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 <tank.
After properly rinsing the contain
ers, punch holes in them and dis
pose of them at approved disposal
sites. Always read and follow la
bel directions when using pesti
cides.
Feather Prof, 's Footnote:
"Farms do not succeed, people
do."
“this cup” to be taken from him?
Still others will hold that Jesus
died on Calvary because God
willed it for his own cosmic pur
poses. But that would make the
passion and death of Jesus nothing
more than a cruel charade. God
would be the author of the evil that
overtook Jesus at Calvary.
sn
I believe that the reason Jesus
died on Calvary was that, while he
did not seek death, and while his
death was the will of men, not
God, Jesus would not betray his
mission for the sake of saving his
life. The only factors that made his
crucifixion inevitable were his
obedience to God’s call and its
collision course with the terrible
malevolence of those who cruci
fied him.
WHAT’S IT TO US?
So what is so personal about all
of the above? How does it apply to
us as well as Jesus of Nazareth?
The answer we can approach life
with the same obedience that we
see exemplified in Jesus Christ
We don’t seek suffering and we
don’t believe God wills that we
suffer. But there are times when
remaining faithful to the good
news in Jesus Christ leads us to a
cross. As Jesus did, we can experi
ence our crosses with the same
faithfulness and compassion with
which Jesus experienced his. Cal
vary, then, is a very current and
personal message about how to
live faithfully in our world today.
Furthermore, the resurrection of
Jesus is a personal and current
message about living victoriously
in this world of today. The ene
mies of our Lord did their very
worst to him, but the resurrection
proved that their worst was not
powerful enough. Their worst was
not more powerful than his best
That is no less true in our lives to
day!
, The resurrection appearance of
Jesus to Mary also has a contem
porary message for us. Notice that
when Jesus first appeared to her,
“she did not know that it was Je
sus” (10; 14b). Even after Jesus be
gan to talk to her, she didn't re
cognize the Lord, “supposing him
to be the gardener.” It was only
when, instead of addressing her as
“woman,” Jesus said “Mary,” that
she realized Jesus was standing
before her. The resurrection faith
is always and ever a matter of
faith, not scientific logic and testa
bility.
By that faith, the resurrection of
Jesus Christ becomes a very per
sonal message, showing us how to
live victoriously in the very world
we live in today.
Lancaster 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
Everett R. NawewangarManaging Editor
Copyright 1991 by LueuUr Fuming