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OPINION
Farmers Feed The World
One of the most enduring myths of the modem world is that
we’re running out of food production potential. According to the
summer issue of Global Food Quarterly produced by the Hudson
Institute, countless people are absolutely certain that famine is
just around the comer, and we must do something drastic to sup
press population growth. These people have no idea how the
world’s farmers have tripled their yields over the last 35 years.
But they are sure the yields can’t be tripled again.
Over the last 22 years, the world’s grain production has
increased 46 percent, and grain yields have risen 55 percent, out
stripping population growth of 42 percent. For the next decade,
Asian and Latin American populations are expected to grow at
about 1.5 percent per year, while their crop yields are rising at 2.4
percent. Where is the emergency? Only in Africa where they’re
not using high-yield farming.
In the U.S., farm production has been responsible for feeding
not only ourselves but also has been one of the only bright spots in
the yearly trade deficit figures. Agricultural products from
America have helped feed the world. Our fanners have consid
ered exporting food a good business opportunity, and they have
also considered it their moral responsibility to feed the world.
And the future looks bright. For example, new plant varieties
have been developed through biotechnology that continue to
increase yields and at the same time have within the plant the abil
ity to resist disease, insects, and drought. We believe farmers will
continue to be able to feed the world wherever the political and
social climate does not prohibit farming and the distribution food
to reach the people.
If the world goes hungry, it will be because war or the oppo
nents of agriculture will it to do so.
Saturday. September 21
Blooms burg Fair, thru Sept. 28.
U. of Pa. New Bolton Center Open
House.
Suncliu. Si’DlemluT 22
Autumn lie^ins
Over the Hill Horse Show, Hunter
Hill Stables, Coventryville, 9
a.m.
Reading Fair, thru Sept. 29.
All American Dairy Show, Farm
Show Complex, Harrisburg,
Morrison Cove Community Fair,
thru Sept 27.
Ephrata Fair, thru Sept. 28.
Pa. Fall Championship Show,
Farm Show Complex, Harris-
West Lampeter Community Fair,
thru Sept. 27.
Frederick County, Md. pasture
walk, Holterholm Farms, Ron
and Kathy Holler, Jefferson,
Md., 10 a.m.-noon.
John Esh Farm pasture walk,
Quarryville, 10 a.m.-noon.
Eastern National Holstein Sale,
Farm Show Complex, Harris
burg. 7 p.m.
Tri-Valley Community Fair, thru
Sept. 29.
Eastern National Holstein Show,
Farm Show Complex, Harris
burg, 8 a.m.
Clarion County Extension meet
ing, Clarion Clipper Restaur
ant, Clarion, 6:30 p.m.
Aquaculture in the Mid-Atlantic,
1996 Eastern National Livestock
Show, Maryland State Fair
grounds, Timonium, Md., thru
❖ Farm Calendar*
Sentj29^^^^^^^^_
sth Annual Harvest Sheep and
Wool Festival of N.J., Salem
County Fairgrounds, NJ., thru
Sept. 29.
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Editor,
As the prime sponsor of HB
2686 I feel compelled to respond
to your “Milking the Children”
and “Chopped Liver” editorial of
August 31, 1996.
Your editorial suggestion that
my bill somehow targets farmers
and agriculture in general simply
could not be farther from the truth.
In fact, my desire to NOT in any
way hurt the price received by the
farmers was a genuine concern of
mine before introducing the bill,
and a major reason why my bill is
directed at a vary narrow and spe
cific piece of the overall PMMB
authority. It repeals only the
Board’s authority to set minimum
retail prices and the wholesale
price paid by schools and certain
public institutions. All other
aspects of the milk marketing law,
including the Board’s power to set
minimum producer prices, would
remain intact. Thus, if the Board
truly exercises its authority as an
independent agency one whose
mission is to ensure a fair price for
farmers as the basis for all levels
To Check
Fire Insurance
If a fiie occurred in your home,
how much of the losses to personal
property would be covered by your
homeowner’s or renter’s
insurance?
According to Dr. Robert Thee,
extension family resource man
agement agent, the standard policy
will only cover the depreciated
value of clothing, appliances, fur
niture and other personal items
lost in a fire. Depending on the age
and type of item, that could be as
little as a few cents on the dollar of
what you paid when you bought
the item.
But for only a few dollars more
on your insurance premium, you
can have the replacement cost for
personal property instead of the
depreciated value. This may be
especially important for items
which quickly lose their value.
To Check for Perils
Covered by Insurance
Dr. Robert Thee, extension family
resource management agent,
reminds us it is important to know
what your insurance covers.
One important area is the type of
perils covered under your current
homeowner’s or renter’s policy.
For most policies, personal proper
ty is covered for the 18 items listed
under broad form coverage. These
♦ Farm Forum ❖
I *
of minimum pricing there is ab
solutely no basis for the conclu
sion that this bill would in any
way adversely affect the price re
ceived by the farmers.
If the impact on farmers would
be as your editorial suggests, why
is its objective, repeal of minimum
prices, supported in the 1996 Poli
cy Book of the PA Farm Bureau,
the largest state farm organization
and the key one I checked before
introducing the bill? And why did
their dairy specialist offer excel
lent testimony in favor of the bill
at the hearing stating, “The policy
makers of our organization be
lieve that by lowering the retail
milk price, sales of milk will in
crease, and farm profits will im
prove”? Furthermore, at the hear
ing Dr. Robert Yonkers, Associate
Professor of Agriculture Econom
ics at Penn State University, testi
fied that there was no valid evi
dence to support the conclusion
that repeal of the minimum retail
pricing in other states had resulted
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include life or tightening, winds
torm or hail, explosion, smoke,
vandalism, theft and weight of ice,
snow or sleet
By adding a rider, this coverage
may be extended to all perils
except flood, earthquake, war,
nuclear accident and others speci
fied in your policy.
If you are renting and do not
have renter’s insurance, you
should consider this type of cover
age. It is important to review your
policy with your insurance agent to
be sure you have the type of cover
age you need.
To Consider Cover Crops
According to Leon Ressler,
extension agricultural agent prop
er on-farm nutrient management
requires the use of several tools.
These include soil testing, man
ure testing and manure spreader
calibration. Another tool which is
often overlooked but can provide
numerous benefits is the use of
winter cover crops.
Many farmers need to empty
their manure storage units during
BACKWARD OR
FORWARD?
September 22, 1996
BACKWARD OR
FORWARD?
September 22, 1996
Background Scripture:
Jeremiah 7
Devotional Reading:
Micah 6:1-8
It is hard for us to comprehend
why the prophet Jeremiah was so
rejected in his own day. One rea
son is that we find ourselves in
pretty much the same situation as
the one that faced the people to
whom he prophesied. They knew
how to be good Jews and they did
it. They made the right sacrifices
in the temple, they observed the
right holy days, and they lived up
to all those criteria by which peo
ple were judged as true servants of
God.
So, when Jeremiah comes pro
claiming, “Amend your ways and
your doings,” the people are un
derstandably annoyed and even
outraged. What is there for them
to “amend”? Why fix something
that’s not broken? They are the re
ligious orthodox, the mainstream
Hebrews, and the faithful of the
Jerusalem temple. They are proud
to protest, “This is the temple of
the Lord.”
Like those who first heard what
has come to be known as Jeremi
ah’s temple sermon, we too find
our security in being able to say,
"This is a Bible-believing congre
gation!” “This is mainstream, or
thodox Christianity!” Our creeds,
our doctrines, our rituals, or being
“conservative” or “liberal” all
are looked to for protection and
security.
WRONG PLACES
But Jeremiah proclaims that
they are finding assurance in the
wrong places. “Do not trust in
these deceptive words; ‘This is the
temple of the Lord, the temple of
the Lord, the temple of the Lord”’
(Jeremiah 7:4). Jeremiah then ut
ters a phrase to which Jesus will
one day allude; “Has this house,
which is called by my name, be
come a den of robbers in your
eyes?” (7:11). A den was a place
where people could find security
and protection.
the fall season. Winter cover cropi
are a valuable toed to prevail the
loss of valuable nutrients and pre
vent environmental pollution
when this is done.
If you are applying manure to
cropland this fall, plan on planting
a small grain cover crop such as
rye. The rye will take up the avail
able nitrogen and hold it in the
plant preventing its loss to the
water supply.
If the rye is harvested, the nutri
ents will be utilized as high Quality
feed. If the rye is killed or plowed
in the spring, the nutrients will
become available to the following
crop.
The rye will also prevent nutri
ent loss by slowing soil erosion.
Rye may be planted as late as
November. However, the earlier
the rye is planted the more nutri
ents it will take up and the more
yield it will produce in the spring.
Feather Prof's Footnote: "What
happens to a man is less significant
than what happens within him."
So what is the source of true se
curity? Jeremiah says it has no
thing to do with empty religious
observances. “For if you truly
amend your ways and your do
ings, if you truly execute justice
one with another, if you do not op
press the alien, the fatherless or
the widow, or shed innocent blood
in this place, and if you do not go
after other gods to your own hurt,
then I will let you dwell in this
place, in the land that I gave of old
to your fathers forever” (7:5-7).
If you want true security, Jere
miah is saying, you will find it on
ly in living a life that is founded,
not upon material things the
Baals of today—but is responsive
to the needs of others who cannot
help themselves. “Will you steal,
murder, commit adultery, swear
falsely, bum incense to Baal, and
go £(fter other gods that you have
not known, and then come and
stand before me in this house,
which is called by my name, and
say, ‘We are delivered! ’ only to
go on doing these abominations”
(7:9-10)?
STUBBORN HEARTS
Actually, Jeremiah wants to fix
Israelite religion because it is
broken even though the people
do not realize it God is angry with
his people and they haven’t the
slightest idea that he is. To their
forefathers he had said, “Obey my
voice, and I will be your God, and
you shall be my people ... Bui
they did not obey or incline their
ear, but walked in their own coun
sels and the stubbornness of their
evil hearts, and went backward
and not forward” (7:23,24).
That couldn’t possibly be us,
could it we who are so ad
vanced in our spiritual growth that
we don’t have to search for it. Is il
possible that people so enlight
ened as we could be going back
ward instead of forward? Nothing
is more likely to disguise our go
ing backward than the illusion that
we are really out in front
So, is it possible that some
might say of us as Jeremiah said ol
his generation, “They did worse
than their fathers?” (7:26b).
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Bpbrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Bphrata, PA 17522
-by-
Lancaster Fanning, IB®-
A Stelnman Enterprise
Robert G. Campbell General Man'S*
Everett A Newtwanger Managing Editor
Copyright 1996 by Lancaster Farming