AlO-Lancaster Fuming, Saturday, March 28, 1998
I‘atMm^waw
OPINION
Acceptance Speech
At the annual meeting of the Mid-American Dairymen’s Asso
ciation in Kansas City, Missouri, this week, our editor was pre
sented with their Salute Award “in recognition of outstanding
service to dairy farmers." Here is his acceptance speech given to
1,200 dairy farmers in attendance at the Hyatt Regency Crown
Center Hotel.
“Many of ypu do not know me, but we all have a common
friend, your own corporate board member, Joyce Bupp, whom
we at Lancaster Farming also claim, as well. Joyce not only acts
as a regular correspondent, she writes the most widely read col
umn in our newspaper entitled “On Being A Farm Wife.” Her
warm personality and great wit make her an excellent advocate
for agriculture.
“I would like to congratulate you on the mergers that have been
made to seed this new Dairy Farmers of America. Your ‘vision of
unity’ will surely serve all dairy fanners across America, and yes,
in all the world. And you will also serve the national economy
and everyone who eats.
“We live in an exciting time. When I was young, corn borers
ate com stalks and leaves. Now we have com plants that eat com
borers. BT com may be the most advanced biotechnology in agri
culture. But we now have calves bom in petri dishes. We have
genetically made cows that give milk with medicinal value.
“Already, BST is antiquated because now you can clone your
40,0001 b. cow and get a whole milking string of her identical self.
I can see the day when you will keep spare cow parts at your local
biogenetic laboratory. When your good cow needs a new udder,
you will just call your genetic engineer and order a new one.
“Seriously, you have truly paid me the greatest national honor
with your Salute Award. This is especially rewarding because it
comes from the dairy fanners of America. You have been so kind
to also bring my wife Ellen and me out from Pennsylvania as your
guests.
“We. along with all truly good agribusiness people, are aware
that everything we do and can accomplish starts with the dairy
farmer who gets up at five o’clock every morning to milk the
cows. I really do appreciate this honor. Thank you very much!”
Pond Management For Irrigation,
Livestock and Recreational
Uses, Cambria County exten
sion, Ebensburg, 9 ajn.-3 p.m.
Public Auction for Pocono Old-
Tyme Farm Equipment Associ
ation, West End Fairgrounds.
Gilbert, 10 am.
Ag Innovation and Safety Expo,
North Harford High School,
Pylesville, Md., 9 am.-2 pm.
Meat Goat Symposium, extension
building, St. Mary’s County
Fairgrounds, Leonardtown,
Md., 9 am.-2:30 pm.
First On The Scene For Farm Fam
ilies, Heritage House,
Brookville.
Fruit Pruning Clinic, Grassy Ridge
Orchard, Noxen, 9 am.-noon.
Holstein Club tour, Roger Brown
farm near Leona, 11 am., Ron
HBHSKHEHH
National 4-H Conference, thru
lehem Township. North Jersey,
Municipal Building, 7:30 p.m.,
also at Mansfield Township
Clarion Days Inn, Clarion, 8:30
ajn.-4:30 p.m.
❖ Farm Calendars
Feeder Calf Marketing Meeting,
First Baptist Church, Port
Allegany.
Delaware County extension annu
al meeting and dinner. Red
wood Community Playhouse,
Upland.
Cedar Crest Young Farmers
Awards Banquet, Schaeffer-
Meeting, Cashtown Fite House
and Twin Springs Orchard,
8:30 am.-2:30 pm.
Backyard Poultry Production,
Berks County Ag Center,
Leesport
Keystone Farm Credit meeting,
Yoder’s Restaurant, New Hol
land, dinner 7 pm.
Farm to Consumer Workshop,
Luzerne County Community
College Conference Center,
on Butterfly Gardening, Carroll
County Ag Center, 7 p.m.-9
p.m.
Buying Your First Computer For
the Farm, Firth Learning Cen
ter, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
Nutrition On Pasture, Lebanon
County extension office, 7:30
pjn.-9 p.m.
Dauphin County Conservation
District Awards Banquet, Dau-
To Learn From Poland
This month I had the opportu
nity to spend 11 days in Poland as
part of a Penn State team conduct
ing a seminar on extension meth
ods and farming. We had the op
portunity to visit several farms
and agri-businesses. I was im
pressed with the progress the Pol
ish farmers have made in the past
eight years. Their extension serv
ice is dedicated to solving rural
problems. They have been work
ing with farmers to leant how to
produce commodities for the mar
ket.
Their goals are 1. not the most
production but the most profitable
production and 2. improve quality
before production. These are two
important goals we need to be us
ing here. The Polish farmers are
learning these goals very fast. If
we are to compete in a global
economy we need to know what
our competition is doing. Quality
is becoming more important in
today's market place. What are
you doing to improve the quality
phin County Ag and Natural
Resources Center, 6:30 p.m.
Keystone Farm Credit Meeting,
Holiday Inn and Conference
Center, Fogelsville, dinner 7
p.m.
Child Care' Provider Training
“Using Arts Materials,” Exten
sion Office, Towanda, 7 p.m.
Parents’ Support Group, Living
Room Behavioral Science
RPH, Sayre, 7 p.m.-8;30 p.m.
4-H Leaders’ Banquet, North
Orwell Community Hall, 7:45
p.m.
Capitol Region 4-H Pre-Teen
Retreat, Doubling Gap Center,
Cumberland County, thru April
Pa. 4-H Leaders’ Forum, Days Inn,
State College, thru April 4.
Information Hearing On Northeast
Dairy Compact, Professional
Development Center, Pa. Col
lege of Technology, Williams
port, 9 a.m.-4 pan.
Financial Success Workshop
Series. Carroll County
Cooperative Extension Service,
also April 7 and 14,10 a.m.-3
pan.
Penn State 4-H Leaders’ Forum,
Pa. Dairy Goat Association,
Logan Grange Hall, Pleasant
Gaa 9 ajn.-3:30 p.m.
9th Annual Forest Stewardship
Workshop, Allen Hall, Man-
(Twn to Pag* A 35)
of your farm's products?
To Know Electric Use
The deregulation or restructur
ing of the electric utility industry
will have a major impact on how
we purchase and use electricity,
according to Dennis Buffington,
Penn State Agricultural Engineer.
In the deregulated environment,
electricity pricing will change.
There will be many pricing op
tions and the decisions will be
more complex.
To be a wise electric shopper
m the future, it will be helpful to
start accumulating a record of your
electricity usage patterns. Docu
ment how much electricity you
use and when you use it. Then
identify what appliances, equip
ment or operations are the big us
ers of electricity. Start thinking
about how you could modify your
load profile so that you are more
WAS JESUS A •WINNER 7
March 29. 1998
Background Scripture:
Mark 8:27 through 9:13
Devotional Reading:
Isaiah 43:10-21
We all want to be winners,
don’t we? If we cannot win per
sonally the lottery, the CEO’s
chair, the best salary then we
want to identify with one a
winning politician, a champion
ship sports team, a celebrity per
sonality.
The problem is the term “win
ning.” How can you know when
you have really “won?"
A few yean ago. on the basis of
Super Bowl victories, the Dallas
Cowboys were regarded as the pro
football “class of the ’9os.” The
last two pro seasons have been a
sad reminder to us that many vic
tories are of very short duration.
Yesterday’s athletic “Super Pow
er” may be next year’s “over-the
hill gang.” Political, business, and
social victories are often just as
fleeting.
So. if we are going to answer
the questions as to whether Jesus
was a “winner” or a “loser,” we
have to decide first of all what it
means to really “win” or “lose.”
And, if it’s not over until it’s over,
how do we know when it’s over?
Winning on the battlefield, the
playing field, the management
ladder or the polls may turn all too
quickly into eventual defeat Simi
larly, to “lose” in any of these
situations could quite possibly
eventuate in victory.
SUFFERING & LOSING
I call this to your attention
simply because what Jesus told his
disciples at Caesarea Philippi
smacks of “losing” in the popular
understanding of today. “And he
began to teach them that the Son
of man must suffer many things,
and be rejected by the elders and
the chief priests and the scribes,
and be killed” (8:31). Apparently
Peter thought so too. for he turned
to Jesus and “began to rebuke
him.”
I can appreciate how Peter felL
All of his life he had had to eke out
a meager living as a fisherman.
Capernaum was a backwater
town. He was uneducated. He be
, longed to a socioeconomic class
that had no share in the political
process. If. in responding to Jesus’
pall he had thought he was throw
attractive to electric suppliers.
Look for steps you may take to
reduce your costs. Also, keep in
formed of changes as they de
velop.
To Look At World
Food Expenditures
According to the Oregon De
partment of Agriculture, no other
country in the world has enabled
its citizens to obtain such a wide
variety of food at such a moderate
price as the United States has. The
average citizen in India spends
52.6 per cent of their income on
food, China 47.8 per cent, Mex
ico 31.9 per cent, Russia 28 per
cent, Japan 18 per cent and France
16.4 per cent. In the United States
we spend 10.3 per cent, the lowest
in the world.
Feather Prof.'s Footnote■
"Yesterday is but a dream. Tomor
row is a vision of hope." '
ing in his lot with a winner, these
words of Jesus certainly have been
a letdown. Besides, until now,
Jesus’ role was increasingly that
of the strong. Son of God, a pow
erful man of divine authority.
How could a man who could cast
out demons become so powerless?
Peter’s reaction was an under
standable human reaction not at
all unlike our own desire to in
some way “be a winner.” Never
theless. it was not in harmony with
God’s will and Jesus’ rebuke to
Peter is among the sharpest retorts
of Jesus ever recorded; “Get be
hind me, Satan! For you are not on
the side of God, but of men”
(8:33).
LINGERING DOUBTS
Why did Jesus react so angrily?
First, although Jesus spoke with
certainty of the passion that lay
before him, it doesn’t mean that he
came to that conviction without
vigorous soul-researching and in
ner deliberation. So, Peter’s words,
to him were particularly unsettling’
in that his disciple voiced some of
the very arguments which Jesus
himself had had to resolve.
Secondly, I believe he ad
dressed Peter as "Satan” because
he was really responding to Satan,
not Peter. The words were Peter’s,
but Jesus knew this was simply the
voice of the tempter whom he had
initially vanquished in the 40 days
and nights in the wilderness.
Not only would Jesus take on
the roll of a suffering servant, that
was what he expected of his fol
lowers as well: “If any man would
come after me. let him deny him
self and take up his cross and fol
low me. For whoever would save
his life will lost it; and whoever
loses his life for my sake and the
gospel’s will save it” (8:34,35). Is
that what it means to follow Jesus
as the Christ: to take on a roll that
die world interprets as that of a
loser?
So. if it’s not over until it’s
over, when is it over? According
to Jesus, “For whoever is ashamed
of me and my words in this adul
terous and sinful generation, of
him will the Son of man also be
shamed, when he comes in the
glory of his Father with the holy
angels" (8:38, my italics ).
Then, and only then, is it over.
Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
- by-
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Steinman Enterprise
Robert G. Campbell General Manager I
Everett R. Hewawenger Menefltng Editor'
Copynfhc 1990 b? Laneaatar Famine