AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 2,2002
OPINION
Target The Tax Issue
Recently we received the excellent newsletter, Farm Economics,
published by Penn State’s College of Ag Sciences. For issue 6 in 2001,
the article spoke about the “important issues facing Pennsylvania
local governments.” Timothy W. Kelsey, Penn State associate profes
sor of agricultural economics, wrote the story.
What are the issues of most concern to local governments?
The top concern: need for local reform of school district taxes.
The survey was done by mail, sent in the year 2000 to 474 randomly
selected Pennsylvania borough and township officials (there are 2,569
local governments in Pennsylvania, by the way).
Of those, 306 responded (an astonishing 65 percent response rate).
Sixty percent of the officials responding noted that reforming school
taxes was a pressing need, coming out clearly on top. Half said re
forming and administration of property taxation and assessment was
a pressing need.
Relatively few officials thought that issues related to spending were
pressing needs.
Another pressing need; preservation of open space and infrastruc
ture issues. But that’s another editorial.
The issue is before us, and has been for quite some time: making
taxation fair. Why should a farmer making $22,000 a year in taxable
income pay a lot more tax for his 100 acres than a lawyer making
$500,000 on his half an acre? Shouldn’t tax be based on income, rather
than property?
This is an issue we hope the new national administration, and an
upcoming state administration, addresses in a serious way. Now, in
light of this recession, could be the best time.
* Farm Calendar ❖
Fa. State Rabbit Breeders’ Asso
cation, Lebanon Ag Center,
also Feb. 3.
Farmer-to-Farmer Workshop,
Baliston Spa near Saratoga
Springs, N.Y., also Feb. 3.
Ephrata Area Young Farmers’
Association Banquet, Mt. Airy
Fire Hall, 6:30 p.m.
Equine Reproduction Short
Course, Mercer County Coop
erative Extension Center, 8:30
a.m.
Beaver-Lawrence Counties
Annual Meeting, Holiday Inn,
Beaver Falls, 7:30 p.m.
Lawrence County Sheep and
Wool meeting, Liberty
Grange, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Editor:
I spent a week this past fall
visiting farms in Holland and
the European Union headquar
ters in Brussels. As 1 had ex
pected, we talked about high
profile issues such as food
safety, mad cows, and geneti
cally modified organisms. But
the discussions I found most in
teresting were about policies
that would save small farms and
preserve the character of rural
areas.
The current member coun
tries of the European Union
(EU) have almost eight million
farms, four times as many as we
have in the United States. As
other countries join the EU, mil
lions more farms will come
under Common Agricultural
Shade Tree Symposium, Lan
caster Host Resort, thru Feb.
5,(215)795-0411.
Fertilizer Institute, Marriott’s
Orlando World Center, Or
lando, Fla., thru Feb. 6, (800)
Expo and
North American Berry Con
ference, Sheraton Imperial
Hotel, Durham, N.C.
Octoraro Young Farmers meet
ing, Octoraro High School,
KeystoneTonTExpoTLebanon
Expo Center, 8 a.m., (610)
285-6519.
(Turn to Page All)
❖ Farm Forum ❖
Policy. Should that policy
demand that these farms “get
big or get out,” the path we have
taken here, or should they try
something else?
I think the answer depends on
what you expect from a farmer.
In the United States, our policies
most often take a fairly narrow
view of what a farmer does;
plant and harvest crops, feed
and care for livestock. Waves of
new technology constantly make
it possible for fewer people to do
these vitally important tasks.
Hence, we hear solutions to the
farm income problem that
would reduce the number of
farmers. In short, we have too
many farmers.
The Europeans I met took a
(Turn to Page A 42)
To Welcome New
Horticulture
Extension Specialist
Dr. Elsa Sanchez recently began
employment as the new systems
management horticulturist in the De
partment of Horticulture at Penn
State. Her appointment is 60 percent
extension and 40 percent teaching.
The primary focus of the position is
the development of horticultural
crop production systems for smaller
acreage or part-time producers. San
chez will be developing programs
concerning alternative or niche
crops, production and management
systems for small farms, and inte
grated crop management.
Sanchez earned a doctorate in hor
ticulture at Washington State Uni
versity and a master’s degree in agri
cultural biology and a bachelor’s in
horticulture at New Mexico State
University. She looks forward to ad
dressing needs of the growers that
farm smaller acreage of horticultural
crops or farm part-time. Sanchez
welcomes your suggestions on project
and needs that you would like to see
addressed. She can be reached at
(814)-863-2433 or by e-mail at
essll@psu.edu.
To Prepare For Hiring
From A Diverse Labor Pool
Dr. Judy Olian, dean of Penn
State’s Smeal College of Business
and a leading expert in strategic
human resources management,
shares some revealing insights from
RUNNING
ON ‘EMPTY’
Background Scripture:
Ruth I.
Devotional Reading:
Psalms 8.
I realize that you may have little, if
any, idea of who or what a Moabite is
and therefore think that the story of
Ruth, the Moabitess, is something
quite foreign to your own life. Actu
ally, no one knows the derivation of
the terms “Moab” and “Moabite,”
but the problem is easily solved if you
read “outsider” for “Moabite.” Many
of us know what it is to be an “out
sider” or to have to deal with them.
The book of Ruth is not so much
about “Moabites” as it is about “out
siders.” Ruth was a woman of Moab,
just one of a number of Israel’s
neighbors. The relationships with
these neighbors was almost always
one of suspicion, hostility, and often
aggression.
Some of this hostility had to do
with the fact that Israel worshiped
Yahweh, while her neighbors wor
shiped a host of pagan deities in
Moab it was Chemosh and Ashtor
chemosh, as well as crude fertility
Lancaster Farming
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the 2000 U.S. census released last
year.
The Census indicates that about
30.5 million of the 273 million resi
dents in the U.S. are foreign-born. Of
these, about 13.5 million entered the
U.S. in the last decade. While new
immigrants come to the U.S. with
more education than in previous dec
ades, about 32 percent do not com
plete high school (compared to 10
percent of U.S.-born students). In ad
dition, immigrants will comprise
more than a third of new entrants
into the work force during the next
decade.
Children of baby boomers, so
called Generation Y, are another
source of growth in today’s work
force; however, these are increasingly
children of low-income families (41
percent), and only 36 percent of this
income group is likely to attend col
lege.
Olian reports another very impor
tant statistic that will impact our fu
ture hiring is that many Americans,
both new and more established immi
grants, are members of non-English
speaking households. From the 2000
U.S Census, 45 million, or 16.5 per
cent, speak a language other than
English at home, and 19.5 million, or
7.1 percent, speak English “less than
very well.”
In summary, there are fewer peo
ple attending college, there is more
diversity in the work force, and an
increasing percentage of the work
force that is non-English speaking.
Olian suggests this means employers
must get into the business of educat
ing. Escalation of skill requirements
for even basic jobs and the increasing
prevalence of non-English speaking
residents will force employers to de
velop language, technical, and ana
lytical skills wherever they find them
even if that means becoming the pro
vider of in-house education. And, to
keep employees’ skills current, to fos
ter loyalty among trained workers,
and to protect them against the pred
atory moves of competitors, employ
ers will have to continuously update
their employees’ skills. To stay com
petitive, it will be ever more impor
tant that employers leverage diversi
ty of every kind in the dominant
category of growth in the work force.
In order to utilize this talent in the
labor pool, providing in-house educa
tion will be necessary.
To Install Water-
Saving Devices In Your Home
The drought conditions in Penn
sylvania continue to worsen as Janu
ary failed to produce a significant
amount of rainfall. It is imperative
gods and goddesses. Israel held them
in disdain because the first Moabite
was believed to be the fruit of an in
cestuous relationship between Lot,
the nephew of Abraham, and Lot’s
own daughter.
Resident Aliens
So it is ironic that an Israelite,
Elimelech, went to Moab with his
wife, Naomi, to live there as resident
aliens. Why? Verse 6 implies that Is
rael experienced a considerable fam
ine. Whereas Elimelech’s home,
Bethlehem, was on the west side of
the Dead Sea, the land of Moab was
on the eastern shore of it, a well-wa
tered and fertile highlands. Elime
lech must have been driven to Moab
by dire economic need. While in
Moab, Elimelech and Naomi had two
sons, Mahlon and Chilion, who,
sometime after the death of their fa
ther, married two Moabite girls, Ruth
and Orpah.
The Book of Ruth opens with
Naomi newly bereft of her sons. In
five short verses we see a significant
change in Naomi. Her name in He
brew means “my pleasantness” and,
given the devotion of her two Moabi
tess daughters-in-law, we may as
sume that her name was indicative of
her personality. But now, an outsider
in a traditionally unfriendly land,
having lost her husband and two
sons, Naomi is bitter and how
could we blame her? First, famine
drove her from her homeland to be
come a sojourner in a traditionally
unfriendly land. Then she lost her
husband and two sons.
Having learned that conditions in
Israel were now improved, Naomi is
determined to return to Bethlehem.
When Ruth and Orpah insist that
they accompany her, she says bitter
ly, “Turn back, my daughters, why
will you go with me? Have I yet sons
in my womb that they may become
that all of us evaluate where we can
save water.
A good place to start is in our
homes. The U.S. Environmental Pro
tection Agency estimates that most
households use 80 gallons of water
per person per day. About 75 percent
of the total water usage occurs in the
bathroom. Making a few plumbing
changes there can cut water usage
substantially without significantly
changing our lifestyle. The place to
start is with your toilet.
Close to forty percent of household
daily water use gets flushed down the
toilet. Conventional toilets use be
tween 5-7 gallons of water per flush.
More modern toilets, which are re
quired in many current building
codes, use about 3.5 gallons per flush.
The most efficient ultra-low flush toi
lets use only 1.6 gallons per flush.
Replacing a conventional toilet with
an ultra-low flush toilet can save 88
gallons per day for a family of four.
That adds up to a whopping 32,000
gallons per year.
If replacing your conventional toi
let is not workable for you, another
alternative is to retrofit the one you
have. A simple retrofit is installing
toilet dams, which cost around $lO
and are very simple and quick to in
stall. Typically these devices are
made of flexible stainless steel coated
in plastic. Since they are flexed, they
hold themselves in place in the tank.
Properly installed dams can save one
to two gallons per flush. Placing a
glass or plastic jug in the tank can
save water as well. Other devices on
the market include the pop flush de
vice and a mini flush device. These
items cost around $2O and save
around two gallons per flush.
Another fixture in your bathroom
that should be upgraded to a water
saving model is the showerhead.
Conventional showerheads use 5-8
gallons per minute. Low-flow show
erheads use 2.5 gallons per minute.
Most of these fixtures use an aeration
device to mix air with the water
droplets, making it feel like there is
more water coming from the shower
head than there really is. In most
cases you will hardly notice the dif
ference, but this can save up to 55
gallons for every 10 minutes of show
ering. These devices are easily install
ed and cost from $lO-$4O. Check the
flow rate on the device you are con
sidering and make sure it is less than
three gallons per minute for maxi
mum savings.
Quote Of The Week:
“When you have an elephant by
the hind legs and he is trying to
run away, it is best to let him run. ”
Abraham Lincoln
your husbands?” (1:11). Her words
contrast sharply with the affectionate
responses and sense of responsibility
with which Orpah and Ruth respond.
They were from Moab, but they were
nevertheless good people.
A Stranger In Bethlehem
Eventually, Orpah returns to her
parental home in Moab, but Ruth re
fuses to be dissuaded and accompa
nies Naomi to her ancestral home.
Now the roles are reversed because,
while Naomi was an Israelite so
journer in Moab, now it will be her
Moabitess daughter-in-law, Ruth,
who will be the stranger in Bethle
hem. Naomi was instantly recognized
by her Bethlehem friends and neigh
bors. “Is this Naomi?” they ask.
But she sets them straight; “Do
not call me Naomi, call me Mara
(“bitter”), for the Almighty had dealt
very bitterly with me. I went away
full and the Lord has brought me
back empty” (1:20,21). While we can
understand the emotions behind this
bitter outburst, we know that Naomi
is wrong. She has not returned empty
to Bethlehem. With loyal and loving
Ruth, Naomi is not and will not be
“empty.”
Many of us, perhaps like Naomi,
have suffered one reversal or loss
after another and come to the con
clusion that God has made us or al
lowed us to become “empty.” Often,
it is only then that we discover that
he has not left us empty but with a
fullness that only grace can deliver
and faith can receive.
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
Andy Andrews, Editor
Copyright 2002 by Lancaster Farming