AlO-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, July 24, 1999
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OPINION
Earlier this century, when people didn't have it so good,
farmers were honored as the backbone of the nation. This was
especially true when the war in Europe drew U.S. soldiers into
the conflict, and the call went out to American farmers to
dramatically increase food production. In those days farming
was not only a way of life, and a good business, it was a
patriotic occupation essential to the strength of our country.
Farmers were honored along with soldiers for their part in
the nation's defense. For example, Charles Wilson, a farmer
from Chester County was honored on January 7, 1943 at
Indiantown Gap with a "V" award along with farmers from
other counties.
Unlike people in other countries, our people in America
have not experienced famine. Whenever they want food, they
can go to the store. If they have no money they can go to the
store with food stamps. The need for food is not an everyday
experience. Actually, the American population on the average
is so overweight it's obvious they have more food than they
should have.
That's why the anti-agricultural movement in this country is
so disconcerting. Taxes and other laws have already put
restrictions on farmer's ability to farm. Instead of doing
everything possible to help the farmer produce the food the
world needs, the farmer is being discouraged to the point
where many farmers now look only to feed their own family.
The vision to feed those in need in the world is gone.
If farmers were important to the strength of the nation 50
years ago, why aren't they important for the same reason now?
They are! And that's the reason we better wake up. To
criticize the farmer with your mouth full is stupid. With the
farm backbone of the nation in trouble, you can be sure the
economic structure that looks so good on Wall Street has a
hidden weakness that is not evident on the daily rise of the
stock averages to new highs. A word to the wise is sufficient,
as they say.
Sf.yi.sr
Lebanon Area Fair, Lebanon Area
Fairgrounds, thru July 31.
Cecil County Fair Old Time Farm
'1 Cr F
Ichcm, thru July 31.
Maryland Ag Education Founda
tion Picnic and Auction, Swan
Harbor Farm, Havre de Grace,
Jefferson Township Fair, Mercer,
thru July 31.
Kimberton Community Fair, Kim
berton, thru July 31.
Shippensburg Community Fair,
Shippensburg, thru July 31.
Troy Fair, Troy, thru July 31.
Com Herbicide Plots Field Day,
Ken Hyde’s Farm, Titusville,
1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Roundup Ready and Liberty Link
Com Weed Control Test, Old
Trail Rd., Ettets, 7 p.m.
Penn State’s New Milk Marketing
Specialist at York Extension
office, 10 a.m.
Penn State’s New Milk Marketing
Specialist at Shippensburg
High School, 1:30 p.m.
Penn State’s New Milk Marketing
July 29.
Penn State Diagnostic Cline, Penn
State Agronomy Farm,
Rockspring, also July 29.
They Are!
❖ Farm Calendars
» n ' * <
¥* f.
Penn Allied Nursery Trade Show,
Fort Washington Expo Center,
thru July 29.
Farm Market Tour of Four South
western Pa. Farm Markets, bus
departs Harrisburg, arrives
Wexford to tour Soergel
Orchards.
Annual Ag Showcase Day, Cecil
County Fair, Fair Hill, Md., 10
am.
(Turn to Pag* A3l)
Editor:
The future of agriculture is a
subject that brings many
debates with many opinions as
to what needs to be done to
insure a bright future for agri
culture and for the people who
make this their vocation.
People who presently own
farmland have it in their power
to control what happens to farm
land in the future. In order for
agriculture to stay and be
healthy the land prices and
taxes need to be kept low. This
would allow interested young
people to stay with agriculture
instead of going into other fields
where there is better pay and
•u- r:
To Look At Drought
Stressed Corn
The prevailing drought
conditions may adversely affect
the pollination of the 1999 corn
crop. Under normal conditions,
tassel emergence begins in fields
about July 15 and continues to
about August 15. Ideally
pollination occurs by August 1.
About 60 days are required to
mature the crop following
pollination. According to Dr.
Greg Roth, Penn State Agronomy
Department, drought stress affects
ear development and pollination.
In most plants there is internal
competition for vegetative
development, tassel development
and ear shoot development.
With severe drought stress
prior to tasseling, ear shoot
development may be delayed.
This may result in bareness or
delayed silk emergence. If silk
development is delayed
significantly following pollen
shed by the tassels, then
incomplete pollination may occur.
To Evaluate
Pollination of Corn
Silks from the basal portion of
the ear typically emerge first
while the tip silks generally
emerge last. Pollen shed normally
coincides with the silk emergence
and lasts for up to 7 days on an
individual tassel. Because of plant
variability in typical fields, pollen
is sometimes available for up to
14 days. Pollination may be
assessed by gently pulling the
husks off an ear once the silks
have turned brown and then
gently shaking the ear. Those
silks that remain attached to the
ear were not pollinated. Often
these will be the late emerging
silks from the ear tip, but they
may be scattered throughout the
❖ Farm Forum ❖
financial security. This can hap
pen if the present landowners
make the sacrifice by not asking
full price for their properties,
thus helping the young dedicat
ed farm youth to stay with the
farm.
There are programs in most
counties across the nation to
help with the transfer of farm
properties to others interested
in agriculture. Unless the sacri
fice is made for the willing
young who take on a greater risk
and challenge than their peers
in many other ventures, we will
continue to lose farmland to
development.
Being a good steward to the
(Turn to Page A3O)
ear.
Because of the drought
conditions, many fields will be
producing what Robert Anderson,
Lancaster County Extension
Agronomy Agent, calls "hard of
hearing com silage," com silage
without very good years. Silage
producers will have to monitor
com fields closely to determine
when to harvest based on
moisture content of the com plant.
To Estimate Corn Yields
Once the pollination process is
complete, a rough yield estimate
may be made by determining the
average number of kernels per ear
and multiplying it by the plant
population. Multiply the number
of rows by the number of kernels
per row to get the number of
kernels per ear.
Then multiply this number by
EXPENSIVE LENTILS!
JULY 25,1999
Background Scripture:
GENESIS 25:19-34; 27; 1-40
Devotional Reading;
LUKE 16:1-9
Whenever in the past I have
come across the story of Jacob
and Esau, I have tended to side
with Esau because he was obvi
ously the victim of this brother’s
greed and treachery. I have also
often wondered to myself how
God could possibly have chosen
Jacob instead of Esau as the heir
of Abraham and Isaac and the
bearer of his covenant. I thought
God always favored the “good
guys” and opposed the “bad
guys”!
Of course, one of the fallacies
with that kind of reasoning is
that it fails to take into account
that m this story, as well as in
life itself, the line between the
“good” and the “bad” is not as
definitive or actual as we would
like to think. It is hard to make
a “good guy” out of Jacob
although God did!— and equally
difficult to pigeonhole Esau. In
fact, in this story there seems to
be a notable lack of character on
everyone’s part: Isaac favoring
Esau, Rebekah instigating Jacob
against his brother, Jacob vilely
cheating his brother, and Esau
seeming to despise his own
birthright. This is a story nei
ther of angles nor devils, but
something in-between. So, it is
our story, too.
In the first incident, Genesis
25:29-34, we can be so disturbed
over Jacob’s opportunism that
we miss the culpable role Esau
played. The writer tells us that
“Esau despised his birthright.”
What was Esau’s birthright?
Answer; next to life itself, the
greatest gift of a father could
give his firstborn in those
days—a double share of inheri
tance, leadership of the tribe
and the role of bearer of God’s
covenant.
DESPISING YOUR
BIRTHRIGHT
Because of my previous pro-
Esau bias, I have often thought
that the writer of Genesis was
being unnecessarily negative in
saying that Esau “despised his
birthright” I probably would
have edited the sentence to read:
“did not sufficiently value his
birthright.” My dictionary says
that “despise” means “to regard
with contempt, distaste, disgust
or disdain; scorn, loathe” all of
the plant population to get the
number of kernels per acre. Then
divide the kernels per acre by
90.000 to get the yield estimate in
bushels per acre. For example, 16
rows times 20 kernels per row
times 23,000 plants per acre
equals 7.36 million kernels per
acre. 7.36 million divided by
90.000 equals 81.8 bushels per
acre. Yield estimates may be very
useful in making marketing
decisions. Row numbers and
especially kernels per row will
likely be reduced in many fields
because of the drought stress that
occurred while these yield
components were being
determined.
Feather Prof.'s Footnote: "It is
not the amount of time you
devote, but what you devote to the
time that counts."
them powerful verbs and
adverbs. So, was this just a poor
choice on Esau’s part or a much
more serious dereliction?
I am now disposed to think
that Esau may well deserve the
stronger terms, for on closer
examination, it seems to me that
he was very contemptuous of his
birthright, selling it for a pot of
red lentils. Coming in from the
field, he smelled and saw the pot
of red lentils Jacob was cooking
and he just had to have some.
“Let me eat some of that red pot
tage, for I am famished” (25:30)
Actually, the judgement upon
Esau is dependent upon the
meaning of “famished” as he
used it. “Famished” originally
meant “extremely hungry,
starved,” but in popular usage it
is also a way of saying that we
are “very hungry.” There is a real
difference between being on the
point of starvation and simply
being “very hungry.” I have said
at times that I was “famished” or
“starved,” but I just meant that I
was very hungry.
INSTANT GRATIFICATION
So what is Esau’s sin here? It
appears that Esau put his phys
ical appetites above and beyond
important realities. If he had
been truly starving and at the
point of death, the sale of his
birthright would be understand
able. But, if his hunger was not
life-threatening, then we can
understand the writer saying that
“Esau despised his birthright.” He
sought instant gratification with
out any thought of the future. He
treated his valuable birthright
with contempt, valuing it no
more highly than a bowl of red
lentils.
For us, then, this story is as
much about our own choices as
it is Esau’s—the gifts and
graces, the resources, the poten
tial God puts within each of us.
How highly do we value what
God gives us and how easily do
we let these things go when “the
price is right”? His birthright for
a bowl of red lentils was an out
rageous deal! The price he paid
for that brief moment of person
al satisfaction was obscenely
expensive.
And we, what about the price
we pay for instant and fleeting
gratification?
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.*
Ephrata, PA 17522
-by-
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Steinman Enleipnse
William J. Burqess General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Editor
Copyright 1999 by Lancaster Farming