Am wUr fatuity, OcUmt 18, im
OPINION
The Other Side Of The Story
In case you haven't noticed, one of agriculture's former top
spokespersons has gone to the other side. Dr. David Brubaker
from Lititz, who until last spring was an executive official of
PennAg Industries Association, is now the director of the New
York City-based Global Resource Action Center for the
Environment’s Factory Farm Project. In a recent interview,
Brubaker is quoted with many disparaging remarks against the
industry that has for a number of years put the food on his
personal table.
Let it first be said, there is no such thing as a "factory
farm." These are efficient food production units that help
make America the best-fed nation in the world. And even the
delicious ham and bacon they produce has recently been used
in a special diet to help people loose weight.
As for pollution of streams near hog and poultry operations,
the facts often don't match the accusations. In the article,
Brubaker sites the recent floods in North Carolina last month
from Hurricane Floyd as proof that manure from giant
feedlots were responsible for contributing to "toxic, fish
killing plume in stream and ocean waters." What he didn't say
was that every septic tank and municipal sewer in the area was
also flooded out with worse "toxic, fish-killing plume" than
anything the hogs produced. And he also didn't say that in
normal times, the streams that flow by these efficient food
production units in North Carolina are some of the cleanest
streams in the nation.
In Pennsylvania, Wide Awake Farm, a 1,250 sow, farrow
to-feeder farm, near Clearville, in Bedford County, owned by
Purina Mills, has just received the Chesapeake Bay
environmental stewardship award. Their manure storage basin
is lined in the bottom and frequently inspected. They use the
best manure management technology to fertilize the crops on
their farm rather than discharge nitrates into the streams like
many municipal sewage plants do. To be so favorably
recognized, you can be sure Wide Awake Farm is enhancing
the environment with their operation and not degrading it.
The men and women in agriculture are in the forefront of
insuring that we achieve the best balance of safe, efficient,
food production and environmental protection. Members of
PennAg Industries cooperate with federal and state
governments to set standards and rules. They help develop
new techniques for odor control, water conservation,
improved feeds and best management practices to protect the
environment.
As Walt Peechatka, the present executive vice president of
PennAg Industries, wrote in a letter to this editor (Farm
Forum this issue), "The article tried to create a picture of
pathetically drugged animals wedged in giant factory bams. A
tour of a local advanced farm would show that is wrong. The
truth is that these livestock get better care and live in better
conditions than many people do around our globe."
Most livestock live with better nutrition than most people,
and have better health care than you can get from your local
Ayrshire Golden Milk Sale,
Empire Livestock, Dryden,
N.Y.
Wyoming County Sheep and Wool
Producers Association annual
meeting and roast lamb dinner.
United Methodist Church, Ccn-
Beiks County Open House and
85th Anniversary Celebration,
3:30 pm.-9 pjn., Berks County
Ag Center.
AD ADC Dist 14 meeting, Tally-
Ho Restaurant, Kanona, N.Y.,
Annual Dinner Meeting, Eldrcd
Township Fire Hall,
ville, dinner 7 p.m.
Forest Management Program,
(Turn to Page All)
(Continiwd from Pag* A 1)
erinary services who know little
or nothing about animals or vet
erinary medicine. Since the leg
islation was introduced however,
it has repeatedly been pointed
out that alternative healthcare
modalities are not usually found
in the curriculum of veterinary
To Pick Up Farm Show
Catalog
The 2000 Pennsylvania State
Farm Show is rapidly
approaching The show dates for
2000 is January 8 to 13. The
premium lists are now available at
your county Penn State
Cooperative Extension office.
The premium lists provides
you with information on the Farm
Show including rules and
regulations, classes, entry forms,
entry deadlines and tentative
schedule of events. Remember,
several of the classes have
October, November and
December entry dates.
Pick up your Farm Show
Premium List now and plan your
entries for Farm Show. Also,
mark your calendars now and
plan to attend the 2000 edition of
the Pennsylvania State Farm
Show.
To Recognize Environmental
Improvement
According to a report from the
Pacific Research Institute (PRI),
there has been dramatic
improvements in environmental
quality since 1970. Contrary to
public belief, toxic industrial
releases are way down and overall
United States (U.S.)
environmental quality has
improved dramatically since
1970. The 1999 Index is PRl's
fourth annual checkup on the U.S.
environment, which is based on
government data collected over
the past 20 years.
The report makes the
following claims. First, ambient
air pollution levels dropped
significantly between 1976 and
1997.
Second, the releases of toxic
chemicals have dropped at least
one third since 1988. According
to PRI, only two percent of the
cancer cases are caused by
manmade environmental factors
(chemicals) while 75 percent of
all cancers are caused by lifestyle
factors such as diet, tobacco and
alcohol.
arrcns-
Third, the discharges of toxic
metals and organics from point
sources have dropped 98 percent
as
erinarians less qualified to uti
lize those modalities than prop
erly trained practitioners.
During the course of hearings
recently conducted by the House
Professional Licensure
Committee, it became evident
that there is a great deal of
(Turn to Page A 35)
been a 97 percent reduction of
lead in the U.S. air. This was
achieved primarily by introducing
unleaded gasoline and eliminating
lead compounds in paints and
coatings. The report notes the
average blood lead level in
children ages one to five has
dropped 76 percent since 1976
and 83 percent in children ages 6
to 19.
To Look At Land
Conversion
According to a report issued by
the Pacific Research Institute
(PRI), a San Francisco based
think tank, land conversion has
slowed. They say almost 30
percent of the total land area in
the United States is now covered
by forests.
The net growth of trees has
exceeded net harvest every year
since 1950. More than two thirds
fa ~ ■ f
.... IHHUHI^HHI
BY IAWEfNCt W AIINOUSt
‘Hi
mas
sn
YOUR DESERT YEARS
October 17,1999
Background Scripture:
Deuteronomy 1:41 through 2:25
Devotional Reading:
Isaiah 35
How curious! For much of the
time they were in the Sinai
wilderness, the people of Israel
longed to return to Egypt. Once
they had settled in the Promised
Land, however, they forever
looked back to the ‘good old days’
in the desert. True, it had been a
time of great peril and hardship,
but the desert years had also
been a time when they felt they
were very close the the Lord.
A few years ago on a cruise,
we anchored at Sharm El
Sheikh, a resort on the Red Sea
coast of the Sinai peninsula.
From there we journeyed inland
to St. Catherine’s Monastery
and Mt. Sinai, the traditional
site where Moses received the
Ten Commandments. As we
drove through miles and miles of
desert waste, I could envision
the Hebrews plodding through
this inhospitable land. It is easy
to understand how, in this vast,
stark, lonely wilderness people
saw visions and experienced
mysteries of the Lord. There is
nothing here of manmade sights
and sounds to distract the spirit.
So, the desert may have both
negative and positive connota
tions. It is a hard place, granting
few if any comforts. It is also a
lonely place and we often feel
totally miniaturized by its vast
ness. Living here is mostly a
matter of survival, enduring
physical, mental and even spiri
tual deprivation. It constantly
tests us.
THE MIDST OF A CROWD
We can experience ‘desert
years’ without actually going out
into the physical desert. It is
possible to experience it wher
ever we are. One can feel lost
and lonely in the midst of a
crowd. Like the 12 tribes of
Israel we can wander aimlessly
through life, not living so much
as simply surviving.
The wilderness experience,
whether literal or figurative, can
have positive effects. I have
heard more than a few couples
tell me that the happiest years
of their lives were those when
they had to struggle to make
ends meet. As uncomfortable as
these times were, they gave
of the United States deforestation
had occurred between 1850 and
1910. In addition, wetlands to
cropland conversion is decreasing
dramatically. PRI says for every
60 acres of wetlands converted to
cropland annually from 1954 to
1974 only three acres were
converted from 1982 to 1992.
This is an excellent example
people are responding to public
policy and not having their results
reported. Thus, the general public
is operating under the impression
nothing is being done. We need to
be more active educating people
about our successes and the
changes we are making to our
businesses to improve food safety
and protecting the environment.
Feather Prof.'s Footnote:
"Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is a success."
these people a sense of God’s
presence and provision for their
daily needs. God was more real
to them then because they knew
they were so dependent upon his
providence. The Lord’s Prayer
petition, “Give us this day our
daily bread,” meant so much
because they were living day to
day on God’s goodness. Later,
prospering and living in abun
dance, they admitted, they were
less likely to acknowledge God’s
presence.
Lonely as the desert may be,
we are even more aware of God’s
presence. Moses says to the peo
ple of Israel, “Surely the Lord
God has blessed you in all your
undertakings; he knows your
going through this great wilder
ness” (Deut. 2:7). In the wilder
ness it may seem God is more
aware of us and we are more
aware of him. Perhaps we ‘see’
him here because there are
fewer ‘things’ to get in our way.
LEARNING TO TRUST
The desert tests our faith,
just as Jesus was tempted there.
When I arrived in Dallas, Texas
in 19751 was confronted with an
opportunity to continue my min
istry on a fee basis. For all of my
working life I had earned and
lived on a regular salary. The
though of putting myself loose
from a regular salary really
made me fearful. After much
wrestling with God and myself, I
finally told God I would trust
him to make ends meet.
That was almost a quarter of
a century ago and I still marvel
that somehow God always seems
to provide enough for us. The
’7os and the ’Bos were my ‘desert*
years.’ In them I learned to
appreciate what Moses told the
people of Israel in the desert:
“These 40 years the Lord your
God has been with you; you have
lacked nothing” (Deut. 2:7)
The desert years are those in
which we may learn to entrust
ourselves in his hands. That is
one of the hardest, yet most nec
essary things the Christian can
leam. If there are still some
desert years before you, don’t
fight them. They could turn out
to be the best years of your life.
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 Editor
Copyright 1999 by Lancaster Farming