AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 16, 2002 OPINION Editor’s note for all Guest Editorials: Please keep in mind that the opinions of the writers don’t necessarily agree with the editor’s. For the benefit of our diverse readership, we strive to provide a balance of opinion in Lancaster Farming. Guest Editorial By Senator Noah W. Wenger 36th Senatorial District Lancaster and Chester Counties Senate Majority Caucus Chairman Recently, there has been much discussion regarding Senate Bill 1413 in this publication as well as other media outlets around the commonwealth. Many of the positions expressed attempt to “formida bly instruct” readers as to why this bill is “so dangerous to the demo cratic process.” Additionally, these opponents are claiming that this legislation is dangerous because it seeks to destroy “family farms” and “strip local control.” The leaders and catalysts of those opposing SB 1413 claim they are here to defend agriculture and will use any tactics to see the defeat of this legislation. Well, I would love to spend the next several paragraphs refuting these claims and reemphasizing the fact that this legislation would not even be necessary if there were not several local governments here in the commonwealth that have decided to ignore the democratic process and pass ordinances that directly violate state law. I would love to task the reader to sit down and write a definition of a family farm. What is it? If everyone who reads this would send in their definition, I venture to say I would get as many diverse definitions as Pennsylvania is di verse in our agriculture economy. Family farms come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and successfulness. I think a family farm is a family that Saturday, November 16 Nittany Lion Holstein Fall Class ic Sale, Ag Arena, State Col lege, 11 a.m. Montgomery County 4-H Equine Awards Banquet, 4-H Center, Creamery. Southwest Pa. Woodland Grow ers’ Association Field Trip, (724) 627-6624. Editor. First let me say that I am a member of the Pennsylvania As sociation for Sustainable Agricul ture (PASA). This is the organi zation that Brian Snyder is the executive director of. I am proud of my association with this organization. How To Reach Us To address a letter to the editor: • By fax: (717) 733-6058 • By regular mail: Editor, Lancaster Farming P.O. Box 609,1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 • By e-mail: farming@iancnews.infl.net Please note: Include your full name, return address, and phone number on the letter. Ixmcaster Farming reserves the right to edit the letter to fit and is not responsible for returning unsolicited mail. . . , Vice Chairman of the Senate Agriculture And Rural Affairs Committee (Turn to Page A4l) 's-vsr”" r v ♦ Farm Calendar ❖ ,vV A A „ Benefit for Ben and Annie Eber sole Family at Airville Com munity Fire Hall, York Coun ty, and at Holtwood Supply, Rt. 372, Holtwood, Lancaster County, (717) 456-7372. Mercer County Holstein annual meeting, Hempfield Fire Hall, Greenville, 7:15 p.m. Second, let me also say I am a farmer whose only source of fam ily income is from the farm. We live in an area that is changing dramatically and expansion of the farm to include my children is seemingly hopeless. Somedays I think we should have a billboard erected that says, “Beware This is a real farm.” So I can understand and respect the positions offered by Walt Peechatka. Thirdly and most important I am a member of my commu nity. I have a vested interest in all the development that occurs here and the effect that it will have on the quality of life in my commu nity. Two important factors in the quality of life include clean air and water. I am not willing to sacrifice the loss or risk that po tential loss to the expansion of ‘ 4 > - (Turn to Page A 39) (Turn to Page A4l) To Continue To Conserve Water Gov. Mark Schweiker reduced the drought emergency declaration for Lancaster County to a drought warn ing recently. However, we still have a serious rainfall deficit and we are a long way from replenishing our groundwater supplies. In October we had 6.36 inches of rain, 3.36 inches above normal. For 2002 this still leaves rainfall 8.40 inches below normal. More serious is the cumulative rainfall deficit over the last five seasons. Going back to January 1998, Lancaster County has suffered a rainfall deficit of 42.16 inches. Forty-three of the last 60 months have been below normal in rainfall. Surface water flows have im proved with the recent rains. On Nov. 4, the Susquehanna River at Safe Harbor had a flow rate of 23,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) compared to a seasonal normal of 28,900 cfs. The Conestoga River at Lancaster was above the seasonal normal of 209 cfs with a flow rate of 287 cfs. Surface water flow rates tend to respond more quickly to rains than groundwater levels but they drop more quickly as well after the storm flow passes. So while we are no long- : v - WHOSE FAULT? Background Scripture: Ezekiel 18. Devotional Reading: Romans 6:17-23. The book of Ezekiel is an ancient text, but the problem in chapter 18 is very contemporary. In Exodus 20:5, God says to Moses: “... for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” In Ezekiel 18:20, God says through the prophet: “The soul that sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himsejf, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” For generations, the Hebrews, largely on the basis of Exodus 20:5, believed that the sons of several generations would have to suffer for the sins of their father. But Ezekiel was saying that the reverse was true: Lancaster Farming An Award-Winning Farm Newspaper • Keystone Awards 1993,1995 • PennAg Industries 1992 • PACD Media Award 1996 • Berks Ag-Business Council 2000 • Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the Northeast Farm Communicators er under a drought emergency, we need to continue to work hard to re duce water consumption in every as pect of our operation. To Clean Up Waste Plastic On Our Farms Before the weather turns colder we have an opportunity to pull up any remaining plastic mulch in our fields and recycle it. This is a good time to clean up other waste plastic on the farm, in cluding bale wrap, silage bags, trench silo covers, plastic mulch in horticul tural production, and shrink-wrap for palletized supplies. Burning this waste plastic in open fires is an unacceptable disposal method since it creates a tremendous amount of pollution both as partic ulate matter in the smoke and as pe troleum by-products left by this low temperature burning. This material is again being col lected and baled in Lancaster County for use in the production of plastic lumber. The bales of recycled plastic material will be hauled to the Trex company factory in Virginia for this purpose. There it will be mixed with waste wood chips and sawdust to produce a product for use in plastic decking. The waste material is being col lected at the Dan Zook farm at 183 South Farmersville Road in Leola. Any polyethylene product will be ac cepted, which includes' plastic mulch, agricultural plastic bags, bale wrap, silage covers, greenhouse covers, and shrink-wrap. Materials that are not acceptable include plastic twine, row covers, molded plastic such as green house trays and pots, milk jugs, and pesticide or other containers. A $3O-per-ton tipping fee will be collected when the material is deliv ered to the farm. This is less than half of what it would cost to take the material to the municipal incinerator in Lancaster County. If you have a collection of waste plastic, take the time to remove it while the opportunity is still avail able. Call Dan Zook at (717) 656-4422 to make arrangements be fore delivering your material. This will insure you can be unloaded in a quick and efficient manner, saving time for all. To Enroll In The New Crop Insurance Plan Called AGR-Lite Most producers across Pennsylva- sons shall not suffer for the sins of their parents, nor parents for the sins of their children. Which represents the mind of God? Not Which, But Both I believe that we might say that both represent God’s word to us. We know with a certainty that one generation may have to suffer be cause of the deeds of a previous one. A child bom out of wedlock may suf fer because of the act of his mother and father. If you are brought up in the home of an alcoholic, it cannot help but shape your life. These, and many more, are the natural consequences of the way we live and the things we do. The child of the alcoholic suffers, not because God has imposed a pun ishment, but because die alcoholic parent has poisoned his or her family life. The problem with thus attributing our present circumstances is that it breeds irresponsibility. Sometimes you hear, “I am what I am because someone else made me this way.” That is one of our problems today: no one ever seems responsible for any thing. When did you last hear any one say, “I was absolutely wrong and 1 take full responsibility”? At the same time, we also know that it is unthinkable to us to believe that God will punish the unborn for the sins of a parent. There may be natural consequences to what the parent does, but the relationship be tween God and the offspring will not be damaged. God will not hold the offspring accountable for the sins of a previous generation.. That would be unfair. nia will have the opportunity to buy total farm revenue protection for 2003. The new pilot insurance plan, named Adjusted Gross Revenue-Lite (AGR-Lite for short), has the poten tial of providing meaningful crop in surance protection for virtually all lands of crop and animal production for the vast majority of Pennsylva nia’s 59,000 producers. The plan was developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agri culture (PDA) and approved as a new insurance plan by the USDA’s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Oct. 22. This is a new opportunity for Pennsylvania producers, which was the result of cooperation between PDA and USDA according to PDA Secretary Sam Hayes Jr. Under this plan, all crops and ani mal production including by-prod ucts (that is, milk production) can be protected with one policy and only one set of historical records (as op posed to writing a policy and coming up with actual production history re cords for each crop). This increased simplicity will make it easier for pro ducers to understand their options and improve enrollment decisions. The policy is limited to a maximum protection of $lOO,OOO annually; therefore, the target market will be to farms with a five-year average of $200,000 or less of gross sales. AGR-Lite premiums will be re duced significantly by cost-sharing funds from USDA and the Pennsyl vania state crop insurance assistance grants that pay 100 percent of the fee and about 20 percent of the produc er’s net premium. Whole farm coverage will make the producers more credit worthy be cause many lenders will recognize the increased loan security of an as signment of loss proceeds of this plan. Enrollment deadline is Jan. 31, 2003. Purchase will be made through approved insurance agents. However, producers are reminded that pro gram details to make individual quotes are not expected to be avail able before early December, because this is a new program. More produc er information will be made available as details are finalized. Quote Of The Week: “You are only as good as the people you hire. ” Ray Kroc (Founder of McDonalds) Is God Fair? Ezekiel is helping us to see this problem from the perspective of par adox: two apparently conflicting per spectives on the truth, both of which must be acknowledged. Remember that there are often natural conse quences of what we do and say and very often God does not spare us those consequences although we can always count on him to see them through. At the same time, we are re sponsible for ourselves alone in our relationship with the Lord. In other words, we may have to pay a price for the sins of our parents or others, but maintain a saving rela tionship with the Lord. Ezekiel lays it out clearly: 1. The righteous person shall live by God’s grace (18:5-9). 2. The wicked offspring of the righteous parents shall die (18:10-13). 3. The righteous son of the wicked son shall live (18:14-20). 4. The wicked man who becomes righteous shall live (18:21-24). This is probably the best news of all, for it means it is never too late for us to take responsibility for ourselves, repent, turn, and live righteously. If we turn to God, we are not only free of our family past, but of our own. If there is something wrong with our lives, the acts of our forebears may have set us on a particular road, but we cannot blame them because nothing keeps us on the wrong road but ourselves. Ultimately, it is our fault, but also our opportunity to let God transform our lives. Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 —by— Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Slßinman Enterprise William J. Burgess General Manager Andy Andrews, Editor Copyright 2002 by Lancaster Farming
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