OPINION Foes-For-Us Target Phosphorus We’re not conspiracy fanatics, but we know there is a coordi nated effort to battle highly concentrated livestock operations. It’s been involved in food scares created through purposefully misleading interpretations of science and fact, through paranoia, and in somfe cases through distorting legitimate concern. , The avenues of fear-mongering (a recognized, well-paying occupational niche in the lobbying jungle) have involved pesti cide scares, bacteria scares, and health and beauty scares. What all the poster issues chosen by fear-mongerers have in common are perceptions by the general public of a possible threat to life and health, and the involvement of subject matter that deals with specialized sciences which means subject matter that the general population knows just enough about to know they fear it. Like eating wild mushrooms. So the general public seeks someone in whom to trust Fear-mongering is lucrative for some, especially when attack ing a large industry. And overall, it has become easier to do because real-world cover-ups and lies from established leader ship, government, business and institutions has created a distrust ful! general population that is suspicious of the traditional bearers of factual truth. This being so, it seems that highly publicized concern over phosphorus in poultry and swine manures that now involves a leap of logic that connects Pfiesteria (a human health fear issue) to phosphorus has all the appearance of a professional fear mongering campaign. In fact, it would seem more strange if there weren’t a strong anti-agriculture element involved. There are efforts to get federal government to create across the-board limits on phosphorus applications to cropland as part of its strategy to implement the nation’s Clean Water Act. The EPA is now requiring national discharge permits for large livestock operations, in effect no longer treating agricultural nutrients as coming from non-point sources. If federal control of nutrient management would target and limit phosphorus, it would mean the entire livestock industry would be faced with finding land on which to spread manure. When balanced against nitrogen, most animal manures contain more phosphorus than plants need. This appears to be a battle to control large-scale, integrated livestock production. It is targeted toward poultry and swine facilities, for now, but its affects would be wide-teaching. While Pennsylvania is not considering changing its nutrient management laws to reflect a change from nitrogen being the nutrient of most concern, it is happening elsewhere. Like in Maryland. But just because Pennsylvania’s political leadership is not now considering increasing the regulatory control of agricultural pho sphorus, that doesn’t mean it will not Ft. Daily Logan Grange Hall, Pleasant Gap, 9 ajn.-3:30 pjn. 9th Annual Forest Stewardship Workshop, Allen Hall, Man sfield University, 9 a.m. Wye Angus Sale, Queenstown, Natural Resources Income Oppor tunides On Private Lands Con- fcrcncc, Ramada Inn Conven tion Center, Hagerstown. Md.. April 5-7. 1998 Tractor and Farm Machinery Vhm f, A| April 13. 20; and 27. Tractor Safety, Guthrie Home ition. jp, jgreei pany, Lehigh Valley Distribu tion Center, Bethlehem, 7 pjn.-9:30 p.m., also April 14 4-H County Council Meeting. Extension Office, Towanda, Evening Farm Visit, Penn Stale Cooperative Extension, Leba non County. Lebanon County Spring Promise Sale, Lebanon Area To Call Before You Dig Just a reminder it is the law, you must call before you dig. Be fore you do any excavation or moving soil like digging post holes, footers, buildings, manure storages, etc., make One Call. By making that One Call to contact the Utility Location and Coordina tion Council (ULCC), you can save time, money and maybe your life. The ULCC has a uniform color code which alerts contractors and excavators to utilities in the work area. The council will give you the green light to dig, excavate or move earth. For Pennsylvania, One Call number is 800-242- 1776. For more information on One Call consult your local tele phone directory. To Use Buffer Strips According to Robert Ander son, Lancaster County Extension Agronomy Agent, buffer strips are economical for the farm and good for the environment. Main taining a vegetative buffer strip along streams, water flow areas in crop fields and along roads makes good environmental and economic sense. Properly installed and main tained, these strips reduce sedi ment and nutrients in runoff. Buffer strips protect people, crops, livestock, buildings, wildlife and roads from the effects of erosion. The United States Department of Agriculture has increased its em phasis on buffer strips by launch ing the National Conservation Buffer Initiative. They have set a goal of installing two million miles of conservation buffer strips by the year 2002. With the increase concern on the environment, farmers need to re-exam their farming practices and incorporate time proven soil conservation practices into their farming operations. These include buffer strips and cover crops. The amount of government regulation will depend on voluntary partici pation of farmers incorporating Best Management Practices. To Protect Ground water Corn planting will soon be underway. This means that a large percentage of the pesticides that will be applied this year will be used during this period. Protecting our farm's ground water supply from contamination should be a high priority, according to Leon 3d Annual John DccrcAntiquc P!r“' ~ Management Intensive Grazing (Turn to Pag* A 39) Ressler, Lancaster County Exten sion Agricultural Agent. Follow ing a few common sense guide lines when using pesticides will go a long way towards achieving that goal. First, never fill your sprayer near a well. Choose the water fau cet located the further most from the well for your water supply. If that is not practical, purchase enough hose to be able to fill your sprayer at a safe distance from your well. Avoid spills when mixing. Periodically move the location where you do your IBY LAWRENCE W Al 1H OUSE | ‘isasiys A PERSONAL EASTER MESSAGE April 4, 1998 Background Scripture: John 18 through 29. Devotional Reading: Acts 2:32-39 I read somewhere that, during the days of the Soviet Union, some Russian Orthodox churches were permitted to have Easter ser vices because Communist offi cials reasoned that something so ancient as the Easter liturgy couldn’t have any affect upon the opinions and actions of a handful of worshippers. A contemporary scholar has commented that the Soviets couldn’t have really un-. derstood the meaning of Easter or they would have had to ban it completely. The Soviets and probably many others failed to under stand that the Easter gospel is not just about a startling event that took place almost 2,000 years ago. Properly understood arid experi enced. Easter is contemporary good news about people and situa tions today. More than just a cor porate liturgy, Easter comes to each of us with revolutionary power for this very year, month and day. Part of Easter’s personal mes sage to me—and you—is the re levance of what immediately pre ceded the resurrection: the passion and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ This, too, is not just about a man who suffered unjusdy and was put to death in the third de cade of the first century AD. The crucifixion is about us, too, in 1998. THE STUMBLING-BLOCK The stumbling-block of Christi anity has always been the passion and death of Jesus. Here was a man so spiritually powerful that he could heal disease and cast out demons. Here was also a man so innocent, so loving, yet so de spised by so many. Christians still want to know: why did such a man go to the cross? (If we can under stand that, then perhaps we will understand the crosses in our own lives.) Some may reason that Jesus had no choice, that fate, divine will, providence decreed his death. It is obvious that Jesus could have avoided both Jerusalem and the cross, staying in Galilee or so journing out in the wilderness of Judea. But, if Jesus had no choice, then he would simply be a victim with no power to bring redemp tion to anyone. Others, taking an opposite tack would say Jesus sought to be a martyr. But I don’t believe tha* either. Why would he have prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for mixing. When cleaning the sprayer, rinse it at least three times and spray the rinse water on the field where the pesticide was used. Tri ple rinse spray containers and add the rinse water to the spray