AlO-LancMter Farming, Saturday, May 10, 1997
OPINION
Freedom To Farm
America’s fanning communities are coming alive with pre
parations for spring planting, and they reflect a spirit of opti
mism not seen in decades. Farmers have had a taste of freedom
under the “Freedom to Farm” law, and they like it. This land
mark measure—one year old this month swept 60 years of
government-mandated land idling programs such as annual
acreage set-aside programs, and micro-management of Ameri
ca’s farms.
Growers may now plant for dynamic U.S. and global mar
kets rather than a government program and are reaping
the benefits. Farm income and export sales both set record
highs in 19%, and another strong year is forecast for 1997.
Farmland values continue to rise, and the value of farm assets
relative to farm debt is the best in years.
Communities and businesses that depend on a robust farm
economy from farm suppliers, crop handlers and transport
ers, and food processors, to rural Main Street businesses are
operating at higher levels of capacity and profitability. Food
manufacturers and exporters, in particular, are now getting the
crop varieties in the volumes they need to serve customers, and
they are paying premium prices to growers.
The environment also benefits under the new law. Elimina
tion of nearly all planting restrictions permits farmers to adopt
more crop rotations, which cuts soil erosion and reduces the
need for chemicals, while presenting opportunities for longer
term gains in productivity.
And the general public benefits. Consumers can expect to
pay a declining percentage of their disposable income on food
now that the government is out of the business of manipulating
farm commodity prices. The Agriculture Department plans to
cut up to 20 percent of its vast work force that is no longer
needed to administer programs, and taxpayers will no longer
bear the uncontrollable expense of faim entitlements which
have been replaced with capped, declining payments over sev
en years.
Paying fanners not to farm never did make much sense. The
achievements of the new law make you wonder why it took so
long to dump the old law.
Problem or Unbroke Horse Clinic,
Penn State University Ag Area,
State College, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
thru May 11.
Western Pa. Sheep and Lamb Sale,
Mercer 4-H Park.
Capital Area Beekeepers’ Assoc.
Short Course, Dauphin County
Agricultural and Natural
Resources Center, Dauphin, 8
Landscape, Fulton County
Bank and Trust Theater Build
ing, McConnellsburg, 7 p.m.-9
Eastern Region FFA Leadership
Conference, Ephrata High
School, Ephrata, 1 p.m.-8 p.m.
Managing Your Septic System,
Fulton County Bank and Trust
Theater Building, McConnells-
duction to the Llama, New Bol
ton Center, Kennett Square, 7
p.m.
Pa. Fair at Phila. Park. Bensalem,
Stuart Hardy
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
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❖ Farm Calendars
thru May 26.
Strawberry Twilight Tour, Wye
Research and Education Cen-
Salurdax, M;n 17
Children: A Kaleidoscope of
Opportunity, Lebanon Career
and Technology Center, 9
a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Mercer County 4-H Market Lamb
Weigh-In, Mercer 4-H Paik.
Idlewild Ruritan Plow and Field
Day, Bridgeville, Del., 9 a.m.-4
p.m.; raindate May 24.
Pa. Emu Farmers Association
Annual Spring Seminar, Farm
and Home Center, Lancaster, 9
a.m.-5 p.m.
Mastersonville Volunteer Fire
Company All You Can Eat
'reakf; ' Fire G Man-
Moiuhn, Mil) l l >
Using Green Cleaners In The
Home, Fulton County National
Bank and Trust Theater Build
ing, McConnellsbuig, 7 p.m.-9
pjn.
Lancaster County Honey Produc
ers Association meeting, home
of Barbara and Dale Beiler,
Strasburg, open hives 6:30
p.m., meeting 7:30 p.m.
To Tighten
Up Biosecurity
The Avian Influenza (AI) virus
is still circulating in the area.
This past week we had another
confirmed case on a commercial
poultry farm.
We need to raise our level of
biosecurity. This includes limiting
access to poultry houses to only
care takers and necessary service
people. All other people, including
children, neighbors and relatives,
should not being entering poultry
houses.
Keep out dogs, cats, and wild
animals. Make sure all equipment
is washed and disinfected before
being used on the farm. Try not to
share equipment, tractors, manure
spreaders, etc. between farms.
Keep all poultry houses locked
at all times. Develop and keep a
daily log of people entering your
farm recording date, time, purpose
of visit and their most recent visit
or stop before your farm.
. This virus should be easy to con
trol if we limit the people traffic.
By practicing excellent biosecurity
practices now, you could be pre
venting a large economic loss
tomorrow.
To Call
Before You Dig
According to Columbia Gas,
you should call Pennsylvania’s
One Call service before you build,
landscape (planting a tree, shrub,
etc.) or dig.
Your call will alert utilities to
look for and notify you of under
ground utility lines or facilities.
The Utility and Coordination
Council has a uniform color code.
This code alerts contractors and
excavators to utilities in the work
area.
The color code is:
• Red electric lines, cables,
conduit and lighting cables.
• Yellow —gas, oil, steam, pet
roleum or gaseous materials.
• Orange communication,
alarm or signal lines, cable or
conduit
Farm Financial Standards Semi
nar, Carroll Community Coi-
tion Spring Sale, Mercer 4-H
Park.
Water Conservation Wellhead
Protection Seminar, Fulton
County National Bank and
Trust Theater Building,
airgroui
(Turn to Pago A3l)
• Blue water, litigation and
slurry lines.
• Green sewers and drain
lines.
• White
excavation.
If you or your contractor hits
any of these lines, the results can
be very costly to you. In Pennsyl
vania, call 1-800-242-1776.
Remember, costly problems can
be avoided with One Call.
Glenn Shirk, Lancaster County
extension dairy agent, states for
best fly control results, implement
prevention and control measures
early before flies become a serious
problem.
Once fly populations build up,
they can he very difficult to
control.
The best prevention is to elimi
nate their breeding sites. Keep
areas clean, dry and sanitary.
Clean up feed spills. Prevent buil
dups of manure in pens and in the
BY LAWRENCE W AITHOUSE
Background Scripture:
Revelation 7
Devotional Reading:
Hebrews 9:7-14
What is at the end of life’s
road?
That’s a question we all ask in
one way or another. Essentially
there are only two possible an
swers. From our own personal
perspective, either death is the end
of our existence or just the begin
ning of life. To put it in a broader
frame of reference, either God’s
will prevails or chaos and destruc
tion await the universe.
That is also the perspective of
the Book of Revelation.
Just as John or Revelation sees
a scroll of seven seals, so, as each
seal is broken, he views a succes
sion of fearful visions and tribula
tions. By the end of chapter six,
six seals have been broken and six
tribulations have been forseen.
But before the seventh and fin
al seal is broken, there is a kind of
intermission during which the four
winds of destruction are halted
momentarily before the seventh
and final drama of the world’s
destiny. During this intermission
144,000 people are sealed or
marked for protection against the
demonic powers to be unleashed
with the seventh seal.
A SYMBOLIC NUMBER
Once again, I advise you to take
John’s testimony as a vision and
not an eye-witness report of the
end of time. Revelation is filled
with symbols, not statistics. Even
the number of the redeemed,
144,000, is a symbolic number.
Like 7, the number 12 stands for
completeness. That is why there
were twelve tribes of Israel and
twelve apostles.
In the vision there are sealed
12.000 from each of the twelve
tribes of Israel. Thus, the number
144.000 signifies not that there
will be only that number re
deemed by the Lord, but that none
of the redeemed will be excluded
or forgotten.
That the number 144,000 is to
be taken symbolically rather than
literally is indicated in the fact that
John’s listing of the twelve tribes
is different from other listings of
i. also May
proposed
To Control Flies
f @Q!3!Li
sn
AT THE END
OF THE ROAD
May 11, 1997
comers of alleys and cow lanes.
Flies cannot breed in dry or wet
manure. They do breed in damp
manure packs and in the damp
interface layers where manure
crusts meet the liquid phase. Per
iodic agitation of manure pits may
help prevent the formation mk
damp interface layers. wi
Good ventilation helps to keep
manure packs drier. Once flies
arrive, use a variety of control
measures. These include livestock
sprays and dusts, oral larvacides,
residual sprays, quick knock down
bam misters, baits, sticky tapes,
traps, parasitic wasps, etc. When
using insecticides, comply with
label instructions.
Because flies may build up
resistance, use insecticides judi
ciously. Be sure to alternate
between different types of
materials.
Feather Prof.'s Footnote:
"Attack every problem with enthu
siasm ... as if your survival
depended upon it.” "
them in the Old Testament—sub
stituting Manasseh, Joseph’s son,
for Judah, his bother. (One schol
ar says that there are twenty differ
ent listings of the twelve tribes in
the Bible.)
WHITE ROBES
So, before the redeemed get to
the end of their road, they are as
sured of God’s salvation, even
though they must yet endure the
tribulation that comes with the
breaking of the seventh and last
seal. “Who are these, clothed in
white robes, and whence have
they come?" asks one of the eld
ers. And the answer “These are
they who have come out of the
great tribulation; they have
washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb”
(7:13.14). M
What possible relevance
John’s vision have for us? Al
though I believe John had in mind
a particular historical tribulation,
nevertheless we can identify with
those in his vision who are attired
in white robes and hold palm
branches. Like them, we have not
reached the end of the road. Like
them we face our own tribulations,
our own temptations to dispair and
surrender. Like them, we cannot
see to the end of the scroll that
promises us, along with them, that
we will stand “before the throne of
God” serving him, that we “shall
hunger no more, neither thirst any
more,” that we “shall hunger no
more, neither thirst any more,"
that the Lamb will be our shepherd
and guide us “to springs of living
water” (7:15-17). g
Yet, we, too, can share in thfl
promise that, at the end of the
road, stands the God who will
“wipe away every tear Grom then
eyes.” And, although the seventh
seal remains to be broken, we can
go on down the road knowing that
what lies at the end of it is good
(The Althomes will walk in the
footsteps of Paul and John of
Revelation, leading a tour to Tur
key next Oct. 17-Nov. 2. For in
formation: “Turkish Delight,"
4412 Shenandoah Ave., Dallas,
TX 752051(214) 521-2522.)
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday 1
Ephrata Review Building
IE. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
-by-
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Steinman Enterprise
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Everett R. Newawangcr Managing Edltoi
Copyright 1997 by Loneotltr Forming