AlO-Uncaster Farming, Saturday, July 17, 1993
OPINION
Seek Dairy Exports
The US dairy industry needs to get serious about export deve
lopment in order to take full advantage of the new markets com
ing international trade agreements will open to all the world’s
dairy producing nations. That was the message of Tom Camerlo,
president of the National Milk Producers Federation, when he
addressed the Western Large Herd Dairy Management Confer
ence in Las Vegas.
Camerlo thinks an eventual North American Free Trade
Agreement will not only open up trade with Latin America and
Asian Nations, it will also provide additional opportunities for
US dairy exports to other countries.
With die size and efficiency of our dairy industry, it is amazing
that we don’t do more in exporting our products. For example,
almost one third of our US milk production goes into making
cheese, yet we rank only tenth in cheese exports. We have a
world-class dairy industry, but it has focused most of its attention
on the domestic market.
With the rapidly developing countries comes the increasing
potential for increased dairy consumption abroad. This growth
Opens the demand for high-quality dairy porducts. Our dairy far
mers can best fill this demand. Therefore, the opportunities to
export dairy products should be more vigorously pursued.
Farm Forum
Editor:
I am writing to you to respond
to t renewed concern about pesti
cide residues in the food supply.
Also to respond to a National
Research Council Report that was
released June 29,1993. As a fruit
grower. the memories of the Alar
scare of four years ago are all too
recent a memory. Only 2-percent
of the population are farmers, and
we have a tremendous responsibil
ity to the consumers, ourselves
and our environment I must say
that farmers in general are trying
to reduce their use of chemicals
and slowly but surely we are.
On my own farm for 1993. I
applied for and received a small
grant to study biological control
for insects and diseases on fruit It
was obtained from the Low Input
Sustainable Agriculture Founda
tion from the University of
Vermont
What I am doing with this grant
is conducting experiments on
using litde or no insecticides on
five acres of peaches and using
7^
Farm Calendar
S.ilui(l.i\, fit I \ 17
Pa. Simmcntal Assoc, annual Field
Day, Foust Hidden Oaks, Get
tysburg, thru July 18.
Bedford Co. Sheep and Wool
Jackpot and Field Day, Bedford
Co. Fairgrounds, 10a.m.-Sp.tn.
Bedcs/Southeast Cattlemen’s sum
mer field trip, leaves Berks Ag
Center 7:30 a.m., returns mid
evening.
Schaefferstown Folk Festival,
Farm, Schaefferstown, thru
July 18.
Bradford-Sullivan Forest Land
owners Association annual bus
tour. AAP parking lot, North
Towanda, 8 a.m.
Bradford Co. Holstein Club picnic,
Thomson Farm, Runneifield,
11 ajn.
York Co. Beekeepers annual picn
ic, Rudy Park, 4 p.m..
biological controls to keep the
insects in check. Some blocks
have not been sprayed at all and
others only when monitoring indi
cated an insecticide was needed.
Monitoring is done with baps that
catch the male insect and only
when so many are caught in a trap
for a week'is insecticide used.
I am also using “mating disrup
tion” or “sexual confusion” as I
call it to keep the males from End
ing the females. To date, it is pro
ving very effective. To control
disease, I strictly monitor weather
conditions and check a leaf wet
ness recorder to pinpoint infec
tions. At this time, it has saved
three sprayings which amounted
to 300 pounds of chemical which
has not had to be used. I feel this is
significant because I only have 20
acres of apples. Imagine the sav
ings if all orchards used this.
All of this new technology is
wonderful but it is expensive. The
mating disruption is three times as
expensive as conventional insecti-
(Turn to Pago A 22)
Smitl.t\. .)iil\ IS
Jefferson Co. Fair, Brookville,
thru July 24.
Celebrating Chester Co. Fanning
picnic. Upper Oxford Com
munity Park, 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
PSA Simmental Field Day and
Sale, Foust Hidden Oaks.
Dairy Bowl, Bradford Co.
Bradford extension office. 9:30
a.m.
Lancaster Co. 4-H Activities Day,
Manheim Fairgrounds.
Southeast FFA District Dairy
Show, Lebanon Fairgrounds, 8
a.m.
Held Crop twilight meeting, Snyd
er Research and Extension
Farm, Pittsiown, NJ., 7 p.m,-9
NOW IS
THE TIME
By John Schwartz
Lancaster County
Agricultural Agfnt
To Check
Alfalfa For
Leafhoppers
The most devastating pest to
alfalfa is the potato leafhopper.
These insects are present every
year. They are small in size, but
they pack a powerful wallop!
Because they do not eat the
plant, the full impact of their dam
age often goes unnoticed until it is
too late to control the problem.
They are sap suckers. As they suck
sap from the plant, they also inject
a powerful toxin that severely
weakens the plant, stunting its
growth, causing it to turn yellow,
lowering its protein content, and
reducing its ability to survive the
winter and other stresses.
They are particularly devastat
ing to a new spring seeding of
alfalfa. On established stands, they
migrate back into the field soon
after cutting with •‘the heaviest
damage occurring at the edges of
the field.
Leafhoppers are small and
flighty and difficult to see. It only
takes a few of them to inflict severe
damage to the stand. When the
regrowth is about 4 to 6 inches
high, sweep the field with an insect
net If you catch more than 2 leaf
hoppers per 10 sweeps, it is time to
spray the field for protection.
The Penn State Agronomy
Guide lists the following insecti
cides for potato leafhopper con
trol: Ambush, Cygon, Diazinon,
Penncap-M, Pounce, and Supra
cide. As with all pesticides, be sure
to read the label and follow all
instructions, especially rates and
harvesting instructions.
To Monitor
Soil Fertility
In Alfalfa
Maintaining good soil fertility is
a key to keeping productive alfalfa
stands.
Determine fertilizer needs by a
soil test Be aware that many fields
in Pennsylvania have high pho
sphorus and potash levels from
repeated applications of animal
manures. If this is your situation,
you may be able to harvest alfalfa
for 1 to 3 years without additional
fertilizer. This will allow the alfal
fa to reduce (he phosphorus and
potash levels that has accumulated
in the soil.
Take soil tests every year to
monitor the drop in fertility levels
so you will know when to start fer
tilizing or applying manure again.
Be careful not to let the potash
level drop below the optimum
level or you may lose your stand.
After any of the cuttings of alfal
fa is a good time to apply any
needed fertilizer or lime. Apply
p.m.
Adams Co. Crops Field Day,
Smith Farm, Hanover, 9 a.m.
Adams Co. 4-H/FFA Swine and
Sheep Sasic, South Mountain
(Turn to Pao« A27}
phosphorus, potash, and lime
according to thorecommendations
from the soil lest.
Soil test kits are available from
your county Penn State Coopera
tive Extension office.
fo Feed
Cattle On
Withered Pastures
If you arc depending on pastures
to feed your herd this summer, be
sure your aifimals are getting suffi
cient fecd.,l
The recent heat wave has caused
many permanent pastures to go
into dormancy and produce con
siderably jess feed than did a few
weeks earlier. The big losers in this
situation could be the animals that
depend upon these pastures for
most of their feed.
With , inadequate feed intake,
animals lose a lot of the weight
they gained in the previous weeks.
To you the producer, it means you
have lost the cost of putting on
lii lAv*. klN(f W AIIMOUM
EUIS^S
THINGS ABOVE
July 18.1993
Background Scripture:
Colossians 3
Devotional Reading:
1 Corinthians 12:12-26
A Gallop Poll tells us that some
eight million people in the USA
aboot one in 20 have exper
ienced a phenomenon called the
Near-Death Experience. This is
the name given to the experience
that some people report after
being medically resuscitated from
death or near-death. In some, there
had been a cessation of breathing,
heartbeat and/or brainwaves. Dur
ing this period many people had
experiences of floating out of their
bodies, watching what was hap
pening in the operating room from
a point on or near the ceiling of the
room, passing down a long, dark
tunnel to a source of great light,
and encountering both departed
friends and relatives mid “a being
of light” often associated with
Christ.
My purpose is not to get into the
question of the Near-Death Exper
ience (NDE) and what it means,
but to look at the usual conse
quences of the NDE. Almost all
reporting this experience have
also said that it was a life
changing phenomenon. Having
“glimpsed the other side,” they
returned to “life on this side" free
of the fear of death and with a
sense of peace and purpose. Death
may be a life-changing experience
in a way many of us had not
expected.
LIFTED TO NEW LIFE
When Paul says, “For you have
died...” and ‘.‘if then you have been
raised...”, he is using a dramatic
metaphor. In a mystical, although
not physical, sense when we com
mit ourselves to follow Clirist as
our Lord and Savior, it is as if we
die with him on the cross and then
ate resurrected with him as well.
The presence of Christ in our lives
brings radical changes. With that
sacramental death we let go of
everything in our old life, and with
his resurrection we are lifted up
into a new life.
For one thing, the person who
has given himself to Christ finds a
different focus for his or her life.
Before, we lived lives that were
pretty earth-focused. That was dm
those pounds and now will have to
absorb those costs again.
Also, underconditioned animals
need more time to reach market
weights or breeding weights. Con
ceptions are much lower and pre
gnant animals may abort or have
birthing difficulties.
Another risk is that of poison
ing. If animals become hungry,
they are more apt to consume toxic
plants that are growing in the pas
ture. These would be plants they
normally avoid if they had the
choice of other feeds. The problem
is magnified when animals are
underfed because there is less good
feed being consumed to dilute out
the toxic effect of poisonous
plants.
To avoid these risks and costs,
be sure to provide animals addi
tional feeds when pastures become
less productive.
Feather Profs Footnote: “The
only way to make a man trustwor
thy is to trust him."
source of our values and percep
tions which were pretty much
based on self-satisfaction in the
short run because that seems to be
the norm of our society today: get
as much as you can as fast as you
can and as often as you can.
Having passed with Christ from
life to death and from death to
resurrection, we need a new focus
for our lives; “the things that are
above" ultimate rather than
immediate satisfaction, spiritual
instead of material values.
PLAIN SPEAKING
Up to this point, Paul has been
rather poetic. But he knew there is
a need for plain speaking here,
too. So he spells out in very practi
cal behavioral terms what ha,
means by the old life of “things
that are on earth"—"immorality,
impurity, passion, evil desire, and
covetousness which is idolatry”
(3:5). All of the above belong ip,
the “old life" to which we died
with Christ And just in case he
needs to be even more explicit
Paul spells it out" ..anger, wrath,
malice, slander and foul talk from
your mouth. Do not live to one
another, seeing that you have put
off the old nature with its prac
tices...” (3:10). When we die with
Christ all of these characteristics
must die with us.
But Paul’s message is not so
much about death as it is resurrec
tion and the new life it heralds.
What is that new life? “Put on
then, as God’s chosen
ones...compassion, kindness, low
liness, meekness, and patience,
forbearing one another and, if one
has a complaint against another,
forgiving each other” (3:12, 13).
Whenever you get to wondering
where you are in course of your
life as a follower of Jesus Christ,
take a look at your life and see
whether it is the old or new life
that predominates. “If you have
been raised with Christ, seek the
things that are above, where Christ
i 5...”
For information concerning the
33rd Spa Holiday in Badgastein.
Austria with the Althouses, Aug.
27-Sept. 11, write: Friendship
Tours, 4412 Shenandoah Ave.,
Dallas TX. 75205 (214) 521-2522
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