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OPINION
Cropland Is Unique Ecosystem
Cropland is a unique, essential environmental ecosystem to the
survival of modem man.
Modem man, in this case, is defined as agrarian-dependent.
The world’s truly nomadic cultures are gone. Hunting and
gathering now has little reference to finding wild foods.
In fact, except for a dwindling percentage of wild seafoods
steadily being replaced by coastal aquacultural “cropwaters,” most
humans around the world grow and harvest foods from soils we
call cropland.
Even livestock in high-yield confined housing operations
require a substantial amount of corresponding cropland to provide
the feeds used to raise them for slaughter.
It isn’t all done in greenhouses in growing media.
This is important to recognize because it is cropland, not “farm
land” that comprises the real goal in preserving the open space
being purchased through the state farmland preservation program.
(The Farmland Preservation Program is to get a $43 million
boost this year, thanks to the current state General Assembly, and
this week to Gov. Ridge’s pen.)
It is cropland that can be differentiated from noncropland
because of its production capacity.
And despite die arrogance of some, men did not, and do not,
manufacture cropland. At least not yet.
As far as we can tell, the creation of cropland required the power
that formed the mountains, the oceans, the watercycles of world,
and the atmosphere.
It is time to recognize in public policy that cropland is a limited
natural resource that can be destroyed or nurtured. Those without
control and access to cropland survive at the mercy of those who
control it.
Yet, while we rightly attempt to prevent irreversible damage to
watersheds through the protection of wetlands, we sit around and
talk about lifestyles and pleasant views and keeping farms in a fam
ily when we discuss farmland preservation.
It’s time to recognize cropland for what it is, and to take the mes
sage to the public cropland is an essential element-to an envi
ronment suitable for long-term sustained human existance.
S:ilui(l;i\, .lunc 26
Dauphin County Holstein Associ
ation Twilight Meeting, Cris
singer Daily Farm, Grate, 7
p.m.
First Annual Pa. Herb Festival,
York Fairgrounds, York, 9
aan.-4 p.m.
Crawford County Dairy Princess
Pageant, John and Janellc
Green, Springboro.
Somerset County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Berlin Brothersvalley
High School.
19th Annual Hickory Ridge Anti
que Farm Show, Horace Potter
residence, Milford, Del., thru
June 27.
York County Dairy Princess
Pageant, York County 4-H
Center, Bair, 7:30 p.m.
Greenhouse Growers Workshop,
UMES, Princess Anne, Md,,
Pa. Council of Cooperatives Sum
mer Youth Institute, Shippens
burg University, thru June 30.
Ephrata Area Young Fanners
picnic, Ephrata Park, 12:30
Schools, thru July 2.
Pa. Junior Holstein Judging
School, Adams County hosts.
❖ Farm Calendar ❖
Jeffers Tree Farm, southeastern
Susquehanna County, 7 p.m.-9
p.m.
Pa. Tobacco Marketing Associa
tion Banquet Meeting, Yoder’s
Restaurant, New Holland, 6:45
D.m.
(Turn to Pago A 27)
Editor:
Over the past year I have had
the honor of serving as the
1998/99 Centre County Dairy
Princess. Every since that night
on June 12, 1998, I have been
overwhelmed with the great
opportunities and responsibili
ties that come with the title
which are truly opportunities of
a lifetime.
When I was crowned you
probably wouldn’t have known
that I was the quietest and
shyest young lady, but after hav
ing to appear in front of crowds
of people I now have the ability
to talk, speak, and listen to peo
ple of all ages and gender. One of
To Understand Bt Corn
The long-term effectiveness
of controlling insects depends
on the willingness of farmers
to make sure some of the in
sects survive. This is espe
cially true with some of the
new technologies associated
with genetic engineering, re
ports Robert Anderson, Lancas
ter County extension agron
omy agent.
Entomologists warn that how
long Bt com hybrids will re
main an effective way to con
trol European com borer (ECB)
will depend on farmers’ under
standing and willingness to use
Bt hybrids along with non-Bt
refuge acres to reduce the po
tential of resistance develop
ment in the ECB population.
Bt technology was so effec
tive at controlling the ECB, it
is being adopted at an alarming
rate. First introduced in 1996,
it accounted for one percent of
seed sales and grew to 19 per
cent of sales in 1998. As the
percentage of the com acreage
planted to Bt increases, the po
tential for the insect to become
resistant also increases.
According to Dr. Kevin Stef
fey, University Of Illinois Ex
tension entomologist, planting
a non-Bt refuge is in everyone's
best interest. Everybody loses
if we lose the ability of trans
genic crops to control pests.
If we blow this, we only have
ourselves to blame. The use of
refuge planting to manage in
sect resistance relies on the
theory that if an European com
borer (ECB) does survive in Bt
com field, it will find a mate
♦ Farm Forum ❖
,f . *
jC
< *
the greatest lessons I have
learned in the past year is that
every person is different. They
have all taught me something I
didn’t know before.
As the Centre County Dairy
Princess I have some pretty
amazing tasks. I made a giant
sundae, rode in many parades
and handed out many ribbons,
but speaking to more than 100
Penn State Professors and local
lawyers was difficult, especially
after I informed them that I
wanted to go to Delaware
University instead of Penn
State.
The countless questions and
facts that I have heard and
To Plant
Non-Bt Refuge Areas
i*®
f c/
>/ y * &A
(Turn to Pag* All)
from a refuge area to mate
with. If a resistant borer mate
with a susceptible borer, the
offspring would only carry a
single resistance gene and may
not survive on Bt com the next
year. Without the pool of sus
ceptible borer to mate with, the
resistant borers would mate
with other resistant borers and
continue to produce resistant
offspring.
How much refuge is enough?
Finding agreement on this
question is difficult. One sug
gestion is 20 percent.
To Know
Poisonous Plants
According to Chester Hughes,
Lancaster County Extension
livestock agent, Pennsylvania
has about 100 toxic plants.
Some of these plants arere
sponsible for death of numer-
RETURN TO FOLLY
June 27,1999
Background Scripture:
Genesis 6:5 through 9:17
Devotional Reading:
Deuteronomy 7:7-11
When I read the scriptural
passages for this week, I remem
bered the theme that Winston
Churchill inscribed in Triumph
and Tragedy, the final volume in
his remarkable history of the
Second World War:
How the Great Democracies
Triumphed
and so
Were Able to Resume
the Follies
Which Had So Nearly
Cost Them Their
Life
For those of us who remem
ber World War II and have wit
nessed what has taken place in
the world in 43 years since its
close, the words seem ominously
prophetic. It does seem at time
that we worked so hard, fought
so tenaciously and sacrificed so
much only to resume the follies
which brought us to war in the
first place.
FROM CRISIS TO CRISIS
This, of course, is hardly a
surprise to those of us who read
history. It is the story of the
world from ancient time to the
present: surviving one crisis and
then planting the seeds of the
next one. Each time, we think if
we can only get through this
one, we will never find ourselves
in this situation again. But gen
eration after generation lives
from one crisis to another, usual
ly of our own making.
3SS.
'At
While I don’t believe the
unchanging, unchangeable God
of creation actually “was sorry
that he had made man on the
earth” (can God make mis
takes?), I can understand why it
is said “it grieved him to his
heart” (6:6). The writer of
Genesis here has a hopeless task
in that he is trying to express in
human emotions the mind of
God. He is trying to illustrate
the Great Flood as the conse
quence of the sin and folly of
everyone—with the exception of
Noah. The rest of humanity was
depraved and they seemed to go
from bad to worse. “But Noah
found favor in the eyes of the
Lord.” (6:8).
During World War II our
ous domestic livestock every
year.
Factors contributing to plant
poisoning are starvation, acci
dental eating, and browsing
habits of animals. Wth houses
springing up everywhere, the
rural/urban interface is dramati
cally increasing and many farm
neighbors ate unfamiliar with
the plants that are toxic to
animals.
Following are some common
plants that are poisonous to
livestock and should not be
tossed over the fence to grazing
animals: Garden Iris, Holly,
Morning Glory, Bracken Fem,
Rhubarb, English Ivy, Wld
Cherry, Yew, Oak and Moun
tain Laurel.
Feather Prof, 's Footnote:
"Commitment is the difference
between wishing and doing."
world seemed aptly described by
the story of Noah: “For the earth
is filled with violence” (6:13).
But that is a fairly accurate
description of the world at many
times in its existence, including
today. Corruption, depravity,
licentiousness, cruelty, deceit
and lying are all too prevalent in
our society—at the bottom as
well as at the top. Perhaps we
need to ask ourselves about the
consequences of the way we live
today.
A DIFFERENT WORLD
I have been reading an inter
esting book entitled, How the
Irish Saved Civilization by
Thomas Cahill (Doubleday). It is
a historian’s account of how a
small group of Irish monks took
up the labor of copying all of
Western literature they Could
find to preserve it in this mbst
desperate time when the great
Roman Empire
the weight of barbarian invasion
bringing in the Dark Ages.
Without this effort by the Irish
monks, Cahill says “their world
would have been an entirely dif
ferent one—a world without
books. And our own world would
never have come to be.
In a sense, the Irish monks by
the grace of God provided a
Noah’s ark to preserve civiliza
tion a time comparable to the
Great Flood. There have been
many times in the history of the
world when this same phenome
non has prevailed. I do not think
it chance, but Divine providence.
Perhaps it is the continuing ful
fillment of God’s pledge to Noah:
“This is the sign of the covenant
which I make between me and
you and every living creature
that is with you, for all genera
tions: I set my bow in the cloud,
and it shall be a sign of the
covenant between me and the
earth” (9:12).
As we approach the year
2,000 there are many dire pre
dictions of the end of the world.
We need to look at the rainbow
and remind ourselves of God’s
everlasting covenant. There will
always be an awesome price for
human folly, but God’s redeem
ing love is even greater.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.>
Ephrata, PA 17522
-by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stemman Enteipnse
William J. Burgess General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Editor
Copyright 1999 by Lancaster Farming