AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 19,2002
%
OPINION
Is Our Future Draining Away?
David E. Hess, Secretary
Department Of Environmental Protection
Water is one of our most precious resources. Yet we know little about how
much water we have and how it is used.
What we do know, and what many people are surprised to learn, is this;
• Drought emergencies have been declared in four of the last six years.
• Some water suppliers lose up to 40 percent of their water between treat
ment plants and the faucet because of old, leaky pipes.
• Average per-person water use has increased from five to 62 gallons per
day over the last 100 years.
• 15,000 new wells are drilled annually, yet no construction standards exist
to protect groundwater.
People suffer when water isn’t available for drinking. Our economy suffers
when water isn’t available for industry. Aquatic life and delicate hydrologic
systems suffer when there isn’t enough water to sustain their natural func
tions.
There is growing concern that what we don’t know about water will hurt
us.
At Water Forums all across Pennsylvania this past spring, hundreds of
Pennsylvanians shared what they thought were the most critical water-re
source issues.
To address these concerns, the Schweiker Administration has outlined a
water-resources initiative that will accomplish four objectives that were rec
ommended at these water forums:
• First, to lav a foundation for future decisions, we need to update the
State Water Plan. We need to gather data on how much water we have, how
it’s being used, and what we’ll need to meet future demand. Legislation is
needed to require the registration of major water users. And a new Water Re
sources Advisory Committee is needed to assist in the planning process.
• Second, we need to use the plan to identify “critical water planning
areas" - watersheds covering multiple municipalities where water demands
now, or will m the future, outstrip available supplies. Legislation should estab
lish a public process for designating a representative government or organiza
tion that will create a detailed area “water budget.” This group should include
all local stakeholders. And an action plan should identify ways to resolve local
water problems with local, regional, state, or even federal resources.
• Third, a new program promoting efficient use of existing water supplies
should address water conservation education and technologies for home and
business use.
• Fourth, because so many people depend on water wells, construction
standards should be established for the siting, construction, and abandonment
of wells. And licensing and education requirements should be established for
water-well drillers.
• Sen. Jim Gerlach and Rep. Art Hershey have introduced legislation (Sen
ate Bill 1230 and Flouse Bill 2230) that addresses exactly these objectives. The
legislation has bipartisan support, and the Department of Environmental Pro
tection looks forward to the first legislative hearings on this important issue
early in the year.
The successful “Growing Greener" Watershed Protection Program has cre
ated unprecedented awareness of water-quality issues. We now have an op
portunity to lay a foundation to address some of Pennsylvania’s most basic
concerns about water resources.
We need to take “Growing Greener” further and promote a watershed
based approach for dealing with water quantity issues.
If we don’t, we could literally see our future drain away.
❖ Farm Calendar ♦
Clarion, Venango counties Hol
stein annual meeting, Wolfs
Den Restaurant, Knox, 7
p.m., (814) 234-0364.
Private Forest Landowners
Workshop on Timber Market
ing, Dauphin County Ag
Center, Dauphin, 8 a.m.-3
p.m., (717) 921-8803.
Bradford County Holstein
annual meeting, Bccman’s
Restaurant, Athens, 11:30
a.m.
Butler County Holstein annual
meeting. Garden Gate Res
taurant, Prospect, 11:45 a.m.
Huntingdon County Holstein
annual meeting, Shavct’s
Creek Community Building,
Shaver’s Creek, 7 p.m.
Wine Business and Marketing
Short Course, Penn State
Conference Center, State Col
lege, thru Jan. 21, (610) 395-
2468 or (717) 394-6851.
Lancaster Farming
An Award-Winning Farm Newspaper
• Keystone Awards 1993, 1995 • PennAg Industries 1992
• PACD Media Award 1996 • Berks Ag-Busmess Council 2000
• Recognized lor photo excellence throughout the years by the
Northeast Farm Communicators
Pa. State Conversation on
Youth Development, Penn
Stater Conference Center, 11
a.m.-4 p.m.
New Holland Vegetable Day,
Yoder’s Restaurant, New
Holland, (717) 354-1522.
James Patches Growers’ meet
ing, Schaefferstown Fire Hail,
9:45 a.m. and 6:45 p.m., (717)
949-3860.
3rd of 3 meetings on Business
Sense, CFO Dairy Manage
ment, Lancaster Farm and
Home Center, 9:30 a.m.-3
p.m.
Southeast Pa. Crops Confer
ences, Lcesport Farmers’
Market, Leesport, 9:30 a.m.-
1:30 p.m. Also Jan. 25, East
Brandywine Fire Hall; Jan.
23, Days Inn, Allentown; and
(Turn to Page A 36)
To Welcome Our New
Regional Poultry Agent
Dr. Gregory P. Martin began his
new assignment as our capitol region
poultry agent Jan. 10. He received
his bachelor’s degree in poultry and
his master’s in business administra
tion from California Polytechnic
University at San Luis Obispo. After
completing his doctorate in poultry
science at Texas A & M, Martin
served several years as the business
manager of the Poultry Science Asso
ciation. Having worked extensively
with computer software applications,
he was responsible for the mainte
nance of the organization’s Website
in addition to handling the daily
management and direction of this
scientific organization.
Proficient in all areas of poultry
production, Martin has worked in
every phase of the industry. From
packing turkeys to mixing feed to
managing a layer operation, he has
been educated by academic study of
poultry science as well as hands-on
industry training. A member of
CAST, Gamma Sigma Delta Agri
cultural Honor Fraternity and Blue
Key, Martin is an experienced teach
er. He is a member of several profes
sional organizations and served as
the adviser to the Texas A & M Poul
try Science Club.
Martin is also active in writing and
has several publications to his credit.
In addition, he has written and de
veloped four types of computer soft
ware some specific to the agricul
tural business needs. He will be
working out of the Lancaster County
WORSHIPING THE
RIGHT WAY
Background Scripture;
Isaiah 58.
Devotional Reading:
Isaiah 58:10-14.:4-9.
Back in the 19605, when much of
Christendom was in a renewal fer
ment, I was invited by a local Roman
Catholic’s convent to participate and
preach in their midweek mass. Com
ing from a more or less informal
wing of Protestantism, 1 was rather
concerned about participating in
their mass in the “right way.”
On the appointed day I dug out
and dusted off my clerical color and
vest. I was determined that I would
do whatever I was going to do in the
“right way.”
The appointed hour of mass was
noon, and I arrived at 11:30, so that I
could adequately prepare myself. But
I waited alone in the vestry until sev
eral nuns with guitars and tambou
rines smiled at me as they passed
through. At 11:56 a.m. a young man
in a crew sweater a priest, I
learned came bustling into the vestry.
“Rev. Althouse, I presume?” he
said, not too unlike Spencer Tracy
greeting Dr. Livingston in darkest
Africa. Nodding nervously, 1 cut to
the chase: "What am 1 supposed to
do?”
Extension Office and can be reached
at (717) 394-6851. In addition to
Lancaster County, Martin will be
working in Lebanon, Dauphin, York,
Cumberland, Franklin, and Adams
counties.
To Provide Proper Winter
Feed For Beef Cows
Dr. John Comerford, Penn State
Extension beef specialist, tells us
there are three basic factors which
need to be considered when one eval
uates the winter-feed requirements of
beef cows. First, one needs to consid
er the impact of temperature on the
maintenance energy requirements of
the cows. The requirements increase
by about 1 percent for each 1 degree
Fahrenheit (F), below 32 degrees F.
The energy for maintenance of beef
cows in the last 'A of pregnancy is
about 11 megacalories per day. With
an air temperature in dry air and no
wind of 22 degrees F, there will be a
10 percent greater energy require
ment. The extra 1.1 megacalories of
energy needed at this temperature is
equivalent to about one pound of
com or two pounds of orchardgrass
hay.
The second factor one needs to ac
count for when adjusting feed energy
is wind chill. For example, if the
wind chill is zero F, then the cow re
quires 32 percent more energy. This
is about 3 pounds of corn or 5-6
pounds of orchardgrass hay.
The final factor that impacts feed
needs is whether an animal is wet.
This is the most important condition
to consider, since when the animal
gets wet the hair and hide lose their
insulation capacity. The rule to use
when the cattle are wet is to use 59
degrees F as the starting point and
change the feed needs by 2 percent
for each degree below 59 degrees F.
For example, if the cattle are wet and
the wind chill is 9 degrees F, the en
ergy requirement is 100 percent high
er. This is equivalent to feeding an
additional 20 pounds of corn or 40
pounds of hay to a cow each day. Ob
viously, most cows could not con
sume enough feed to keep them at
maintenance under these conditions,
so they will start losing body condi
tion. Building a windbreak or shelter
from the rain is both economically
feasible and is good animal husband
ry-
To Earn Pesticide
Update Certification Credits
Robert Anderson, Lancaster Coun
ty agronomy agent, reminds us the
time of the year is here to obtain
those needed pesticide-training cred
its. Information on when and where
the training meetings are held is now
available on the Internet as well as by
phone.
“Oh,” he exclaimed airily, “we’ll
just wing it!”
And we did. All my expectations
about what Roman Catholics
thought was the “right way” to wor
ship were substantially changed by
that experience.
An Obsession
Still, over my years in the church I
have observed that lots of people
have an obsession to discover and af
filiate with “the right way” to be a
Christian. For some, that means fol
lowing a certain liturgy or order of
worship, including or excluding vari
ous elements and practices, 3nd
building a house of worship in a pre
scribed manner. For others, it is a
matter of believing the “right be
liefs,” subscribing to various doc
trines, and articulating our faith in
the words of this or that creed.
This is the issue in Isaiah 58. The
people purportedly complain to God
that he has not responded to their
fasting: “Why have we fasted, and
thou seest it not?” Is there something
wrong with our technique? But the
prophet quickly lets them know that
it is not technique but their motiva
tion and the fruits of it. “Behold, in
the day of your fast you seek of your
own pleasure, and oppress all your
workers. Behold you fast only to
quarrel and fight and to hit with
wicked fist” (3b, 4a).
So how shall they fast in an ac
ceptable manner? Actually, it is an
amazingly simple answer that Isaiah
gives them: “Is not this the fast that I
choose; to loose the bonds of wicked
ness, to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free, and to
break every yoke? Is it not to share
your bread with the hungry, and to
bring the homeless poor into your
house; when you see the naked, to
cover him ... ?”
Pointing The Finger
How we love to make Christianity
difficult, complex, and academic but
Computer users who use the web
to get information can now find pes
ticide update training meetings listed
on the Web at http://
www.pested.psu.edu/frame.html.
Once you are at this site you select
the specific core or category credit
you need, select the PDA Region
most convenient to for you to attend
a meeting, then click on the search
button. After a short time for the
search to be completed, your screen
will show a table listing date, title,
number of credits, location, and con
tact name and telephone number for
more information.
A phone with a Faxback system is
available for those who don’t have a
computer but do have a fax. Use the
phone on your fax to call (814)
865-1632. After a short welcome to
the system, you will select the pesti
cide information by pressing a 1. The
voice prompt will then ask you to se
lect the PDA region you are interest
ed in. PDA Regions are numbered
from one through seven, and eight is
used for out of state meetings. Lan
caster and surrounding counties are
in Region 6. After making your
choice, the voice prompt will then tell
you to press the start button on the
fax machine. The fax will be on its
way.
If you have only a phone, you can
get information from Oct. 1 through
March 31 by calling
1-800-PENN-IPM (1-800-736-6476).
You must have a touchtone tele
phone to operate the system. When
the phone is answered, a voice
prompt will then ask you to select
“1” for pesticide information. The
prompter then asks you to select the
PDA region you are interested in. See
above for more details.
The voice prompter will then ask
you to select the core or category that
you are interested in. Core will be
listed as 00 and categories are 01
through 25. After you have made all
your selections, the voice will begin
reading the meetings in alphabetical
order by county in the region select
ed. They will be listed chronological
ly in each county by date. You will
get the date, number of credits, and
contact telephone number for each
meeting.
Anderson suggests if you need pes
ticide update training begin early to
And out where meetings are avail
able. As the winter progresses the
number of meetings declines. Very
few meeting are available in late
March.
Quote Of The Week:
“A word aptly spoken is like
apples of gold in settings of sil
ver. ”
Solomon (Proverbs 25:11)
Isaiah tells the people that the
“right” way to worship and serve
God is remarkably easy to under
stand; “If you take away from the
midst of you the yoke, the pointing of
the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if your pour yourself out for the hun
gry and satisfy the desire of the af
flicted, then shall your light rise in
the darkness..(vs. 9,10).
I have known many churches that
have closed their doors because of
disputes over the “right beliefs” and
“right practices,” but never any con
gregation that dissolved because it
poured itself out for the “hungry,”
sacrificed itself for “the afflicted,” or
spent too much helping the “op
pressed go free.” (If you know of one,
let me know).
I am not saying that beliefs, doc
trines, creeds, and liturgies are not
important, but that, unless they re
sult in sharing your bread with the
hungry, they have become a danger
ous and hypocritical substitute for
true Christian discipleship. It does
not so much concern me that there
are lots of Christians who articulate
their faith differently than I do. I am
pained that these words keep follow
ers of Jesus Christ from sharing the
same bread and cup and prevent us
from working side by side in “the
right way” to serve God.
Lancaster Fanning
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
Andy Andrews, Editor
Copyright 2002 by Lancaster Farming