D4-Lancaster Farming Saturday, July 27,1991
COLLEGE PARK, Md. The
extent of agriculture’s impact on
the environment is not clear,
according to Robert C. Lanphier
111, president of the American Soc
iety of Agricultural Engineers.
Nevertheless, the general public
often perceives agriculture as the
villain when it comes to environ
mental contamination, especially
involving water quality. And publ
icly or privately, members of the
agricultural community agree that
agriculture does have some
adverse effects on the environ
ment They’re also working hard
to minimize those effects.
“Farmers do a very good job
with what they’re given to work
Christmas
WARREN (Warren Co.)
Sixty-five area Christmas tree
growers from Warren and sur
rounding counties recently
gathered at an educational prog
ram organized by Warren County
Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion.
The program was held near
Torpedo in Warren County to
address the production practices
of Christmas trees.
According to Sanford Smith,
Warren County Extension agent,
the program topics covered
included shaping Christmas trees
for quality, shearing Christmas
trees with a “Saje-Shear,” and
insect pest management in the
plantation. “Christmas trees arc
becoming a significant agricultur
al crop in Northwestern Pennsyl
vania, but many growers need
technical assistance and informa
tion,” said Smith.
The presenters for the evening
program included Dr. Jim Finley,k
of Penn State’s School of Forest
Resources, Dr. Paul Heller, Penn
State Department of Entomology:
and Jack Ferrell, Strathmeyer
Forests, Inc. The program was
hosted by father and son team, Gib
and Paul Sanford, of Youngsville.
Both men are Warren County
Christmas tree growers and mem
bers of the Pennsylvania Christ
mas Tree Growers Association.
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Ag Engineers Address Needs Of Farmers
with,” said Lanphier. “They are
willing to try new ideas... as long
as they’re economically as well as
environmentally sound.”
It is the responsibility of
researchers, including agricultural
engineers, he said, to develop new
technologies that benefit both the
farmer and the environment.
Agricultural engineers with the
Maryland Agricultural Experi
ment Station and the Cooperative
Extension Service University of
Maryland System are doing just
that. They are investigating ways
to reduce agriculture’s impact on
human health and Maryland’s val
uable natural resources, including
the Chesapeake Bay, without mak
Tree Growers Gather
Dr. Jim Finley of Penn State’s School of Forest Resour
ces demonstrated the art of shearing Christmas trees for
quality at a recent educational program organized by War
ren County Penn State Cooperative Extension. Sixty-five
area Christmas tree growers from Warren and surrounding
counties attended the event.
ing farming unprofitable. Some
examples of their efforts in this
area are:
• Computer-assisted nutrient
management. Herbert Brodie is
developing computer programs to
improve agricultural producers’
ability to manage animal wastes
and municipal sludges. His goal is
to help farmers maximize the
nutrient benefits from wastes
while minimizing negative envir
onmental impacts.
• Geographic Information Sys
tems for Resource Management.
Blending the latest computer sci
ence and natural resource manage
ment technologies. Dr. William
Magette is developing computer
V
N
based decision support systems
that will help farmers and resour
ces managers control land-use
activities for maximum environ
mental protection at least cost In
the future, these systems will
incorporate the use of satellites
that are part of the nation’s strateg
ic defense system.
• Pollution reduction through
computer modeling. Dr. Adel Shir
mohammadi is using current envir
onmental research to improve
existing computer models and
develop new ones to simulate
the natural environment These
models can then be used to predict
the movement of agricultural pol
lutants and the effectiveness of dif
ferent managerial control tech
niques. The models could play an
important role in Chesapeake Bay
cleanup efforts.
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• Pesticide safety equipment.
By combining bioengineering and
biomedical principles, Dr. Arthur
Johnson is developing more effec
tive masks for people who need
respiratory protection, including
those who apply pesticides. He
also is conducting research on the
engineering principles that govern
human and animal physical
responses to environmental
stimuli.
• Computer control of water
quality in aquaculture. Dr. Fred
Wheaton is developing sensors
and control systems to automati
cally control the quality of water
used for closed-cycle fish produc
tion systems. He also is exploring
techniques for removing potential
ly hazardous environmental mater
ials in wastewater generated by
aquacultural facilities.