AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 10, 1999
OPINION
Food, the Ultimate Economic Power
The nation’s producers for years have known that con
centration in agriculture had permeated every notch of the
food chain, affecting opportunities from production inputs to
global trade. But according to Erika Hovland writing in the
March issue of National Farmers Union News, a new study
for the first time documents the highly complex web of rela
tionships among the major players in the food sector, offer
ing a glimpse into the future of the industry and the threat
it poses to America’s system of independently operated
farms and ranches.
“When you look at the acquisitions firms make and their
working relationships—joint ventures, alliances, side agree
ments —you see that a large number of these firms are con
nected to a lot of others and you say ‘Now wait a minute.
Just how much competition is there out there?’ It certainly
isn’t what we think of as a lot of independent firms out there
competing in the marketplace.” said the study’s author, Dr.
William Hefiernan, a professor of rural sociology at the
University of Missouri.
The study shows how an explosion in the new types of
working relationships among companies has led to the for
mation of a complex corporate family tree—a network of
firms organized into “clusters” that control the food system
from the gene to the supermarket shelf. The industry’s three
major clusters—Cargill/Monsanto, Con Agra, and
Novartis/ADM—are loosely based on the same formula: they
link interests in biotechnology, grain trading and process
ing, and meat production and processing to form a nearly
complete food chain.
It’s the sheer complexity of this emerging structure that
raises red flags about the true degree of market competition
in the industry. The elaborate nature of the relationships
between firms reduces transparency, and means that even if
a company does not hold a majority share of a specific mar
ket, it may still have great decision-making power within
the food chain. It’s that kind of penetration that makes the
effect of the web of alliances so difficult to measure.
The ramifications of the emerging “cluster” system are
far-reaching for producers, rural America, and for the
nation’s consumers.
“One of the most troubling implications is the threat to
farmer’s independence,” NFU President Leland Swenson
told lawmakers at a recent House Agriculture Committee
hearing. “The dominance of a few major firms limits a pro
ducer’s ability to earn a fair return. But the new structure
also is bringing a major shift in decision-making from inde
pendent producers to just a handful of corporate executives,”
he said.
A related theme running through the study is how the
new trend toward corporate “families” may transform the
role of a producer from a manager into a laborer. And tech
nological advances, such as the so-called terminator gene
and precision farming, are accelerating this process.
Biotechnology and the terminator gene have put farmers at
the mercy of the “cluster” that patents the seed, leaving
open the possibility that producers in the future may never
even own the commodities they grow. Moreover, precision
farming’s global positioning system separates management
from production by making it possible for “managers” in dis
tant offices to make day-to-day decisions about the farm,
while producers are simply hired hands.
But farmer’s aren’t the only ones who will feel the pinch.
“Rural communities also lose out because corporate returns
routinely are reinvested in the firm, rather than in local
economies where the goods are produced,” Swenson noted.
There are concerns that the movement toward a private
ly centralized food system may put U.S. food security in
great jeopardy. “Congress needs to start asking the tough
questions to determine what direction the industry should
be taking, and whether it’s wise to continue to allow consol
idation to go on unchecked,” said Swenson.
Some argue the proliferation of alliances, marketing
agreements and partnerships between firms in agriculture
is simply following a natural trend seen in other industries.
But as Heffernan points out, “These are issues of food and
not just agriculture and rural problems... Food is a necessi
ty, and it is needed on a regular basis. Those who control the
global food system have the ultimate in economic power.”
To Recycle Pesticide
Containers
The Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture will collect
pesticide containers for recycling.
Containers must be cleaned
before they will be accepted.
During the months of May, June
and July, farmers may drop off
clean pesticide containers at
locations in selected counties on
certain dates.
All plastic pesticide containers
must be triple rinsed or pressure
rinsed and free of all visible
products (inside and outside) in
order to be accepted for recycling.
Only HDPE#2 plastic containers
will be accepted. All containers
(55 gallons or smallerO will be
accepted whole.
Bulk tanks will be accepted
only if cut in manageable pieces.
Large drums and bulk tanks must
also be triple or pressure rinsed in
order to be accepted. Only plastic
containers that held pesticides,
crop oils, surfactants, sanitizers or
fertilizer are acceptable. Other
plastic containers (anti freeze,
motor oil, laundry or dish
detergents, milk bottles, etc.) will
not be accepted.
Containers may only be
dropped off at an open and
attended site. The department will
examine all containers at the drop
off site. Unclean containers will
be returned to the owner. For
further information contact your
county cooperative extension
office or The Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture at 717-
787-5206.
To Pay Yourself First
Adapt P.Y.F. (Pay Yourself
First) as your new motto. Dr.
Robert Thee, Lancaster County
Extension Housing and Resource
Management Agent, recommends
you take ten percent of your take
home pay each month and save it.
The earlier you begin this
practice, the sooner it will become
a habit. Paying yourself first
means you delay your satisfaction
of meeting today's needs and
wants and using these funds to
satisfy tomorrow’s needs and
wants.
Paying yourself first means
that. Before spending any of your
income, a portion of it will be set
aside for the future. The savings
will grow into an investment fund
in which money works for the
family by earning interest, then
the savings and interest earned is
available to achieve future
income.
To Start Saving
When it comes to saving
money for the future, retirement
saving usually is put on the back
burner, and falls behind paying
day to day bills and other big
ticket items like replacing a car,
according to Dr. Robert Thee,
Lancaster County Extension
Housing and Resource
Management Agent.
But saving for retirement
should begin as early as possible.
Look at your household budget
Can you trim your personal
spending in order to save for
retirement? Perhaps cutting back
on eating out, buying clothes,
taking vacations and paying for
services you could do yourself
will yield some dollars for
savings.
Some people view retirement
as a welcomed extended vacation,
■-*■ *y~J
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IS •SEEING ’
‘BELIEVINGI
April 11, 1999
Background Scripture;
John 20:19-29
Devotional Reading:
Mark 9.14-24
I’ve always thought that the
Apostle Thomas has gotten a
‘bum rap’ from many people who
have judged him from the com
fort and safety of 20/20 hind
sight. Without justification, I
believe, he has been saddled
with that unfortunate sobriquet,
‘Doubting Thomas’ and held as a
negative example of how not to
respond to the Good News.
Then, in John 11:16, when
Jesus resolves to go to
Jerusalem, Thomas’ response is
one of both pessimism and
intense loyalty and courage. In
John 14:5, when Jesus assumes
that the disciples know the ‘way
to the Father’s house,’ Thomas
alone is humble and honest
enough to confess that he does
n’t know what Jesus is talking
about. Are we to assume he was
the only one who didn’t ‘know’?
Consider Jesus’ reaction to
Thomas on these two occasions.
He was not angry, impatient or
disappointed with Thomas. In
fact, his expressed doubts gave
Jesus the opportunity to clarify
what he was saying. When, at
last, Thomas does understand,
he is one of the most loyal disci
ples
THE OTHER ELEVEN
We need to look at the other
eleven apostles on the night
when Jesus first appeared to
them. Were they a group of fer
vent believers waiting for Jesus
to appear? No, John tells us they
were meeting behind locked
doors “for fear of the Jews ”
(What fears put us behind closed
doors?) They were in hiding
when “Jesus came and stood
among them and said, ‘Peace be
with you Having heard those
words, did they jump up and
greet him joyfully 9 John doesn’t
say that. Instead he says that
Jesus then showed them “his
hands and his side ” “Then the
disciples were glad when they
saw the Lord” (20:20).
Notice, too, Jesus’s message
“ Peace be with you.” Twice he
says this because he knows that
shattered by sorrow and despair,
they have been without peace in
their hearts (20 19, 21). Is that
not what we often need to hear
him say to us, too - “Peace be
with you”? Most of the negativi
ty that haunts my life comes
from fear And fear often mani
fests itself as hostility, faithless
ness, and despair. I have no
quarrel with those who con
without money worries. But often
retirees are faced with trying to
make ends meet on an inadequate
monthly income from Social
security and their savings. The
need to build your retirement nest
egg is vital to give your
investments adequate time to
grow.
Feather Prof, 's Footnote
"Happiness is not a state to arrive
at but rather, a manner oj
traveling "
stantly pray to be saved from
the Devil For me, it is enough to
be saved from my fears. With
Christ’s peace m my heart the
Devil doesn’t stand a chance.
When Thomas enters the
room where the rest are in hid
ing, they tell him, “We have seen
the Lord.” It is then that
Thomas speaks those words that
have marked him through the
centuries: “Unless I see in his
hands the print of the nails, and
place my finger in the marks of
the nails, and place my hand in
his side, I will not believe”
(20:25)
Once again Thomas is open
enough to admit his doubts
What the other apostles were
asking him to believe was the
very thing that up until his
appearance before them they
had not believed either! The con
sequences of this belief are pro
found' Jesus was crucified,
buried, but he has risen from
the grave and was here with
us! That is so earthshaking in
its implications that no one
ought to accept it simply
because someone else says “We
have seen the Lord.”
“UNLESS I SEE..."
Their experience can open
the door and point the way for
us, but each of us must be able
to say with Thomas, “Unless I
see... I will not believe.” The res
urrection of Jesus can mean
nothing to any of us unless we
too can say that in some way we
also have ‘seen’ the Lord. The
resurrection is too vital, of too
great consequence, for us to
accept it as a second-hand belief
Jesus appears to the apostles
again, but this time Thomas is
with them Instead of rebuking
Thomas for his reaction to the
report of his fellow apostles,
Jesus invites him to actually
touch his wounds. Note that
John does not tell us that
Thomas accepted Jesus’ invita
tion. Apparently, without touch
ing Jesus’ wounds, Thomas now
personally believes he too has
seen the Lord and, quite unlike
his fellow apostles on their first
encounter with the risen Christ,
he exclaims, “My Lord and my
God!”
Still not rebuking Thomas,
Jesus says. “Have you believed
because you have seen me 9
Blessed are those who have not
seen and yet believe” (20:29). We
do not have to ‘see’ Jesus physi
cally, but we do have to
encounter him spiritually and,
when we have, we join Thomas
in proclaiming, “My Lord and
my God'”
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
-by
Lancaster Farming, Inc
A Steinman Enterprise
William J. Burgess General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor
Copynght 1999 by Lancaster Farming