Al£lancHt«r Farming, Satuidsy.Msy 8, 1993 OPINION More Than Enough To Feed Everyone Sometime in the future, when the accomplishments of the 20th century are recorded for posterity, it may finally be ack nowledged that our greatest achievement by far has been the introduction of high-tech, high-yield agriculture. According to Dixy Lee Ray in her new book Environmental Overkill, mea sured in terms of benefit to human society, an adequate diet of nutritious, abundant, and affordable food eclipses all other developments of this most remarkable century. Neither compu ter technology nor transistors, robotics, advances in communi cation and transportation, life-saving antibiotics and modem medicine, nuclear energy, synthetics, plastics, and the entire petro-chemical industry rank as high in importance as the advances in food production. And all these other wonderful breakthroughs probably could not have happened without a well-fed population. No less an authority than Napoleon acknowledged the pri macy of food when he observed that “an army marches on its stomach.” For the first time in history we can take for granted that food will be available whenever we wish to buy it. For the first time in the more than 6,000 years of recorded human progress, food self-sufficiency in the developed world has been achieved, and it happened on our watch! Modem society that is, the West ern industrialized world is now able to feed itself and still have surpluses left over to help nourish much of the rest of the world. Who points with pride to the fact that agricultural scientists and farmers have scored a monumental victory over the ancient scourge of hunger and malnutrition? Ironically, modem agri culture is, instead, under attack, and its most important tools and techniques are being questioned at a time we should be loudly singing its praises. Given the extraordinary success of high-yield agriculture, why are there so many attacks upon it? Would the opponents and critics prefer that less food be grown? I believe the answer to that question is “yes.” And the reason can be summed up in a single word overpopulation. As recently as 1991, the Public Broadcasting System prog ram, “Race to Save the Planet,” said flatly that world food pro duction is falling behind population growth. That simply isn’t so. The U.S. Agency for International Development’s demo graphic survey published in 1991 shows birth rates slowing more rapidly than anyone had predicted. Third World food pro duction continues to rise twice as fast as its population. The reality of the world’s food and environmental gains are con firmed by all major published data series, including the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Every reputable study of the world’s “carrying capacity” has concluded that the world can feed its expected population growth. But the doomsayers are not placated. Recently, Ted Turner, owner of the CNN network, said in an interview with Audubon magazine, “Right now, there are just way too many people on the planet.” His plan is to cut back from the current 5 billion human beings to no more than “250 million to 350 million peo ple.” Will he and Jane Fonda lead the way? In the same interview, Turner also revealed his opinion of his fellow Americans when he said, “When you look at us, we are a bunch of pigs...and losers.” Speak for yourself, Ted. How does he think we should live? According to Turner, with spears, loin cloths, and human sacrifices. “The indigenous people were the ones who were right!” he said. “I mean they had their own religion, their ethics, their own technology. We just went down the wrong road.” Surely no one listens to and accepts this drivel! No one, that is, except the leaders and spokemen for the environmentalist movement. pur— Farm Calendar , S.ilm d.n, M.ix IS Hereford Breed Sale, Dairy Pavi lion, New York State Fairgrounds. Western Pa. Sheep and Club Lamb Sale, Mercer Co. 4-H Park, Mercer. 6 p.m. Beef Field Day, Clair and Susan Zimmerman Farm, Stouchburg, Poultry Management and Health Seminar, Days Inn, Shamokin NOW IS THE TIME By John Schwartz Lancaster County Agricultural Agqnt To Examine Alfalfa Planting Time This year’s spring weather has been anything but helpful in get ting crops planted on time. Already it is early May and very little of anything has been planted, including alfalfa. Normally by the beginning of May nearly all the seeding of alfalfa is done. As we move later into what would be the normal growing sea son, the question is, “Was the opti mum planting time for a particular crop missed?” According to Bob Anderson, extension agronomy agent, alfalfa may be planted through the month of May with good results. Howev er, plantings which have been delayed this long will be under a lot of pressure from weeds if a her bicide is not used. Many things should be consid ered when deciding whether to plant alfalfa this late or plant com or another crop. You may want to consider planting this fall or wait until next spring. Thus, it may be worth saving an old alfalfa field until next year and planting another crop this year. If a short season com is planted for silage this year, it may be possi ble to plant a fall seeding of alfalfa. A careful selection of herbicides is necessary with this latter plan. The decision to plant or not to plant will be determined by your own circumstances. To Know Alfalfa Protein Content Glenn Shirk, extension dairy agent, reminds us the best quality feed for dairy cattle may not be young cut, 22 to 26 percent protein alfalfa. Instead, cut alfalfa at the late bud to early bloom stage of maturi ty and aim for about 20 percent crude protein, 30 percent acid detergent fiber, and 40 percent neutral detergent fiber. However, you may want to harvest the first cutting at the first good break in weather, even if alfalfa is in the early bud stage. It could be the only good break we receive for the next 2-3 weeks. Early bud alfalfa is high in pro tein but low in fiber (almost like a protein concentrate). Young cut alfalfa may boexcellcnt feed for top producers, but you may need additional sources of fiber in the ration. When young cut alfalfa is chopped and ensiled, the fiber becomes even less effective. Also, Pasture tccdmg meeeting, Pa. Electric Building. Mansfield, 12:30 p.m.-3 p.m. Lancaster County Beekeepers meeting, Dale and Barbara Better's,JStrasburg, 7:30 p.m. (Turn to Pag* A3l) during fermentation, much of the plant protein degrades to soluble protein and to nonprotein nitrogen, both of which in excess may be toxic to the rumen and to the am These excesses may also cause a decline in dry matter intake, milk production, body condition, and conception, and an increase in foot problems. Because of the above problems, test all high protein silages for sol uble nitrogen and balance the ration accordingly. For best utili zation of soluble protein, limit the intake of these silages or feed them along with a soluble source of car bohydrates such as high moisture com, barley, com silage, etc. The presence of soluble carbohydrates in the rumen helps to “grab” the soluble protein and hold it in the rumen long enough for the bacteria to utilize it. Not To Grow Puna Chicory The farm press has had numcr- \^T !■; I L A VtN {[ /v All H oust | iSSSHLS SPf/ MORE TO COME! May 9,1993 Background Scripture: John 1:35-50 Devotional Reading: Matthew 10:1-10 When I was a junior in high school, I was hired by the Reading Eagle, the daily evening newspap er in Reading, PA, to write a weekly column about local high school sports. One of the first things I learned was how to pre pare my copy for the composing room. This included typing the word (MORE) at the bottom of each page until the article was concluded, meaning that there was “more to come.” The implication of “more to come” runs through the gospel accounts like a litany. Every few paragraphs, we could write (MORE), especially in John 1. As John the Baptist is standing by the Jordan, he sees Jesus walking and says, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” (1:35). The Evangelist tells us that two of John’s disciples were pre sent for this mountaintop experi ence to see the Lamb of God! COME & SEE Some accounts would be con tent to end right there, on the peak of that mountaintop experience. But that’s exactly where I’d have placed the first (MORE), for, hav ing seen the Lamb of God, John’s two disciples feel constrained to follow Jesus. “Rabbi.” they asked, “...where are you staying?” and Jesus answered, “Come and see.” Once again, insert (MORE), for having found his place of lodging, they decided to stay “with him that day” (1:39). And still there was (MORE). One of the two, Andrew, went out to find his other brother, Simon, so that he could share the good news with him: “We have found the Messiah!” (1:41). Andrew not only told him about Jesus, he took him to meet him and once again (MORE) would be appropriate, for Jesus says to Simon; “So you are Simon the son of John?” You shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter).” Nor was that the end of this chain of events; there was “(MORE) to come when next day Jesus saw Philip and said, “Follow r ous articles on the growing of puna chicory as a forage crop. However, chicory is classified as a noxious weed in Pennsylvani a, which makes it against the law to sell, transport, or grow chicory. Many growers may remember that Johnsongrass, shattercanc, and Jerusalem artichokes were all introduced as new, extremely pro ductive forage crops. Dr. William Curran, Penn Stale extension weed scientist, makes the following statement: “Puna chicory has not been thoroughly tested in the Northeast United States or Pennsylvania. The man agement guidelines are still in the infancy stage.” Therefore, based on this limited data and legal implications, we do not recommend farmers plant puna chicory at this time. Feather Prof s Footnote: "No one has ever risen to the real sta ture of spiritual maturity until they have found it finer to serve others than to serve themselves." me" (1:43). Philip did just that he followed Jesus but he also went and found his friend Natha niel, saying, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth...” And here, it seemed, the whole chain of events might come to a screeching halt as Nathaniel raised a nagging ques tion; “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (1:46). It was a fair question: Nazareth enjoyed no special stature in the scriptures and it had a pretty lackluster repu tation in Jesus’ day. GREATER THINGS THAN THESE By his response, however, Phil ip indicated that there was some thing (MORE): “Come and see.” I wouldn’t say that no one was ever argued into following Jesus, but essentially the appeal is always experiential: “Come and see.” Try it for yourself and then decide. When we do, we find there is always (MORE) to come. What convinced the reluctant Nathaniel was the fact that Jesus knew him psychically. “How do you know me?” he asks Jesus, who replies: “Before Philip called you. when you were under a fig tree, I saw you.” Amazed, Natha niel blurts out, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israeli!” and once again, the Evangelist could rightly insert (MORE) to come, for Jesus says, “Because I said to you. I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” All of us have seen our share of these “greater things.” We have seen brokqp lives put back together, people saved from life long failure, lives salvaged, homes and marriages restored, the guilty forgiven, bodies, minds and spirits healed, and resue from temptation and grace when we have been tempted, and people led from darkness into light. The gospel of Jesus Christ con sists of an invitation, “Come and see,” and a promise that if we do follow Jesus there will always be (MORE). Lancaster Farming Established 19BS Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 -by Lancaster Nrming> Inc. A Sttmmtn Entopnb* Robert C. Campbell General Manager Evans R. Nawawangar Managing Edtor Coeyrlshl IMS by Laneaalar Farming
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