AlO-Lmcaster Farming, Saturday, June 10, 2000
OPINION
Ag Biotechnology Benefits
Biotechnology holds too many promises for feeding an ever
growing world to allow scare tactics and unsubstantiated claims
to retard the advances the technology offers.
With the scientific community constantly surveying new prod
ucts, and rendering biotech crops as safe, Americans should em
brace the advances provided by modern technology.
Various federal agencies are responsible for overseeing (bio
tech) products the Environmental Protection Agency, the De
partment of Agriculture, and the Food and Drug Administration.
Farmers and ranchers have great confidence in the judgment
of respected scientific authorities who have the experience and
expertise required to make informed decisions.
Anti-biotech activists have tried spreading doubt about bio
tech’s safety and benefits globally. Yet they haven’t offered a
shred of verifiable evidence that biotech food is unsafe to humans
or threatens the environment.
We are confident that increased evaluation and examination
by experts of the biotechnology process itself and the products
that it develops will permit more rapid consumer acceptance of
the innovations. As good as our system already is, America's
farmers and ranchers welcome the extra emphasis on safety.
We understand the initial consumer concerns regarding bio
tech crops. But we are also confident that consumers are smart
enough to realize many of the alarms sounded regarding biotech
nology are simple unsubstantiated scare tactics.
Biotechnology offers the world too many benefits to be chased
away by the misguided and misinformed agendas of a few activ
ist groups.
The environment benefits through reduced pesticide applica
tions and less energy requirements. Less runoff means even
cleaner water. And soil erosion, already minimal, will be even
further reduced. Fewer trips across a field cultivating or spraying
means less fuel used.
As an example of what the good biotech crops can do, a new
product called “Golden Rice,” developed through biotechnology,
will be higher in beta-carotene than standard rice. This will help
prevent blindness. Golden Rice also will be higher in iron, which
reduces the incidence of anemia.
Here’s a food that gets a headline that says it’s actually good
for you. That’s quite a change from what consumers have come
to expect on food reporting. And Golden Rice will be great for
the people in Third World countries, which was the whole idea
behind its development.
America’s farmers are ready, willing and able to produce en
hanced products of biotechnology. Anti-biotech activism does not
reflect or, as yet, affect American consumer attitudes. The vast
majority of consumers here and in other countries maintain their
faith in the integrity and the quality of America’s food safety
chain.
Dairy Cattle Field Day, Clarks
ville Facility of the Central
Maryland Research and Edu
cation Center, 10 a.m.-12:30
p.m.
Lancaster County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Farm and Home
Center, Lancaster, 7 p.m.
Lycoming County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Nesbitt Fire Hall,
Nesbitt, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 11
Butler County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Clearview Mall, But
ler, 2 p.m.
Bedford County Dairy Princess
Pageant, Arena Restaurant,
Bedford, 1:30 p.m.
Monday, June 1 2
Poultry Management and Health
Seminar, Kreider’s Restau
rant, Manheim, noon.
Mercer County Wool Pool,
Stoneboro Fairgrounds,
Stoneboro, 1 p.m.-4 p.m., also
June 13,7 a.m.-l p.m.
* Farm Calendar *
Tuesday, June 13
SB
LCPA Golf Tournament, Fox
chase Golf Club, 11 a.m.
Oregon Dairy’s Family Dairy
Days, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., thru
June 15.
Southeast Regional Cattle Asso
ciation Spring Outing, Flaggs
Warren Pointe Farm, 5 p.m.
Ephrata Area Young Farmers
Farm and Home Security
Systems, Schantz Farm, Eph
rata, 7:30 p.m.
Southeast Pa. Fruit Growers
Twilight Tour, Skyline Drive
Orchard, Reading, 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, June 14
Com/Alfalfa Crop Walk, John
Piwowar Farm, Uniontown, 7
p.m.
Ohio 4-H Youth Expo, Colum
bus Campus, Ohio State Uni
versity, thru June 16.
Lancaster Holstein Association
Field Night, Trout Spring
(Turn to Pago A3l)
«*<} x -
To Sign Up
Crop Acreage
It is now time to sign up your
crop acreage with your local
Farm Service Agency.
Small grains (wheat, barley,
oats) should be reported by June
15. Remaining crops (com, soy
bean, grain sorghum, hay, and
tobacco) should be reported by
July 15.
This is a voluntary sign-up.
However, as federal government
programs are being developed,
sign-up could be a condition for
receiving payments.
Programs that might require
reporting of acreage include loan
CLIMBING DOWN TO
A HIGHER LEVEL
Background Scripture:
Philippians 2:1-18.
Devotional Reading:
2 Peter 3:8-18,
Faced with writing about our
assigned scriptural passage this
week, I couldn’t help thinking of
a story I heard about an Ameri
can college student who visited
the home of Beethoven at Bonn
and asked for permission to play
on the great composer’s piano.
After playing a few bars of the
“Moonlight Sonata,” she turned
to the guard and said, “I suppose
all the great pianists have played
during their visits here.”
“No, miss,” replied the guard.
“Paderewski was here two years
ago but he said he was not
worthy to touch it.”
I was tempted to turn in this
column with a single sentence
pleading “1 am not worthy to
touch it,” but I didn’t think that
would likely sit well with my ed
itor and maybe even you the
reader. So I will comment on it
with the caveat that I know there
is no way I can do justice to this
passage.
Because of space limitations I
am going to concentrate upon
just one of its themes: the humili
ty of the “mind of Christ”.
Identical Love
Paul is proud of this church
and at the same time is fearful
that it will break apart in fac
tions. So he writes: “. . . com
plete my joy by being of the same
mind, having the same love,
being in full accord and of one
mind” (2:2).
Let me assure you that Paul is
not asking that they think alike.
That was impossible at Philippi,
as at my church and probably
yours.
What is essential for followers
of Jesus Christ? That they believe
deficient payments, disaster pay
ments, and facility loan pay-
ments.
Do not lose your future eligi
bility for federal programs by not
reporting your acreages. For
more information, contact your
local Farm Service Agency.
To Watch For
Hot Hay
Baling hay that is too green
may cause heating. This heating
could lead to spontaneous com
bustion and bum down the hay
storage facility, reports Robert
Anderson, Lancaster County ex
tension agronomy agent.
Hay should not be stored until
the moisture level reaches 20 per
cent or less. At higher moisture
levels, there is a greater risk of
fire.
In addition, hay baled above
that moisture level has a high
risk of becoming moldy and
dusty.
Haylage, on the other hand,
should be put into storage before
its moisture content drops below
50 percent. Depending on the
storage structure, haylage is best
preserved for feed when it is be
tween 50 and 60 percent mois
ture. Haylage with a moisture
content of 45 percent poses a sig
nificant risk of fire.
To Check Hay-
Mows For
Hot Spots
identically? That they worship in >
the same way? That they behave
according to the same moral
standards? No, there will always
be differences of opinion, belief,
and declarations.
There is, however, one thing
which we can and must have in
common: the “mind of Christ”
not the thoughts of Christ, but
that which preceded the
thoughts: the same desire to
know and serve God that was the
basis for all that Jesus taught
and did.
Actually, “being of the same
mind” is too weak a translation
of Paul’s Greek, but there is no
comparable English to convey
the same meaning. Phillips and
the Living Bible render it as hav
ing “the same attitude.”
Others focus on the love of
Christ: “having the same love”
(Alford), “united in mutual love”
(Weymouth), “fostering the same
disposition of love” (Charles B.
Williams) and “live together in
love” (J.B. Phillips).
The New English Bible says,
“Let your bearing towards one
another arise out of your life in
Christ Jesus.” Note that none of
these suggest conformity of
thought, only a conformity of
love.
Each of the people in the
Phillipian church probably
thought that they were doing
God’s work by insisting that
other conform to their beliefs.
They were certainly proud of
doing battle for Christ in these
matters. But Paul shows them
that this is not what Christ wants
nor asks of them. Indeed, he con
trasts the humble attitude of
Jesus Christ whom they think
they are serving with their proud
attitudes.
“We are in the right!” they un
doubtedly assured themselves.
But what a contrast Jesus pro
vides.
Grabbing All
You Can
Unlike Adam who attempted
to grasp equality with God by
eating of the fruit of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil,
Jesus “did not count equality
with God a thing to be grasped”
(2:6).
To be safe from fires, inspect
haymows at least twice each
week during the harvest season,
reminds Robert Anderson, Lan
caster County extension agrono
my agent.
Check for hot spots and
check hot spots for their exact
temperature using a thermome
ter. If -hay temperatures reach
ISO degrees, there is a danger of
lire and a daily monitoring of
hay is recommended. If temper
atures reach 160 degrees, moni
toring should be at four-hour
intervals.
Fire pockets can be expected
if the temperature reaches 175
degrees. You should notify your
local fire department and place
them on standby and be ready
to remove hay. If the tempera
ture reaches 18S degrees, have
the fire department on hand to
put out fires, which may erupt
as hay is taken out of storage.
At 210 degrees, hay is certain
to ignite.
Even with these safety pre
cautions, fires can start and
bams can bum to the ground.
Do not wait until it is too late to
call for help.
You may also want to check
with your insurance company
to see what coverage you have.
Feather Prof, ’s Footnote:
Courage does not always roar.
Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at
the end of the day saying, “J will
try again tomorrow. ”
Maybe the world in which we
live tells us to “grab all you can
while you can,” but Jesus did
not “grab” at power as he could
have. Instead, “he emptied him
self, taking the form of a ser
vant” (2:7). Jesus’ humility was
not a matter of thinking himself
worthless, but of voluntarily
passing up the use of power. He
did not pour out a portion of
himself, but “he emptied him
self,” holding back nothing for
himself as a safety factor.
I like the way William L. Sul
livan puts it: “Genuine humility
does not arise from the sense of
our pitiable kinship with the
dust that is unworthy of us but
from the realization of our
awful nearness to a magnifi
cence of which we are un
worthy.”
Jesus humbled himself taking
the form of a servant and be
cause he did, he was exalted by
God. “Therefore God has high
ly exalted him and bestowed
upon him the name which is
above every name . . .” (2:9).
Jesus stepped down to what
turned out to be a higher, really
the highest level. So he calls us
to humble service, not because
we are worthless or lacking
temporal power, but because in
pouring out our lives willingly
for others, we too will be exalted
with him.
Note: In the Steps of Paul to
Rome & Greece, an 18-day tour
conducted by Larry and Valere
Althouse, is scheduled for April
2001. If interested, please con
tact us: 4412 Shenandoah Ave,
Dallas TX 75205/e-mail: althou
ses@aol.com; fax: (214)
52109312.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
—by—
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stemman Enterprise
William J, Burgess General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Editor
Copyright 2000 by Lancaster Farming