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OPINION
Where’s The County Agent?
At the end of the 1800 s, the U.S. government realized that
technology was available to increase farm production. Ag ex
periment stations and land grant colleges were formed. As at
tempts were made to bring farmers the latest in scientific infor
mation, campus based professors realized that an “extension”
of themselves had to come in a new group of folks. So the
“County Agent” became a fellow locally based in nearly each
county of the country. He had a direct phone line to campus and
was given training by the experiment station professors. This
person traveled over muddy roads and established contacts on
many local farms.
About the 1920 s and 30s youth clubs evolved whereby the
county agent relayed information through the children of farm
families. In many counties a female counterpart called the
“Home Economics Agent” brought nutrition and food prepara
tion information to farm families. In the 1930 s and 40s agents
became very involved in helping farm organizations evolve
such as 4-H Gubs, Homemaker Clubs, rural electric associa
tions, livestock producer associations, dairy herd improvement
associations, etc.
In the 1950 s agricultural production made gigantic gains
through technology largely evolving from World War li. Ferti
lizers and pesticides brought new wealth to the agricultural
community. The county agent became extra busy trying to keep
up with the latest technology while maintaining contact with
4-H clubs and farm organizations. Long, extended hours not
.uncommon in the life of an agent became an expected charac
teristic of the job. For many agents, the job became his or her
lifestyle.
By the early 1980 s low commodity prices, high interest
rates, latge capital investments and weather drove many farm
ers out of business. Most states lost about 30% to 50% of their
farms. In 1985, the U.S. government, mostly the president and
Congress, began to question the need for county agents since so
many faims were lost. Serious consideration was given to elim
inating federal support. Federal funds at the time provided
about 30% of each state’s Extension Service. Eliminating these
funds would have severely crippled the whole system.
To survive, land grant university leaders offered the services
of county agents for other important needs of the country. The
expansive network of an informational office in nearly every
county in the nation was a strong selling point. It was agreed by
the people in Washington, D.C., that Extension would be a
good vehicle for addressing the family management problems
of single patent and dual career families. Other educational
needs not being addressed at the time such as teen-age pregnan
cies, older rural populations and loss of rural businesses were
placed on the agenda of Extension agents. Only by offering to
do mote for the needs of non-fatm people was the system that
served mostly farm families able to continue.
With this transition has come a lot of confusion by the agri
cultural community. No longer ate county agents able to fre
quently attend farm organization meetings like 4-H, DHIA,
breed associations, dairy promotion, etc. Attempts are made to
help those groups run relatively independent of the local Exten
sion office. The county agent has to find time to address new
needs and help other groups get started. Environmental issues
and rural unemployment have also added to the list of needed
programs. The new needs are important ones and county agents
are developing new partnerships with other organizations.
We’re still trying our best to serve the needs of farm fami
lies. Non-farm families are also discovering how good a re
source of information the county agent is. I would plead with
all of our farm families for understanding and support as the
needs of your non-farm fellow citizens have been added to our
agenda.
72^
Farm Calendar
Vi lin (l.i \. (){ (< )l k i '
Pa. Capitol Futurity. Farm Show
Complex, Harrisburg, 12:30
Farm Show Complex, Harris
burg. 8 a.m.
Solanco Young Fanners annual
Ag Talk, Phil Rzewnicki,
Agricultural Agent, Blair and
Huntingdon Counties
family picnic, Brenneman
Farm.
SchuyJJdj^CaFani^|iiLDtX^
Hollidaysburg Community Fair,
Hollidaysburg, thru Oct 7.
Manheim Community Farm
Show, Manheim, thru Oct 8.
First annual Fore FFA Golf Tour
(Turn to Pago A 43)
NOW IS
THE TIME
By John Schwartz
Lancaster County
Agricultural Agqtt
To Pick Up
Farm Show Entries
The 1994 Pennsylvania State
Farm Show Premium Lists have
arrived in the county cooperative
extension offices.
The premium lists contains
details on all the classes at the
Farm Show, rules and regulations,
entry deadlines, and entry forms.
The 1994 Farm Show will be held
in Harrisburg from January 8-13.
Remember, some classes have a
November 4 entry deadline. Pick
up your free copy of the premium
list and make plans to attend and
participate in the 1994 Pennsylva
nia State Farm Show.
To Save Money
There is a lot of concern in the
agricultural community on how to
increase farm profits and improve
family living.
Increasing farm profits is a very
complex problem involving many
issues. However, one way to
improve family living is through a
planned savings program. Every
family, regardless of income,
should have a regular aavings plan.
This money should be invested
in a very conservative ipvestment
like bank savings accounts or certi
ficates of deposit (CDs). Once you
have several month's income in
the bank, you may want to consid
er more risky investments such as
mutual funds or stocks. By saving
on a regular basis, you are deve
loping interest income which may
be added back to the principle or
spent for family activities.
If you want to establish a regular
savings program, you may need to
establish a budget By developing
better spending practices, you are
Farm Forum
Dear Editor:
Several area newspapers have
carried a letter to the editor from
Lloyd Gustin, a dairy fanner from
Lymanville.
In his letter, Mr. Gustin illus
trates that area dairy farmers are
receiving less for their milk than
they received 12 years ago. He
also questions present salaries
paid to farm leaders, and asks how
these salaries relate to salaries of
12 years ago. Mr. Gustin also
challenges public disclosure of
such salaries.
While some people may inter
pret a different meaning to his let
ter, what I sense is the same
frustration that can be found on
90-percent of the dairy farms in
this area.
More importantly, these same
dairymen feel there is little con
cern being shown towards their
predicament, and they wonder
why everyone else has price
increases, but not the dairymen.
Normally, I fed the salaries
(Turn to Pago AM)
increasing the money you will
have to spend latter. Also, the ear
lier you start saving money, the
less money you will need to save to
accomplish your goals.
For example, by saving $5O per
month in 40 years you will have
$76,300. If you wait IS years
before starting your savings, you
will need to invest $ 128 per month
l to have $76,300 based on a 5 per
cent interest rate. Thus, the earlier
you start saving, the sooner you are
able to take advantage of
compounding.
This is a big reason to start
children on a regular savings plan.
Take charge of your finances and
make sure you save a certain
amount of your income and invest
it in a conservative savings plan.
This will help you develop family
equity separate from your business
equity.
Remember, you may spend
interest income every year but you
may only spend principle once!
To Plant
Cover Crops
Cover crops arc a very impor
tant farm management practice.
Br tAWKENCf W AHHOUSE ,
' f Mms
PROMISES, PROMISES
October 3,1993
Background Scripture:
Genesis 12:1-3; 15:1-18.
Devotional Reading:
Genesis 11:31,32; 12:1-10;
14:17-20.
How much is a promise worth
today? Not very much.
Promises made by advertisers
are known to be intentionally
deceptive. Promises made by poli
ticians are not taken very seriously
any mote. But then neither are
treaties between nations, agree
ments between employers and
employees, and even vows
between husbands and wives.
Is not this distrust of promises,
this erosion of trust the basis of
much of our social uneasiness
today? We do not trust the govern
ment, nor the institutions of our
society, and we do not trust each
other. As Erik Erikson has sug
gested, we must learn to trust
something or someone early in our
lives or live in cynicism for the
rest of our days.
Religions are not so much
rejected today as not trusted, and
trust in God’s promises is the
essence of religious faith and spir
ituality. What we call faith is real
ly trust When Jesus commended
peqple for their faith, he was com
mending them for trusting in him.
TRUST ME
So, the ancient record of God’s
promise to Abram and the latter’s
trusting response to that promise
is very relevant fra- us. In Genesis
12 and IS God gives his promise
as die basis of die faith he seeks
from his people: “And I will make
of you a great nation, and I will
bless you...and by you all the fam
ilies of the earth shall bless them
selves” (12:2,3). God foretells
what he will do for Abram and his
progeny and in response he asks
Abram to trust him: “Go from
your country and your kindred and
your father’s house to the land I
will show you” (12:1). In our own
time, this also is the basis of our
relationship with God; He gives us
a promise and He asks us to trust
Cover crops reduce soil erosion,
improve soil tilth, increase soil
water holding capacity, and reduce
nutrient leaching.
Many farmers need to empty
their manure storage units during
the fall season. This means crop
nutrients are applied to cropland at
a time of year when they are not
needed by a growing crop.
Therefore, these nutrients are
vulnerable to being lost to the envi
ronment because of soil erosion
and leaching. If you are applying
manure to cropland this fall, plan
on planting a small grain cover
crop like rye. The rye will take up
the available nitrogen and hold it in
the plant preventing its loss to
groundwater. If the rye is
harvested, the nutrients will be
utilized as high quality feed. If the
rye is killed or plowed down in the
spring, the nutrients will become
available to the following crop.
Rye may be planted as late as
November, but the earlier it is
planted the more nutrients it will
take up and the more yield it will
produce in the spring.
Feather Profs Footnote: "Few
wishes come true by themselves ."
Him to fulfill that promise.
Abram’s first response is not
unlike the kind of response we
might make today: “O Lord God,
what wilt thou give me, for I con
tinue childless” (15:2). Abram
hears the promise and he wants to
trust in it, but how can he believe
if he has no offspring? So it is
sometimes with us: we want to
believe God’s promise, but, in the
light of how things are in our
lives, we don’t see how he can
keep that promise.
sn
Abram voiced his doubt and
God was not angered because of
it, but neither does he give Abrarrt
proof. He merely expands on that
promise: “Look toward the
heaven, and number the stars... Sp
shall your descendents be” (15:5).
Now Abram’s choice as to
whether he will trust that promise
or not. The answer: “And he
believed the Lord; and he
reckoned it to him as righteous
ness” (15:6).
Abram decided to trust the
promise even though he didn’t
know how God would fulfill it.
When the writer says “he
reckoned it to him as righteous
ness,” he is saying that God
accepted Abram’s trust as the
basis of their relationship. It
would depend, not upon the sacri
fices that Abram offered, nor even
the deeds he did for God. His trust
alone was the keystone of God’s
love and mercy.
In New Testament times, the
Apostle Paul seized on this exam
ple to build his concept of justifi
cation by faith (Rom. 4:3,9,22;
Gal. 3:6). None of us can ever earn
the love and mercy of God our
deeds will always fall short of
what it would take - but we can
accept that promise as a gift and
trust in it for our salvation.
So the question is never
whether we believe in God, but
whether we trust him. Trusting in
him makes all the difference.
Lancaster Fanning
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
-by
Lsnoaaler Farming, Ino.
s mawnarv cnrarpnsn
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Evens R. Weemengn Manegkig EdHor
Cepyrtgbt INI by Lmcartw tomlng
RECKONED AS
RIGHTEOUSNESS