AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 11, 1996 OPINION The Organic Danger Relying on seemingly “benign" organic and other lower yielding agricultural practices has been the sustainability solu tion offered by many, especially by environmental organiza tions. There is, however, considerable reason to question the sustainability of these systems on . any large scale. If fears of pesticide and fertilizer impact push us toward lower-yielding alternatives, they will create a far greater threat from the plow to the ecosystems and wild creatures. Despite their advocates’ claims of comparable yields, organic agriculture’s yields per acre are sharply lower than mainstream yields when we include all the extra acres needed to sustain it: additional pasture acres for animal manure, cropland acres for “green manure,” and cropland in nonyielding fallow periods. Because these systems need more land to produce a given amount of food, adopting them globally would require farmers to convert large tracts of forests and other “suitable” wild lands to agriculture. Estimates of the land area necessary to meet de mand in 20S0 using strictly organic principles range as high as 25 to 35 million square miles worldwide, rather than the current 5.8 million square miles now in crop production. Considering the possible changes to local, regional, and glo bal climates and the inevitable decrease in biodiversity, the sus tainability of these approaches is seriously in doubt. Even their rationality is highly questionable. Dennis and Alex Avery in the May 1996 Hudson Briefing Paper. 22nd Annual Western Pa. Sheep And Club Lamb Sale, Mercer County 4-H Park, Mercer, 6 Poultry Management and Health Seminar. Kreider’s Restaurant, Pa. Fair at Philadelphia Park, thru Blue Ridge Open Sheep Dog Trial, Sunnybtook Farm, White Post, Va., thru May 19. Responsible Use of Animals Con ference, Double Tree Hotel, \l()M(l;i>. Ma\ 20 j Lehigh Valley Horse Council meeting, Snydersville, 7:30 Lebanon County Weed Identifica tion meeting, Lebanon Valley Ag Center, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Lancaster County Farm Service Agency Farm Bill meeting, Farm and Home Center, 7:30 Victory (ROV) Angus' Show. Maryland State Fairgrounds, Devon Horse Show Riding and ' Cla! Th( iff Ceremony, Handicapped Rid ers Event of the Devon Horse Show, Devon Horse Show ers meeting and strawberry breeding showcase, Rutgers Fruit Research and Extension Center, Cream Ridge, N.J. Philadelphia County Fair, thru June 9. Sund;i\, Jiini '> | Horse Trials, Beginner Through Open Novice, Thorncraft Here’s an update from last week’s article on registering water use with the Department of Envir onmental Protection (DEP). The May 11, 1996 deadline is for non-farm use of water. Farmers using more than 10,000 gallons of water per day in the Susquehanna River Basin must register their use by March 31, 1997 with the Sus quehanna River Basin Commis sion (SRBC). DEP is responsible for register ing non-farm use while the SRBC is registering farm use. There is no charge for registering your use with the SRBC. The Susquehanna River Basin Compact gives the commission responsibility for managing the water resources of the basin. The primary purpose for managing the water resources is to assure that the needs of all basin water users are met Through the registration prog ram, SRBC will be able to docu ment current daily water needs of users, which should put users in a stronger legal position should con flicts occur. Forms may be obtained from the SRBC. 1721 North Front Street, Harrisburg PA 17102, (717) 238-0423. With spring woik finally getting under way, it is easy to forget how much time has passed when you are working alone in the fields. Results from long hours in the trac tor seat may include a painful sun bum, ringing ears, or aching back. Remember to take a break and to keep in touch to prevent accidents. Use a buddy system. Form work is often isolated. If Seminar, Kreider’s Restaurant, meeting, current research pro jects. Hibshman Homestead- Research Farm, 7:30 p.m. Pequea-Mill Creek Project Field Day, begins at Gideon Fisher Farm, Intercourse, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. FFA State Activities Week, Uni versity Park, thru June 13. ;h G \\ uliK'sd.n , .| iint. 1 12 'act; Canada. Open Spaces Alternative Land scapes Workshop, Swarthmore Delmarva Chicken Cooking Contest, Salisbury, Md., thru June 16. To Register Water Use To Plan Safety Breaks Sc Hotel, Vancouver, an accident occurs, it could be hours before you are discovered. . When you are doing fieldwork, make sure some one else knows where you are working and when you will return. Set check-in times if you will be working in an area where you cannot be seen. Keep in touch with a cellular phone or CB radio. Take a break. Most tractors are noisy and many seats do not provide proper back support To avoid hearing damage and back strain, wear hearing protec tion and every two hours get off the tractor, walk around, and stretch. Drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration. Cover up and use sunscreen to protect against sun burn and skin cancer. To Apply For Farm Safety Grant The Anal guidelines for the BBi BY LAWRfNCf W AUHOUSJ TH/ ON ‘GETTING EVEN’ May 12,1996 ON ‘GETTING EVEN ' May 12, 1996 Background Scripture: Matthew S:l-38 Devotional Reading: Luke 10:24-37 A Kansan said that when he was a young man growing up on the farm, he became very much offended by a neighbor living on an adjoining farm. To get even, he got some Johnson grass seed a very obnoxious grass that is extremely difficult to get rid of — and it secretly sowed it on his neighbor’s farm, which was much damaged by it Later, however, the young man fell in love with his neighbor’s daughter and they were married. When the neighbor died, it was found that he had willed the farm to his daughter. For thirty years the teller of the story said he’d been fighting that Johnson grass, reaping what he had sown. There is probably no Christian teaching harder for us to grasp than the fact that, no matter how much we hurt others with our negative, destructive emotions and acts, we hurt ourselves as well, often much more. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “TTie dice of God arc always loaded. Every secret is told, every crime is punished, every virture rewarded, every wrong redressed, in silence and certainty. The thief steals from himself. The swindler swin dles himself.” And 1 would add. The avenger brings retribution upon himself. In striving to get even, we are- always putting ourselves behind. GOD’S JOB One of the reasons it is so hard for us to embrace Jesus’ admoni tion to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (5:44), is that we are much more predisposed to what society tells us: “Don’t get mad; get even.” Perhaps it wouldn’t be such bad advice if, in fact, one could ever “get even.” But Jesus tells us again and again that putting things “even” is God’s job, notours. Our problem is that we always want to be doing God’s job for him. Is it that we think he can’t, won’t do it? Or that he won’t do it to our satis faction or with our sense of timing? statewide farm safety grant prog ram were approved. The applica tion is now available front' the Farm Safety and Occupational Health Grant Program, Depart ment of Agriculture, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg PA 17110, (717) 787-4843. The dead line to apply for a grant this year is June 14. The grant program will award up to $2,500 to farm organizations, youth groups, volunteer fire com panies, ambulance services, rescue squads, etc. that wish to develop and deliver farm safety and occu pational health and emergency response programs. The guidelines for the program were published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on March 16. 1996. Feather Prof.’s Footnote: "With courage, every fear can be overcome, every goal can be attained." It’s strange how often I hear so called “religious people” or “Christians”" reciting, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" (5:38). The concept of controlled retaliation comes from Exodus 21, Leviticus 24 and Deuteronomy 19. But these same people ignore the words of Jesus that follow: “But I say to you, love your ene mies and pray for those who per secute you, so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven” (5:45). If we need a teaching here, let us recall the words of Jesus: “for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” And, if we need a model, let us remember Jesus' own example as he hung on the cross: “Father, foigive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). THE WAY OF VENDETTA Nevertheless, that example and teaching is not very popular today. Vindication is “in” and forgiving is not Vindication comes from the Latin vindex and vindicate which evolved in our English language to vindicate, avenge, revenge, vengeance, and vindictive. In Ita lian it became the basis for vendet ta, vengeance as a way of life. All of these are negative concepts and they tear down the moral fiber of the individual and society. Only forgiveness can heal. That makes forgiveness infinitely more pow erful than vengeance. I opened with a story and I will also close with one. The Norwe gian writer Johan Bojer tells of a man whose child was killed by a neighbor’s dog. Instead of giving in to revenge, the man found a bet ter way to relieve the agony of his heart. When a famine came and his neighbor’s fields lay bare, the troubled father went out one night and sowed the neighbor's field, explaining: “I went and sowed seed in my enemy’s Held that God might exist.” The Althouses will lead a group to the Holy Land, Oct. 9 to Nov. 3, 1996. Space limited. For informa tion, write them at 4412 Shenan doah Ave., Dallas, TX 75205. Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Pllblishsd Every Saturday EphraU Review Building lE. Main St Ephrata, PA 17522 . —toy— Lancaster Farming. Inc. ASMnmmEntmprim SoygCuptSl OanwaHtenaew Copyright 1986 by LaneatUr Fuming
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers