AlO-Lanc*st»r Farming, Saturday, Pabruary 12, 1994
OPINION
Talk About Horror Stories
In a recent advertisement, Mobil Oil severely criticized the
EPA and the Clinton Administration for working to replace
imported oil with renewable fuels like ethanol. They referred to
ethanol as a “horror story that won’t go away”.
It’s time to talk frankly about the horror stories created by
“big oil”. The largest transfer of wealth in the history of the
United States is a result of the importation of crude oil. Since
1916 over $123 billion dollars in federal subsidies, paid by the
taxpayer, have been doled out to the oil industry, much of
which has landed in Middle Eastern Countries, and Mobil Oil
has always found a place at the trough. Why in 1993 alone, tax
payers shelled out over $6 billion in oil industry subsidies. Now
that’s what we call a horror story!
The United States now imports nearly SO percent of our oil
needs, and that figure is expected to grow much higher by the
turn of the century. Ethanol is the only domestically produced,
clean burning, renewable liquid fuel this country has. We are
not surprised that Mobil is upset about the advance of ethanol,
after all it reduces the amount of imported crude oil they can
process. In 1993, over $lO billion were generated in the U.S.
through the production of domestic ethanol. These dollars stay
at home and bolster the economy of rural America.
Ethanol made from grain and other renewable resources is
clean burning. Gasoline, which contains high levels of bene
zene (a known carcinogen), zylene (highly reactive in the for
mation of urban smog), and other toxic chemicals is being
breathed in and handled by consumers every day. Pollution
caused by the burning of this dirty gasoline causes millions of
dollars annually in increased health care requirements for peo
ple living in major cities. What Mobil Oil fails to mention is
that cleaner burning renewable fuels are not the culprit. In fact,
if it were not for the need to replace dirty gasoline, this entire
matter would be a moot point.
The Clinton Administration and the Federal Environmental
Protection Agency have recognized the need to embark on a
program to replace dirty, imported gasoline with cleaner burn
ing renewable fuels like ethanol. Yet Mobil Oil seems to still be
living in the dark ages, hoping against hope that renewable
fuels like ethanol will fade away into oblivion and they can pro
ceed, without restriction, until the last drop of oil is sucked
from the earth. That’s a horror story!
Recent estimates have concluded that the real cost of
imported oil is in excess of $7O a barrel. What the consumer
pays at the pump and what we pay in taxes to protect shipping
lanes and oil rich Middle Eastern countries is part of the “true
cost” of that barrel of oil. The $l5 a barrel oil mentioned in the
ad is typical of the exaggerations and misrepresentations
created to deceive the American public.
We are surprised and disappointed that a company like
Mobil Oil would be so intimidated by a small fledgling ethanol
industry that they would spend investors’ money to discredit it.
In fact, we are surprised that a company like Mobil Oil, who
does substantial business in rural America, would slap the face
of their customers. •
While most of us were taught to turn the other cheek, it’s
time that rural America slaps back by exercising its right to
decide where to purchase their petroleum products. Losing the
business of rural America... now that could be a real horror
story! -- Guest editorial by Mike Bryan, National Com Grow
ers Assn.
i 4T“'
Farm Calendar
Northeastern Pa. Alternative Agri
cultural Enterprise Conference,
Pittston Convention Center,
Pittston, 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Butler Co. Holstein Assoc, annual
meeting. Garden Gate Restaur-
jry
Convention Center, thru Feb.
16.
Poultry Management and Health
Seminar, Kreider’s Restaurant,
Manheim, noon.
Cumberland County vegetable
meeting, Walnut Bottom Fire
ball, Walnut Bottom, 9
a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Blair County Dairy-MAP,
Memorial Park, Martinsburg,
also Feb. 28.
Greene County Dairy Day, Faytet
te Fairgrounds, Uniontown,
10:30 a.m.
ABC District 1 meeting. Eastern
Berks, Virginville Grange Hall,
noon.
ABC District 3, Northern
Dauphin/Northumberland,
NOW IS
THE TIME
By John Schwartz
Lancaster County
Agricultural Agent
To Dispose Of
Dead Animals
Recently the press covered a
story on hundreds of dead ducks
and geese found on a farm.
Hie ducks and geese died from
the extreme cold weather we had
recently. Instead of gathering up
the dead fowl and disposing of
them property, the farmer left them
lie on the ground.
As a result, neighbors filed a
complaint and the farmer was
arrested for cruelty to animals.
This could have been avoided
by quick and proper dead animal
disposal. Unfortunately this is not
an isolated incidence. Our office
receives several complaints every
year about improper dead animal
disposal.
Animals will die and occasion
ally we will experience a large
death loss due to weather, fire, or
mechanical failure. The key is to
dispose of dead animals and birds
quickly and in a satisfactory
manner.
Bcrrysburg Community Cen
ter, 7 p.m.
ABC District 5, Southern Lancas
ter, Solanco Fairgrounds, 7
p.m.
ABC District 10, Fayette County
Fairgrounds, 10:30 a.m.
ABC District 12, Cambria, New
berry Grange Hall, 7;30 p.m.
ABC District IS, Mercer Exten
sion Office, 10 a.m.
ABC District IS, West Crawford,
Vernon Central Hose Co.,
ence, Lancaster County Exten
sion and other extension
offices, call local extension for
details.
Tri-County Vegetable Meeting.
Penn State Fruit Lab, Biglervil
-Ic, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Solanco Young Farmers meeting,
mycotoxins in feeds, Solanco
High School, 7 p.m.
Franklin County Fruit Growers
annual meeting, 8:30 a.m.-3:30
p.m.
York County Ag Land Preserva
tion Board, Pleasant Acres
Complex, 7 p.m.
EA YFA monthly meeting, garden
ing, Ephrata High School, 7:30
p.m.
N.E. Fruit Growers meeting,
Ramada Inn, Chinchilla, 8:30
a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Southcentral Pa. Holstein Assoc,
district election and show meet
ing, Western Sizzlin’, Harris
burg, 10:30 a.m.
Grazing Conference With Sonny
Golden, Bait Fire Co., George
town, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Atlantic Dairy Day, Alwine Civic
Center, 10:30 a.m.
(Turn to Pag* AIS)
Farmers may send the animals
to a rendering facility or bury,
incinerate, or compost them.
Be a good neighbor and farmer
and dispose of your dead animals
properly.
To Attend A
Satellite Conference
More and more county exten
sion offices and farmers are pur
chasing satellite dishes.
This technology is generating
many exciting educational prog
rams from the land grant universi
ties. From undergraduate courses
' in marketing, animal science and
' agricultural economics to seminars
on dairy nutrition, com production
and swine husbandry to programs
on outlook and conservation farm
ing, the satellite is brining the
world into our meeting rooms.
We now have access to the agri
cultural leaders across the United
States. If you are looking for the
latest information and seeing out
standing demonstrations that
would be hard to duplicate locally,
than plan to participate in a satel
lite conference.
The many farmers who have
attended a conference have been
pleased with the quality of the pre-
m
©SIBILS
HOW'S YOUR
PERCEPTIONf
February 13.1994
Background Scripture:
Luke 20: 1-19
Devotional Reading:
Matthew 21:23-27.38-46
I find wryly amusing Luke’s
restrained observation that the
scribes and pharisees “perceived
that he had told this parable
against them” (20:19).
The “parable” actually more
an allegory refers to the so
called “Parable of the Vineyard,”
Luke 20:9-18. The reason I find
Luke’s comment amusing is that it
doesn’t take a Bible scholar or
even a trained mind to perceive
that the scribes and pharisees are,
without any doubt, the taigets of
the parable.
Some of Jesus’ parables are dif
ficult to understand, but not this
one. The “owner” of the vineyard
is obviously God. The rebellious
“tenants”~are the religious leaders
of Israel and the “servants” repre
sent the Old Testament prophets.
The “beloved son” or “heir” is
Jesus Christ and when he is
“killed”, the reference is to the
crucifixion of Christ. When Luke
says, “He will come and destroy
those tenants,” he is speaking of
judgement and the advent of the
kingdom of God. The “others” to
which he will give the vineyard
then are presumably the Christians
of the early church.
“THEY PERCEIVED”
One wonders why the scribes
and pharisees waited until the end
of the parable, before they pro
tested: “God forbid!” Didn’t they
perceive that this story was a con
demnation of them and all that
they represented? How could they
stand there and permit him to draw
such an unflattering if accurate
picture of themselves?
But if the scribes and pharisees
were slow to perceive the meaning
of this parable, so, perhaps, are
we. When Jesus uttered these
words, he was obviously thinking
of the scribes and pharisees. But
Mutations and the extbllent infor
mation presented.
To Look At
Farm Numbers
According to United States
Department of Agriculture projec
tions, the number of U.S. farms
will likely decline by only 15,000
per year in the next decade com
pared with the rate of over 100,000
annually a few decades ago.
States west of the Mississippi
River will experience little change
in farm numbers. Southern and
northeastern states will lose farms
the fastest one to two percent a
year.
These regions have the greatest
imbalance between older and
younger farmers.
Farm consolidation will con
tinue at a moderate rate and decline
less than one percent a year in the
Com Belt and Lake States regions.
The coming decade will see a slow
evolution toward fewer, larger
commercial farms with closer ties
to agribusinesses and a growing
number of small, part-time, and
specialty farms.
Feather Profs Footnote: "In
the end, the only people who fail
are those who do not try."
when we read this parable today,
he speaks to a new, if somewhat
similar, audience. God is still the
owner of the vineyard, the Lord of
the universe. The servants are still
prophetic voices whom God sends
to his tenants and the beloved son
is still our Lord Jesus Christ The
coming of the owner to “destroy
those tenants” is still the coming
of God’s kingdom to which, in
one form or another, Christians
still subscribe today.
THE ‘TENANTS”
TODAY
All the elements in the parable
have remained the same, except
two. The first of these is the “ten
ants”, for today they are us, those
of us who have embraced Christ
ianity’s heritage of almost 2,000
years. We are the ones today who
live and work in the owner’s vin
eyard, God’s creation. Is it possi
ble that some of the original ten
ants’ arrogant rebelliousness is
evident in us? Could we be the
ones who, blessed with the herit
age of the Old and New Testa
ments, nevertheless remain resis
tant and hostile to God’s messen
gers? And could it be that, even
while professing the Christ in our
churches, in our daily lives we
reject God’s Son and crucify again
and again? Further, is the coming
of God's kingdom thus a potential
danger rather than a blessing for
those of us who think we’re
among God’s chosen?
That leaves the “others” to
whom the owner will give the vin
eyard. I’m not sure who they rep
resent. Perhaps these are people
who follow Christ without benefit
of Christian clergy or churches.
I’m not concerned about the
“others”, but about us, the “ten
ants” in the “vineyard”, those of
us who with centuries of Christian
history behind us still may not be
getting the message.
That’s my perception. What’s
yours?
Lancaster- Fanning
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaatar Farming, Ino.
a —»—■—■ *- -
CMrvnwv cnVQMM
Robert Q. Campbell General Manager
Ewer* a Newfwinger Managing EdHor
c HrrtfW 1(S« by Lancaster Farming