if someone had
VOP, AND
DID QUITE A.
OF DAMAGE
checked and repaired the equip
ment as the need arose. It is hu
man to make mistakes but it can
also be dangerous.
I’d like to offer some sugges
tions to help eliminate many of the
problems associated with acci
dents:
** Give extra supervision to in
experienced operators.
** Permit only the operator on
equipment while it is in use. Un
der no conditions should children
or adults be permitted to ride
along.
** Keep small children out of
work areas unless accompanied by
a responsible adult.
** Give teenagers work which
they can handle safely.
** Avoid excessive fatigue
take a mid-moming and mid-after
noon break; it could be the most
important time of your day.
Br IAWKINCf W AIIHOUSI |
ismsiLs
CHOOSING THE
BRAMBLEBUSH
July 30,1989
Background Scripture:
Judges 8:22 through 9:57.
Devotional Reading:
Ezekiel 28: 1-10.
The story of Abimelech and
Jotham is not so obscure as it may
seem. Gideon, the successful gen
eral, is offered the first kingship of
Israel, but refuses, not only for
himself but for his 70 legitimate
sons as well. Why did he do this?
Inasmuch as God had clearly indi
cated his choice of Gideon as lead
er of Israel’s army, wasn’t he the
logical choice?
Rightly or wrongly, Gideon
refused, ostensibly because the
idea of a kingship he regarded as a
Canaanite practice: “I will not rule
over you, and my son will not rule
over you; the Lord will rule over
you” (8:23). This point of view is
reflected at various other places in
the early Old Testament narrative.
We call it a theocracy: rule direct
ly by God. Gideon obviously
believed that if he were to become
king, he would be interfering with
the rule of God. Is that what God
wanted, or was Gideon just being
too cautious again?
PLAYING THE HARLOT
The next part of the story is
very obscure. As an altmative to
accepting the kingship, Gideon
asked the people to give him a
portion of their booty from the
fighting and he used these gifts to
make an ephod. No one today
knows just what an ephod was, but
it is suspected that it was some
kind of graven image, for the wri
ter of Judges indicates that “it
became a snare to Gideon and to
his family” and even the rest of
Israel “played the harlot after it
there.” It is hard to believe that
Gideon would have followed his
IN FACT IT'S)
FOUR POLLS v
. eerevEPYTF
Let’s be safety conscious and
practice safety every day.
Be Aware of the Pollen Count
The “hay fever” season is here.
Despite its name, “hay” is not nor
mally the cause of hay fever. Rag
weed is the chief cause. Ninety
percent of all allergic reactions to
grass and weed pollens are due to
ragweed.
Hay fever is a seasonal disease.
It’s a disease that many people
tend to minimize despite the fact
that one out of every three suffer
ers develop its serious form
chronic asthma.
In Lancaster County it is wide
spread from early August through
September when the weeds flow
er. The best way to destroy rag
weed over large areas is by the use
of a weed spray such as 2.4-D.
Cutting the plant low, near the
roots is recommended for small
areas.
great accomplishments with dis
loyalty to God, but, of course,
with human nature, anything is
possible.
Even though he refused to be
their king, it appears that Gideon
continued to give some leadership
until his death. Because of him,
.the people reminded relatively
faithful to God so long as Gideon
lived. Once he died, however, “the
people of Israel turned again and
played the harlot and the 8aa15...”
(8:33). Not only did they forget
their covenant with God, but the
people of Israel forgot the debt of
gratitude they owed to Gideon and
his family.
SP|
THE WRONG REASONS
Gideon had 70 legitimate sons,
but he also had a son, Abimelech,
by his concubine, who was prob
ably not an Israelite, but a Canaan
ite. Gideon’s family turned down
the kingship, but Abimelech
sought it aggressively and shrewd
ly. He is a master at selling him
self. They wanted a king and he is
willing to be their king. They
wanted someone from the house
of Gideon and he was Gideon’s
bastard son. Yet, he was also one
of them, a Canaanite, so that Jt|jey
said, “He is our brother” (9:3b).
And, in all probability, he shared
their religion, named as he was:
“son of Melech,” one of the
Canaanite gods. So, for all the
wrong reasons, they rallied to
Abimck o make him king—
just as of us still choose our
leaders t> day.
Jotham, upon learning of
Abimclech’s murder of his 70
brothers, climbs atop Mt. Gerizim
and tells his listeners the fable of
the trees and the bramblebush.
Because the trees and the vine
were “too busy” with their own
affairs to serve as king, they ended
up with the bramblebush, whose
only qualification was that he
wanted to be king.
- Jolham is obviously referring to
Israel and Abimelech and pro
nounces a curse upon them. But he
need not have done that, for when
we choose the bramblebush to
lead us, that is curse enough.
• (Based on copyrighted Outline* produced by
the Committee on the Uniform Series and used
by permission. Released by Community A Sub
urban Press.)
AKE THREE-OP