AIQ-Uncmw Fuming, Saturday, Saptambar 11, 1993
OPINION
Help Students To
Understand Agriculture
Even in our agricultural colleges, more and more students
who enroll are from non-farm backgrounds. Many of these stu
dents’ experiences with livestock may be limited to television,
books and car window views of the countryside.
Brad Skaar, lowa State University animal science instructor,
said he has had to look for new teaching techniques as fewer and
fewer of his students each year have first-hand knowledge and
experience with livestock. Skaar was was one of the speakers at
the American Society of Animal Science annual meeting in
Pittsburgh last, month.
Students’ lack of agricultural background makes them less
likely to understand and learn information in a traditional col
lege lecture class. In Skaar’s class, college juniors play the role
of “junior partners” in the fictional company, Futuristic Animal
Consulting Technologies, Inc. Students evaluate each other in
the course. Those evaluations and those of the instructor are
used to award play money, “cash bonuses,” during the semester.
Final grades in the course were awarded according to total
income during the semester.
Students worked in small teams to develop recommendations
for clients regarding animal breeding issues. The issues were
modeled after actual situations. Their recommendations were
expected to meet the clients’ needs, be effectively communi
cated and based on accepted theory and technology. The
approach forced them to learn animal breeding principles as
they are applied in the animal industry.
Ag in the classroom programs in grade schools, FFA chapters
and vo-ag classes in high school, and students from urban back
grounds enrolled in agricultural colleges all form part of the
educational process necessary for people to understand farming.
In addition, students with these learning opportunities develop
the skills that help fill the employment needs of agribusinesses
as the number of people who have the opportunity to grow up on
the farm decreases.
As students go back to school at this time of year in all levels
of education, we applaud those who teach, especially those
instructors who help our students understand agriculture in crea
tive ways.
pj——.
Farm Calendar
Tree Farm Day, Wolfe Farm, York
Springs, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Historic Schaefferstown 23rd
annual Horse Plowing Contest
and Horse Pull at Harvest Fair,
Royal, Ocean City, McL, thru
Sept. 14.
National DHIA Management Sci
ence Conference. Royal York
Plaza Hotel, Toronto. Ontario,
Canada, thru Sept 14.
Emu Farming Conference, Jersey
Green Township Community Fair,
Commodore, thru Sent 18.
Farm Forum
Editor:
I am writing in regard to the ar
ticle on page 1 of your Sept. 4 pa
per, “Continuation of the Wool
Act”
In the article Janet Mawhinny
said, quote; “U.S. Senator Harris
Wofford (D-Bryn Mawr) wrote a
very positive letter to the confer
ence committee supporting the
continuation of the act,” unquote.
In the latest (August) issue of
the National Wool Gnawer maga-
I iK‘s(hi\, ScpUmher 14 ~|
Albion Area Fair, Albion, thru
Sept. 18.
Denver Community Fair, Denver,
thru Sept. 18.
Sinking Valley Community Fair,
Altoona, thru Sept. 18.
Pork Appreciation Day, Stevens
Ijiredo-Stcvcns^^^^^^
Delmarva Broiler Housing and
Flock Supervisor’s Confer
ence. Delmarva Convention
Center, Delmar, Md.
Southern Lancaster County Fair,
Quarryville, thru Sept 17.
Berlin Brothers Valley Fair, Ber
lin, thru Sept 18.
Williamsburg Community Farm
(Turn to Pago All)
zine (P 28) is an article entitled
“Wool Act Survives Attack.”
Among the 52 senators who voted
in favor of consideration of elim
inating the Wool Act was Senator
Wofford.
Without further comment, I will
let the readers draw their own con
clusions as to the senator’s sup
port of sheep producers.
F. Gerald Matter
Miflcrsbnrg
(Turn to Page All)
NOW IS
THE TIME
By John Schwartz
Lancaster County
Agricultural Agqnt
To Avoid
Feeding Hot,
Uncurcd Silage
As com ensiling time approach
es, farmers may find it necessary to
chop some com prematurely in
order to have enough feed for the
herd until the com may bechopped
and ensiled. Or. they may
greenchop ends of rows to open up
fields for the forage chopper.
If feed is in short supply, or if
cured silage is inaccessible, far
mers may find it necessary to start
feeding the recently chopped com
immediately, before it has had a
chance to cure properly.
Glenn Shirk, extension dairy
agent, reminds us feeding imma
ture green chopped com, or feed
ing hot, uncured silage may cause
digestive upsets in cows, with a
resultant drop in production and
butterfat test
To help prevent these problems,
strive to have a supply of cured sil
age to feed from in the weeks pre
ceding and following silo filling
time. This may involve the use of a
small stack or bag of silage or rely
ing upon an alternate silo.
To Be Aware
Of Green
Tobacco Sickness
Workers engaged in the harvest
of tobacco should be aware of
Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS).
The illness is caused by the absorp
tion of nicotine from the surface of
wet tobacco through the skin.
Workers whose clothing
become saturated from wet tobac
co due to rain or dew ate at a high
risk for the development of the
illness.
Symptoms of GTS include
nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and
severe weakness. It is often
accompanied by fluctuations in
blood pressure, headaches, and
difficulty in breathing.
To minimize the risk of GTS,
the following recommendations
are made:
• Avoid harvesting or working
in wet tobacco.
• Protective clothing may
reduce the risk. Wear chemical
resistant gloves, plastic aprons, or
rain suits. However, this clothing
may add to the risk of heat stress in
hot weather.
• Change to dry clothing when
clothing becomes wet from wet
tobacco.
Workers who become ill while
working with tobacco and who
require medical attention should
inform doctors of the nicotine
ex to aid in the diagnosis.
toms of GTS are very
sii > pesticide poisoning from
or. losphate pesticides. How
ev ie treatment is very
dil
To Develop
anagement Skilh
I have been following the letters
to the editor regarding low farm
prices.
What we forget to remember is
most fanners ate producers of a
raw product Regardless of the
industry, agriculture, mining,
steel, etc., the producer of raw pro
ducts is a price taker and receives
the lowest price. Thus, the success
ful businesses in these industries
must be the low cost producer.
To achieve this, the owner must
be constantly adapting new tech
nology generated by research.
Once an industry loses its research
support and willingness to adopt
new technology, it no longer will
remain competitive.
The cycle of new technology
has shortened. Farmers must now
constantly be managing change in
order to stay in business. Those
farmers who manage change will
stay profitable. Those who cannot
will either leave agriculture or go
to work for those who manage
change.
The income of managers is
based on their ability to manage
people and capital, not how many
W w
\
hi i A/vktNi f vV AtIHuUM
VERY GOOD!
September 12,1993
Background Scripture
Genesis 1:25-31; 2:4-9, 15-25
Devotional Reading:
Psalms 8:3-9
Like a litany, after each act of
creation in Genesis 1, we are told,
“And God saw that it was good.”
That should be required reading
for all those who are constantly
pronouncing the world to be an
evil and rotten place. God looked
on it, including those things which
you and I judge to be “good” and
“bad,” and he still saw it as
“good!” It is also significant that
God called the garden “Eden,”
which means “joy”— God’s gar
den is the source of his joy.
Best of all is what he says when
humanity has been added to the
order of his creation: “And God
saw everything that he had made,
and behold it was very good” (my
italics). If creation before humani
ty was “good," then creation
afterwards was even better. That
also flies in the face of the popular
assumption that some of us are
destined to be the “good guys,”
and other of us “the bad guys.”
But God said: “very good.” That
includes every single human
being: Genghis Kahn, Adolph Hit
ler. Jack the Ripper, Joseph Stalin,
and Fidel Castro. All of us are
created “in the image of God.”
Why Are We Here?
The key is not the quality of our
creation as to what we do with it.
God hds purpose for his creation
and especially for his creatures.
Going back to the very beginning,
why did God create us?
One answer is that' we might
fulfill his image placed within us.
When Genesis tells us that we
were created “in his own image,”
(1:27) it is indicating that we have
a purpose to fulfill, a potential to
realize. Hitler distorted and denied
the image of God in him. This was
not his fate, but his choice. Jack
the Ripper was not bom to .be a
murderer. And you and I were
created with far more potential for
goodness than we have displayed
so far in this life. Does the “image
of God” show in you? If not, why
cowi they milk in a day.
The business structure of farm
ing is changing. Those fanners
electing to only do semiskilled
labor will see their income decline.
Those who take the time to learn
new management skills and master
diem should see their farms and
income grow. Traditionally, meet
ings dealing with production have
been largely attended, but those
dealing in farm management, eco
nomics, and marketing have been
very poorly attended.
In order to keep strong and pro
fitable family farms, farmers need
to change their priorities on meet
ing attendance. Farmers need to be
requesting and attending manage
ment meetings. Also, fanners need
to change their attitude from a
negative one to a positive one.
When we stop trying to place the
blame for our troubles on someone
else and accept them as opportuni
ties and direct our energies to solu
tions and new ideas, the stronger
agriculture will be.
Feather Profs Footnote:
“There are no shortcuts to any
place worth going."
not?
Another answer is found in his
command to “Be fruitful and
mulitply” (1:28). We’ve got the
last part of that down pat; in fact, I
believe God is telling us today to
stop multiplying so much. Our
multiplying is getting in the ways
of our being “fruitful.” What does
he mean “be fruitful?” He means
that we are to produce that which
is good, that which helps rather
than hurts, prospers rather than
impoverishes, improves rather
than dissipates. Yes, I’ve multi
plied, but have I been fruitful? Are
you?
“Boss” or “Steward?”
Still another answer is in the
command to “have dominion...
other every living thing that
moves upon the earth” (1:26,28).
As one little boy said when he
heard those verses, “It sounds like
he made us ‘boss’!” But actually
something more than ‘boss’: “The
Lord God took the man and put
him in the garden of Eden to till it
and keep it” (2: IS). Jesus spoke of
our God-given human role as that
of the steward. The steward does
not own, but manages for some
one else. In the story of the garden
of Eden, it is clear that it belongs
to God, but Adam is placed in
charge of it to make it fruitful for
God.
* That’s a very current issue, isn’t
it? For centuries we humans have
acted as if this world was ours to
use and abuse as we Hike. We
have spent it like an inheritance on
which there were no conditions.
But now, we arc being told, we are
close to having exhausted it. And,
we are remembering that it was
not so much an inheritance that
God gave us, but a stewardship.
We are expected to give it back to
him with interest. We have abused
and wasted the garden and now we
must start being good stewards
before it is too late, before God
asks, “What have you done to my
beautiful garden?”
God made it all “very good,”
but What are we making of it?
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Entaprim
Robert G. CatnpbsH General Menager
Evens R. Naaawengar Managing E4pr
Cefyrlght IMS by Unaealar Famting