AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 23,1994
OPINION
The Coming Boom
In American Agriculture
We hear so many negative things about the future of American
agriculture that a Hudson Institute briefing paper that reports the
speech by Dr. Thomas Duesterberg at their 1994 agriculture con
ference is refreshing. Duesterburg believes American agriculture
is poised to become a powerful export-driven growth industry in
the upcoming decades. As developing nations expand their
economies—particularly in Asia and Latin America-American
farmers, clearly the most productive and efficient in the world,
will be able to meet these nations’ increased demands for food.
The briefing paper lists a number of advantages that our agri
culture has over its competitors.
• We have more prime cropland per capita than any nation
except Argentina, even after taking more than 200 million acres
out of crop production since 1970 in response to increased pro
ductivity and various acreage-reduction programs.
• We have fewer climatic constraints than our competitors.
• We have the best technically trained farm managers.
• We have the most entreprcneurially trained farm managers.
•We have by far the world’s best infrastructure, with road, rail
s, ports, phone lines, and satellite systems already available to
serve every farm.
• We have superb agricultural research facilities and a huge
lead in biotechnology.
• We have by far the most efficient food processing in the
world,
In addition to all the above, our farmers have already begun to
place heavier emphasis on protein foods, fruits, and vegetables.
We know what consumers want, and we have the competitive
advantage to give them what they want.
The opportunities for the future are real, but we must take
advantage of it. Substantial work and a concerted effort to coun
teract the old forces of protectionism, subsidy, and regulation
will be needed. But the American farmer and agribusiness pro
ducer have just what we need to succeed. That’s why there is rea
son to be optimistic about the future of American agriculture as
we approach the twenty-first century.
Farm Calendar
Saturday, July 23
York County Holstein Show, York
Fairgrounds, 10 a.m.
Monocacy Water Quality Demon
stration Project, meet at USDA,
Frederick, Md., 9 a.m.
Bucks County Holstein Club picn
ic, Kevin Bishop’s, Hilltown,
11 a.m.
| Sunday, July 24
Clarion County Fair, New Beth
lehem, thru July 30.
Conneaut Valley Fair, Conneau
Jefferson Township Fair, Mercer,
thru July 30.
Kimberton Fair, Kimberton, -thru
July 30.
Shippensburg Community Fair,
Shippensburg, thru July 30.
Troy Fair, Troy, thru July 30.
Potter County Fair, Millport, thru
July 30.
Western FFA Dairy Show, Butler
Penn State Field Diagnostic Clin
ic, Rockspring Research Farm,
9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
On-Farm Composting, Dick and
Bonnie Bleiler’s Farm, New
Tripoli, 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m.
Maryland Dairy Princess Pageant,
Holiday Inn-FSK Mall, Freder-
Central Maryland REC Field Day,
Upper Marlboro Facility, 8
a.m.-2 p.m.
Beef Catde Evaluation Workshop,
/ ‘ 7
Live Evaluation, New Holland
Sales Stables, New Holland, 7
p.m.; carcass evaluation Stolt
zfus Meats, Intercourse, July
29, 7 p.m.
Northeast Region Sustainable Ag
Summer Farm Tour, begins
Holiday Inn in Windsor Locks,
Conn., thru July 28.
Forest Landowners’ Workshop
Tour, Blair and Mary Carbaugh
residence, Riverside, 6:30 p.m.
Capitol Region Summer Turf and
Ornamental School, The Capi
tol, Harrisburg, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Farmers’-Businessmen’s Picnic,
Oak Grove Plantation, near
Pittstown, NJ., 4:30 p.m.-6:30
p.m.
Pa. Association of Conservation
Districts quarterly meeting,
Toftrees, State College, thru
July 29.
Lancaster County 4-H Dairy
Show, Solanco Fairgrounds.
(Turn to Page A3l)
Farm Forum
This open letter proposes an
idea that Dan Delp, Hagerstown,
MD, has for a portable milking
parlor. So far, he has not
received approval from the state
health department, but he is
making his case in an attempt to
get this approval.
Editor:
In May of 19931 began produc
ing milk with intensive grazing as
the main source of forage. In the
To Prepare For
Late Summer
Seedings
Are some of your hay stands
thinning out? Do you need to
establish desirable pastures?
The ideal time for making many
grass and legume seedings is
August and September. Best
results may be expected if you cor
rect soil pH and control perennial
weed problems well in advance of
planting.
If you suspect low pH, sample
the soil now and apply 1 to 2 tons
of lime per acre. This will give
sometime for the lime to start
working before planting. When
you receive the soil test results,
subtract what you have already
spread and apply the balance.
By planting in the fall, we usual
ly have enough moisture to germi
nate seeds and time to establish a
good stand before winter arrives.
Come spring, the new seeding
should be off to a running start and
belter able to withstand the stress
of summer droughts.
To Tackle
Food Safety
Head On
E. coli has replaced Salmonella
in the news. The safety of eating
ground beef is being questioned.
First, we need to emphasize that
proper handling and cooking con
trols E. coli and Salmonella. Sec
ondly, agriculture needs to learn a
lesson from the egg industry. All
segments of agriculture need to
work with government, universi
ties, cooperative extension, and
food service in developing a food
safety program. Industry needs to
take the lead.
Gary Smith, professor of meat
science at Colorado State Univer
sity, stales the meat industry can
not afford to leave the job of food
safety to the government. He
believes that if the meat industry
wants the job done and done right,
it has little choice but to tackle it.
Smith believes that govern
ments do not have the wherewithal
to work on these problems and
would prefer to just say do not eat
certain foods because they are
dangerous to your health.
The industry needs to fund
research and educational programs
past, our cows were fed a total mix
ration. Cows were also fed indivi
dually with computer feeder,
housed in a free stall bam and
milked in a conventional parlor.
With this system young cows be
came old quickly (one third of the
total herd was replaced yearly).
Feed costs were high and profit, if
any was realized, was very low.
There was a high concentration of
(Turn to Pag* A 29)
to address food safety and bacterial
contamination from farm to the
consumer table. The sooner the
industry starts, the better you will
be able to protect your markets.
The egg industry has proven it
can be done. Commodity leaders
should look at the egg model and
start adapting it to their
commodity.
To Keep Cows’
Dry Matter
Intake Up
According to Glenn Shirk,
extension dairy agent, the hot, dry
days of summer may cause the
cow’s dry matter intake to drop
significantly. There are several
reasons for this:
• Pastures dry up in hot weather.
There is less feed for cows to con
sume and what is consumed may
be less palatable and less nutri
tious. In this case, it may be benefi
cial to increase bam feeding rates.
• Cows are 100 hot to eat. If this
BY lAWR[NCE W. AUHOUSE
PC
mas
BREAKING LOOSE
July 24.1994
BREAKING LOOSE
July 24. 1994
Background Scripture:
Exodus 32; 34:1-10
Devotional Reading:
Numbers 12:1-16
There are a lot of characteriza
tions of God in Exodus 32 and 34
that are obviously quite contrary
to the God we meet in Jesus
Christ. I could “write around
them,” but I won’t
The God of these passages is a
mercurial God; . . now there
fore let me alone, that my wrath
may bum hot against them and I
may consume them...” (32:10a).
He is also a God susceptible to ar
gumentation. Moses argues,
“Why should the Egyptians say,
‘With evil intent did he bring them
forth, to slay them in the moun
tains, and to consume them from
the face of the earth’. .. repent of
this evil against thy people ...”
(32:11,12). The writer tells us that
God is persuaded by Moses’ argu
ment; “And the Lord repented of
the evil which he thought to do his
people” (32:14).
Nor does Moses present us
witih a Christlike model. When he
returns from the mountain, we are
told that “all the sons of Levi ga
thered themselves together to
him...” (32:26). And Moses gave
them a chilling assignment: “And
the sons of Levi did according to
the word of Moses; and there fell
for the people that day about three
thousand men (32:28). Then,
when Moses asks God to forgive
the people, God refuese: “Who
ever has sinned against me, him
will I blot out of my book.” “. . .
And the Lord sent a plague upon
the people, because they made the
calf. . .” (32:33,35). And then
there is one more passage that
sticks in my throat like a bone: “a
God ... who will by no means
clear the guilty, visiting the iniqui
ty of the fathers upon the children
and the children’s children, to the
third and fourth generation”
(34:8).
I have cited these passages
simply to show that the ancient Is
raelite understanding of God is ra
is true, feed more grain if you are
not already at maximum levels.
Increase the nutrient density of the
ration. Feed most of the forages
during the cooler hours of the
evening.
• In hot weather, cows are more
interested in lying in the shade or
next to a supply of good quality
water than consuming feed. There
fore, supply water to pasture lots
being grazed and close to feeding
areas.
House cattle in a well-ventilated
dairy bam during the heal of the
day where they have convenient
access to feed and water plus a
clean, comfortable place to rest.
• Feeds start to deteriorate in the
bunk. This is especially true of
ensiled feeds. Keep feed fresh by
feeding them frequently and keep
ing the manger clean.
Feather Prof s Footnote: “You
become successful the moment you
start moving toward a worthwhile
goal."
dically different than the God re
vealed in Jesus Christ. To try to
paste the God of Exodus together
with the God of the Four Gospels
is a hopeless, fruitless task. So
what do we do with the Book of
Exodus? I look upon it as the testi
mony of a view of God that is in
structive. but incomplete and im
mature. There is much we can
team from it, but our understand
ing of God cannot end with the
Book of Exodus.
The scripture passages upon
which the Uniform Bible Lesson
series and ‘The Bible Speaks” is
based are selected by an interde
nominational committee. These
particular passages from Exodus
32 and 34 were selected as repre
senting Biblical teaching about
forgiveness. I must respectfully
disagree: what these passaages tell
us about forgiveness is quite con
trary to what Jesus teaches us. (I
was interested to discover that in
my various Bible commentaries,
the scholars chose to ignore the
violent atrocities by Moses and
the Levites. I understand that: they
are embarrassing.
To me, then, these passages
speak, not so much of forgiveness
as they do sin and what it does to
one’s relationship with God. This
is illustrated in 32:25 when the
writer tells us, “And when Moses
saw that the people had broken
loose (for Aaron had let them
break loose), then Moses stood in
the gate of the camp and said,
“Who is on the Lord’s side?”
This is an interesting term
“broken loose." I cannot recall
coming across it anywhere else in
the Bible. Yet it is very descriptive
of what happens when we become
impatient for God to act, when we
demand satisfaction now, when
we are unwilling to trust and obey
him. The conection between God
and ourselves is broken by our
willful disobedience. The worst
thing about sin is not that God will
punish us, but that we have cut
ourselves off from him. Breaking
loose from God is the worst thing
we can do to ourselves. Fortunate
ly, there is a way to be connected
with Him again and it doesn’t
take three or four generations.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata. PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming. Inc.
A Stwhnwi Enlerphbe
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor
Copyright 1994 by Laneaater Farming