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' 84-Lahc«ter Farming, Saturday, December 27, 1997
On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards)
Joyce Bupp
With the “end” in sight, it
sepmed appropriate to try to dis
pose of the pile of clippings accu
mulating on the desk. Start the
new year with at least a sem
blance of desk organization.
Yeah. Right.
‘Cause I promptly got hung
up on the first couple of clip
pings.
Topping the stack was an
article about a York County farm
in the center of a controversial
rezoning. From agriculture to
houses. So what else is new?
That, sadly, is what I had
sighed to the Farmer when I
first found the article in a local
newspaper. It did clear up a
puzzling phone message found a
few days earlier on our machine,
too late to respond to because of
another meeting. Attempts to
return the call were not success
ful; my apologies to the caller if
he happens to read this.
Anyway, the proposed rezon
ing would turn some 170 acres of
farmland into about 400 new
houses. The developer claims
the land is not very productive.
Residents of the area are
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protesting because they don’t
want to lose any more of the
area J s rural character.
Member of municipal boards
caught in these no-win, vise-grip
positions between laws and emo
tions have my deepest sympathy
and respect.
Two clippings down came
another of a similar ilk. This
one addressed the pressure
being put of farms in Lancaster
County. (Pick a county around
here, any county, and this prob
lem fits.)
That pressure has landed
Lancaster County on the
“endangered list” of the World
Monuments Fund. I never
heard of it before, but this group
maintains a list of 100 of the
world’s most endangered sites.
If you’ve ever run Route 30
around Lancaster (or York) on a
Friday evening, you may have
felt you had just landed on an
endangered list, too. Definitely
a related side-issue to the whole
land use problem.
The bottom line here is that,
despite the interest in farmland
preservation, there just aren’t
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enough bucks out there to stop
this land erosion from sod to
subdivisions. And, increasingly,
it seems that the focus of that
funding is being directed toward
farms already surrounded or
bordered by houses, roads, and
the problems that come with
those.
Does that really make sense?
Would it not be more feasible,
long-term, to focus the limited
dollars there are on preserving
blocks of more rural, contiguous
farmland, where one can haul
manure or stir up a bit of chisel
dust without irritating 400 new
neighbors?
The day an impatient driver
smacked into the side of a trac
tor our son was legally driving
on the public road left me with
serious, permanent doubts as to
why anyone in the future would
want to farm around ever-grow
ing, people-intense areas, with
hordes of impatient drivers.
That incident gave me “road
rage” before anyone had coined
the term.
Stuck in between these two
articles was the clincher clip
ping. It’s message, that world
population is outgrowing our
food sources.
Well, duh.
Actually, we’ve been reading
those sorts of headlines for the
last-at least-25 years. So far,
the problem has not been with
production, but with distribu
tion. Of food. And of wealth.
Latest statistics I’ve heard on
food costs-in this country at
least-is that consumers in 1996
paid only 11.7 percent of their
income for food. That’s down
from 13.2 percent in 1990. Our
lowball food costs are balanced
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on the backs of the nation’s
farmers who increasingly find
the only answer to reconciling
their bills or having any sort of
retirement program is to sell the
farm and get out. If they can.
One day, friends, we will have
to pay the piper for our cheap
food policy. Or our grandchil
dren will.
SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY
SIZZLIN’ STEAKS
The Sizzlin’ Steaks beef club
had its first meeting on
November 23. It was held at the
home of 4-H leader Joan Stalter.
Julie Stalter opened the meet
ing. Enrollment papers and
books were passed out. The club
earned a certificate for 100% of
project completion and also one
for community service. Club
officers were elected as follows:
president, Julie Staltqr; vice
president, J.J. Paolucci; secre
tary, Jason Corey; treasurer,
Amy Paolucci; new reporter,
Becky Demarest; and county
council representative, Jason
Corey. The members discussed
some different activities for the
IMft
SCHROCK ROVENDALE AG
FARM EQUIPMENT & BARN EQUPM
Route 1, Box 2568 RD 2, Box 210
Oakland, MD Watsontown, PA
301-334-9060 717-538-9564
D. W. OGG
5149 Cap Stine Rd
Frederick, MD
301-473-4250
961 Leister’s Church Rd.
Westminster, MD
410-848-4585
Make food production prof
itable, and farmers of the world
will feed those billions of hungry
mouths. Make farming prof,
itable-and the sod to subdivi
sion erosion will surely slow.
That’s my wish for the New
Year.
I’d hope it might be yours
too.
summer. Refreshments were
supplied by, leaders Joan Stalter
and Ralph Lewis.
Hoofs in Clover
The club had a meeting on
November 5 at the Elk Lake
High School. During the meet
ing members studied the parts
of the horse and talked about
the fund-raiser they would have
at the Springville Women’s Club
Bazaar. They elected officers as
follow: president, Megan
Wescott; vice president, Lindsay
Place; secretary, Carly Epley;
treasurer, Kailey Place; news
reporter, Erin Karpich; game
leader, Heidi Liebegott.
The club members held a
Christmas party on December 7
LUBINIECKI
WELDING
& EQUIPMENT
RD 2, Box 160
Meadville, PA
814-336-3553
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