AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 20, 1993
OPINION
Education
Where Needed Most
Today begins National FFA week. This year’s theme is
“FFA—The Spirit of Leadership.” And this theme is fitting
because FFA chapters contribute to their school, community
and the nation. And in doing so, they learn leadership, and they
become leaders.
FFA participation increased in 1992 to 401,574 members
who were in 7,456 chapters throughout the United States, Puerto
Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands. Local, state and national
activities and award programs provide opportunities for stu
dents to apply knowledge and skills acquired through agricul
tural education.
In addition, in schools where FFA students are present, the
bridge is shortened between young people with roots in agricul
ture and those who know nothing about it. With the push by
opponents of agriculture to infiltrate our educational system,
FFA is the lighthouse that provides a ray of hope, a hope that a
few more young people will come to realize that a nation that
loses its agriculture loses the very base of its economic and
societial existence.
Hopefully our food production and distribution system will
not need to be disrupted before the public realizes the basic need
for agriculture. The FFA does its part of keep people informed
about agriculture in the educational system where it’s needed
most.
Farm Calendar
Saturday, February 20
National FFA Week
Septic System Management and
Well Protection Workshop,
Penn State Fruit Research
Laboratory, Biglerville, 9
a.m.-noon.
Penn State Ag and Bio Engineer-
agemcnt of Shooting Preserves,
Days Inn, Penn State, State Col
lege, thru Feb. 23.
NCGA Com Classic, San Antonio,
Square.
Dairy-MAP, Somerset County
Area Vocational Technical
School, continues March 1 and
Planning Your Dairy for the Next
Century, Adams Extension
Office, 10 a.m.-2;30 p.m.
Cumberland Cooperative Wool
Growers meeting, South Mid-
dlcton Twp. Fire Hall, 7 p.m.
Lebanon/Dauphin Crops Day,
Lebanon Valley Expo Center
Fairgrounds, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Clinton Co. swine production
meeting, Willowbank Bldg.,
Bellefonte, 7:30 p.m.
' M - Willr
I, Farm and Home Center, 9
a.m.-2:30 p.m„ continues
March 2.
Annual InteriOrscape Conference,
Longwood Gardens, Kennett
Square.
Silage Production from Seed to
Animal National Conference,
Syracuse. N.Y., thru Feb. 25.
Pesticide meeting, Neshaminy
Manor Center, Doylestown,
7:15 p.m.-9:3op.m.,and March
Small and Part-Time Farmer
Workshop, Recreation Com-
munity Center, Titusville.
Franklin. Co. Vegetable Growers
meeting, Penn State Fruit
Research Lab, Biglerville, 9
a.m.-3 p.m.
Dairy-MAP, Corry Higher Educa
tional Council Building, Corry,
continues March 2 and 9.
Tulpehocken H.S. DHIA work
shop, 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Pork producers meeting on mod-
Farm Forum
Editor:
Newspapers are the main sour
ce of information from which peo
ple form opinions> Recent news
items concerning nutrient runoff
control, tobacco growers prob
lems, falling milk prices and other
agricultural related problems
prompted me to get some facts
from those who make the news.
The following is from the com
ments of four farmers in Chester
County, four farmers in Lancaster
County, one feed salesman and
public information services.
In Lancaster County there are
approximately 3507 full time far
mers with 3886 full time hired
employees. These along with part
time help and family members
amount to about two percent of the
population. The value of agricul
tural products in 1991 was
$782,404,000. Helping the farm
ers are 126 agriculture related ser
vices employing 1223 with a pay
roll of $16,500,000. There are 91
food processing companies
employing 7060 with a
$152,000,000 payroll. Farmers are
a small percentage of the popula
tion but they bring much money
To Apply
For Milk
Refund
As part of the federal deficit
reduction program, an assessment
is withheld from dairy producers’
milk checks.
In 1992, this assessment was
11.25 cents per hundredweight
(CWT) for milk shipped from
January through April and 13.65
cents per CWT for milk shipped
from May through December. Pro
ducers who shipped less milk in
1992 than they did in 1991 are
entitled to a refund of their
assessment.
Application for the refund must
be made before March 15. You
must take a record of your monthly
shipments for 1991 and 1992 to
your Agriculture Stabilization and
Conservation Service (ASCS)
office.
You will also have to provide
ern biotechnology, Ephrata
H.S. Ag Dept, 7:30 p.m.
Western Pa. Turf Conference and
Trade Show, Radisson Hotel
and Expo Mart, Monroeville,
thru Feb. 25.
Westmoreland Co. Hay Auction,
Fairgrounds, 11 a.m.
Winter Tree Fruit Growers meet-
ing, Days Inn, Shamoldn Dam,
9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Manure and Nutrient Management
Meeting, Leola Family
Restaurant, 7:15 p.m.
(Turn to Page A 39)
and job opportunities to the area.
In Chester County agricultural
production amounts to 314.9 mil
lion dollars annually.
The farmers I spoke to have real
problems. All are terrified about
real estate reassessment. They do
not see how they can afford higher
taxes. Most emphasized that land
used exclusively for agriculture
should be taxed at a rate different
from other real estate. One said
that teachers should lower their
wage expectations while taking
into consideration the falling
income of the farmers. At one
time land owners made the laws
and paid any taxes because they
were the only ones with the funds
to do so. The Amish must pay real
estate taxes for the public school
system plus another assessment
for their own parochial schools.
In Chester County it is the opin
ion that the family farm as it is
known is a thing of the past. Reg
ulations and high taxes make it
impossible. Farming in Chester
County will be doneas a hobby by
people with outside jobs and by
investors and businesses who rent
or lease the land to tenants, Sever-
(Turn to Page A3B)
your social security number. If you
have any questions, contact your
ASCS office.
To Monitor
Dry Matter
Intake
Glenn Shirk, extension dairy
agent, reminds us the more dry
matter cows eat, the more milk
they will produce, the less flesh
they will lose and the better they
will conceive.
To maximize dry matter intake,
cows need to be fed generous
amounts of highly digestible fibr
ous feeds such as high quality for
ages of sufficient particle length.
This enhances good rumen
function.
Also important to good rumen
microbial activity is a readily
available supply of soluble protein
and soluble carbohydrates in a buf
fered environment. The cleanli
ness of managers, the freshness
and palatability of feeds, and easy
access to feed bunks and waterers
all affect feed intakes.
Are you doing everything you
can to increase dry matter intake?
To Participate
In Sheep
Scrapie Program
On October 1,1992, the Volun-
LOOKING OUT FOR
February 21,1992
Background Scripture:
Romans 15:1-13.
Devotional Reading:
Colossians 3:9-17
Methodist Bishop Gerald Ken
nedy told of a young man who was
being interviewed by a theater
owner for the job of usher. “What
would you do in case of fire?”, the
owner asked him. “Oh don’t wor
ry about me,” the youth assured
him, “I’ll get out all right”
Like many, he missed the point
Because he was strong, he was
confident that he could save his
own life. But being a theater usher
is not just a matter of surviving an
emergency. The usher’s job is to
help save those who are less
strong and able. Responsibility for
the weak is always part of the
price God expects the strong to
pay for their superior strength.
A number of people who have
told me that, while they realized
the church could be helpful to
those who needed help—the
‘weak’-they couldn’t see them
selves having any need of the
Christian fellowship. "I’ll get out
all right,” they have said in effect
Perhaps there are those who don’t
need the church for what they can
get out of it, but for what they can
put into it. If you can’t think of
anything you need from the
church, ask yourself what the
church may need from you.
BLESSED &
RESPONSIBLE
For the first twelve years of my
life I was a rather sickly boy. I
knew the doctor a lot better than I
knew the pastor. But, in my teens I
began to experience good health
and since then I have been almost
embarrassingly healthy. I confess
that my latter day excellent health
sometimes leads me to have a hard
time identifying with those who
tary Scrapie Flock Certification
Program for sheep and goats went
into effect
The intent of this program is to
give recognition to sheep flocks
that are free of the disease and pro
vide technical assistance to
infected flocks. Scrapie has
become a disease of economic
impact and is costing producers an
average of $5 per head.
This is a five-year program that
will take producers through a step
by-step process to gain scrapie free
certification for their flocks (class
C.B.A, then certified) as long as
there is no evidence of scrapie. The
flock owner must agree to report
all suspects, officially identify
sheep over one year of age, keep
records, and submit samples.
The program is voluntary, will
identify the scrapie risk of pur
chased animals, and a premium
may be obtained for certified
flocks. To enter this voluntary
program, the producer must com
plete VS Form 5-22. To obtain this
form or for more information, con
tact USDA-APHIS-VS, 2301
North Cameron Street, Room 412,
Harrisburg PA 17110, (717)
782-3442.
Feather Profs Footnote: “The
time is always right to do what is
right."
are chronically ill. I must remind
myself day after day that I have
been blessed with a gift of good
health and vitality and that this is
not the norm for the rest of
humanity.
So, those of us who are “strong"
in some department of life may
fail to appreciate the plight of
those who arc weak. If we’ve nev
er had a drinking problem, we
must avoid being judgmental with
those who do. The same is true of
any kind of personal problem:
marital, financial, habitual, spir
itual, whatever.
PLEASE YOURSELF
Those of us who are ‘strong’ in
some way, therefore, have an obli
gation, not to judge or condemn,
not to avoid or ignore, but to help
the ‘weak’ bear their burdens. So,
Paul writes, “We who are strong
ought to bear with the failings of
the weak, and not to please
ourselves; let each of us please his
neighbor for his good, to edify
him” (15:1,2). Pointing to the
example of Christ, Paul says: “For
Christ did not please
himself...(ls;3).
Despite what the world tells us,
the essence of life is not in pleas
ing ourselves. When we focus on
pleasing ourselves, it is like filling
a bottomless pit and we are never
pleased in the long run. Ironically,
sometimes the greatest pleasure in
life is what we experience when
we deny ourselves and sacrifice
our own desires for the sake of
another. Dr. Alexis Carrel once
wrote: “Deny yourself, for there is
no more beautiful adventure than
the renovation and remaking of
mankind.”
There is nothing more unre
warding in life than always “look
ing out for number one”-unless,
of course, “number one” is Jesus
Christ.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata. PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A SMinan Enlrpr*»
Robert C. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor
Coeyrffht ten by Laneutir Farming