AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 29, 2003
OPINION
Art Of Listening
We’ve been to many dairy meetings during the winter. One thing
we've seen in common: if you want to survive as a dairy farmer, you
have to run your farm as a business. It’s a business first, a farm sec
ond.
For the older generation, that might not be too much of a problem.
Probably the biggest impediment to any kind of success, however, is
simply refusing to listen.
For the older generation farmers, that refusal to listen may start in
the milking parlor, the tiestall, or at dinnertime. It’s especially true
when those who have trained to be dairy farmers in college bring ideas
home with them about conducting the business, and the parent/
owner/operators simply tune any new ideas out.
1 think the older generation, time and again, may have to relearn
how to do the business by accepting newer practices adopted by the
younger. This art of listening can go both ways, too. The younger
generation may not only have to ask why things are done the way they
are, but learn exactly why they got that way in the first place (without
getting the typical response such as “Hey, Grandpa and Dad did it
that way, and that’s the way it goes.”)
Any business has to keep an open ear and a searching mind. Even
in the newspaper business, we are looking for ways to improve our
production and profitability. We have budgets to adhere to and we
have to think up (sometimes ingenious) plans to make ends meet, too.
Families conduct their own life on a business principle.
How else are you supposed to do it?
This newspaper has a lot more special projects and sections to be
published this year. Check out the front page of our Website at
www.lancasterfarming.com. The farm economy is diversifying, and
the family farm is far from what it once was.
We will be announcing several brand-new components of this news
paper in the weeks to come. Watch for them!
Saturday, March 29
Deer Density and Carrying Ca
pacity Workshop, Black Mo
shannon State Park, (814)
355-4897.
Bradford-Sullivan County Dairy
Day, Harlan Rowe Junior
High School, Athens, 9:30
a.m.-3 p.m., rescheduled from
Feb. 17, (570) 265-28%.
Horses 2003 Conference, Rutgers
University's Equine Science
Center, thru March 30.
Vermont Apple Tree Pruning
Workshop, Hubert Outdoor
Center, Fairlee, Vt., 9 a.m.-
noon, (802) 333-3405.
DVC Green and Gold Holstein
Spring Sale, Delaware Valley
College, Doylestown.
Monday, March 31
Holmes, Wayne County Grazing
School, Part 2 of 3, Mrs. Yod
er’s Kitchen, Mt. Hope, Ohio,
10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., (330)
674-3015.
How To Reach Us
To addiess a letter to the editor:
• By tax. (717) 733-6058
• By regular mail:
Editor, Lancaster Farming
P.O. Box 609,1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
• By e-mail.
farming@lancnews.infi.net
Please note Include your full
name, return address, and
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Lancaster Farming reserves the
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* Farm Calendar ❖
Horses 200 Industry Summit,
Rutgers University Equine
Science Center.
Emmaus Farmers’ market meet
ing, Emmaus Borough Hall,
Emmaus, 7 p.m., (610)
965-6279.
Basketry Exhibit, Historical So
ciety of Berks County, thru
June 21; Tuesday-Saturday 9
a.m.-4 p.m., Reading, (610)
375-4375.
Tuesday, April 1
Phosphorus Index Training,
Myers Farm, Centre County, 9
a.m.-4 p.m. also April 3.
4-H Tractor Safety Course, Berks
County Agricultural Center,
Leesport, Deer Creek Equip
ment, Oxford, April 1,3, 8, 10,
12,6:30 p.m.-9;30 p.m.
Nutrient Management Info for
Dairy Farmers, Edgewood
Restaurant, Troy, 11 a.m.,
(570) 265-2809.
Pricing Milk for a Profit part 2,
Clarion County Park, exten
sion office, 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m.,
(814) 782-0033.
Public Conflict Resolution Work-
shop, Lancaster Farm and
Home Center, Lancaster, (717)
394-6851.
Small Farm Dream Class, April
1,8, 15, 22, New England
Small Farm Institute, Belcher
town, Mass., (413) 323-4531.
Pa. Deer Overpopulation Lec
ture, Redwood Community
Playhouse, Camp Upland,
Upland, 7 p.m., (610)
690-2655.
Public Conflict Workshop, Get
tysburg Agricultural and Nat
ural Resources Center, (717)
334-6271.
Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit Annu
al Shareholders’ meeting, Del-
(Turn to Page A3B)
To Explore Cheese-Making
As An Alternative
Income Source
A dairy economist in Penn State’s
College of Agricultural Sciences said
some dairy farmers in Pennsylvania
may have to think outside the milk
carton to survive in today’s tough
market. With milk prices extremely
low and feed prices high because of
the drought that parched crops last
summer, operators of small dairy
farms across the state are being
squeezed.
Some are looking frantically for
new sources of revenue to keep their
businesses afloat, and Ken Bailey, as
sociate professor of agricultural eco
nomics, has an idea make cheese.
Not the bland, mass-produced
American and mozzarella churned
out in places such as Wisconsin, but
perhaps an earthy guda, a tangy feta,
or an extra-sharp cheddar with a
taste specific and peculiar to the re
gion of Pennsylvania where it is
made.
Before you scoff at this suggestion,
Bailey noted, consider the micro
brewery craze that swept across the
country and revolutionized the beer
making business in the last 20 years
WHO WOULD
JESUS BOMB?
Background Scripture:
Mark 7:1-23.
Devotional Reading:
Psalms 51:10-17.
Valere and I have traveled around
the world, visiting churches, syna
gogues, mosques, temples, and other
places of worship. Even among the
Christian sites we have visited there
is an amazing diversity of architec
ture, ritual, and practice. It is diffi
cult to imagine that all of these dif
ferent beliefs, practices, and styles
are all part of the same faith.
Usually, these divergent factors re
sult from a blend of faith and cul
ture.
There is nothing wrong with this
great diversity of beliefs and prac
tices with two important excep
tions. One of these is thinking that
our brand of Christianity alone is the
“real thing,” and the second excep
tion is to forget to distinguish what
represents the will of God and what
is devised by human mind. These are
deadly viruses that can infect the
Church, destroying it from within
rather than from without.
Lancaster Farming
An Award-Winning Farm Newspaper
• PDA Friend of Agriculture Award, 2003
• Keystone Awards 1993,1995 • PennAg Industries 1992
• PACD Media Award 1996 • Berks Ag-Busmess Council 2000
• Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the
Northeast Farm Communicators
or so. He believes the same thing
could happen with cheese. Not long
ago, Bailey explained, dominant beer
brands such as Budweiser and Miller
had the market cornered and there
weren’t many alternatives. Then
small breweries started cropping up
all over, making distinctive-tasting
fermented beverages in small
batches.
To be sure, the microbreweries will
never displace beer giants such as
Anheuser Busch but many brands
have earned uncommon customer
loyalty, and through niche marketing
they sell thousands of gallons of beer
annually. Bailey believes “artisanal”
or “designer” cheeses could have the
same sort of market impact, and he
said Pennsylvania being the fourth
largest dairy-producing state in the
nation with many small herds and
dairies is in an ideal position to be
on the cutting edge of the trend. The
term “artisanal” comes from the
word artisan, or craftsman, and re
lates to the skill needed to make ex
ceptional cheese.
“I’m not suggesting that we try to
compete with Kraft in the cheese
business we couldn’t,” Bailey said.
“But if you look at the cheese indus
try, it is all moving out West. Im
mense factories use huge volumes of
milk and make low-cost cheese. Only
two cheeses in this country are made
in great volume, American and moz
zarella, with most of the latter going
on pizza. Most of the cheese made in
the United States is bland and bor
ing. There is a tremendous opportu
nity for Pennsylvania dairy farmers
to make distinctive, aged cheeses.”
Dairy producers in other states are
investigating this concept, too,
according to Bailey, who noted that
dairy farmers in Vermont have ban
ded together to create a cheese asso
ciation, and cheese from several dif
ferent farms can be purchased on its
Website.
“I think there is a market out
there for really good farmstead
cheese artisanal cheese made in
small batches,” he said. “In Eastern
Europe, farmers have three or four
cows and make cheese at home. They
take it to nearby markets to sell and
the locals prefer it because the im
ported brands of cheese are too ex
pensive.”
In Mark 7, Jesus is opposed by the
scribes over the washing of hands be
fore eating. The Jews, of course, did
not know about bacteria in those
days and could not appreciate that
this practice was also good physical
health measure. In their day it was
purely ceremonial and symbolic. The
practice in itself was probably a good
way of disciplining their Hebrew
faith. The problem, however, was
that they failed to realize that this
practice was not the heart of their
faith. So they challenged Jesus,
“Why do your disciples not live
according to the tradition of the eld
ers, but eat with hands defiled?”
Human Precepts
Jesus’ response was based upon a
passage from Isaiah 29:13, “This
people honors me with their lips, but
their heart is far from me; in vain do
they worship me, teaching as doc
trines the precepts of men” (7:6,7).
What can happen with any prac
tice, belief, or ritual is that we invest
it with divine authority when, at best,
it represents precepts, human under
standing of that authority. This legal
istic approach makes it easier, be
cause by keeping the minutia of our
faith, we can more easily ignore
God’s commandments.
The precepts of human beings can
easily become a substitute for God’s
commandments. People are often
rather dogmatic about “the right way
to worship,” giving their method
more energy and concern than the
reality behind that method. Another
example was the Church’s response
to Galileo, the brilliant 16th century
scientist, who demonstrated Coperni
cus’ theory that the earth revolves
around the sun, not the reverse. The
Inquisition labeled this theory heresy
Bailey believes Americans will
consume more cheese now that scien
tists and doctors have realized that
eating cheese is healthy.
“Americans are unsophisticated
about cheese as compared to the
French and other Europeans,” he
said. “Europeans eat much more
cheese and they eat many more vari
eties. The European consumer is
much more discriminating when it
comes to cheese. But when the econo
my improves in this country and
Americans’ taste for cheese matures,
the market will take off.”
The question is, Bailey points out,
how can small dairy farmers get into
the farmstead cheese business?
“Farmers must craft cheese in a low
cost way and keep marketing costs
low,” he said. “Cheese cooperatives
and farmers’ markets might be the
answer.”
To Scout Alfalfa
Fields That Were
Under Slush And Ice
This Winter
The recent hard winter weather,
for the most part, has been a benefit
for agriculture.
Lancaster Agronomy Agent Bob
Anderson explains the extreme cold
and deep-freezing of the soil will
probably have a very beneficial effect
on soil structure, which has contin
ued to be more compacted over the
past several warm winters. The cold
likely will result in reduced insect
pest numbers for the next growing
season as well.
One negative aspect of the winter
weather was that low-lying fields
were under water, slush, and ice for
extended periods of time. This is a
particular problem for alfalfa. Alfalfa
needs to continue the respiration pro
cess even during cold weather, and
those ponds of frozen slush did not
allow'that to happen. Usually when
alfalfa fields have prolonged ice
cover, the alfalfa winter survival is
low. Check these fields after greenup.
You may need to rotate into corn or
another crop after first hay cutting.
Quote Of The Week:
“He who never walks except
where he sees other men’s tracks
will make no discoveries. ”
Author Unknown
and Galileo had to back down. How
many other teachings, rules, and con
cepts are regarded as orthodox truth,
when in fact they are little more than
human precepts?
Often we have a choice between
the commandments of God and the
traditions of men when they conflict
with one another. Nowhere is this
more prevalent than in how we re
spond to Jesus’ summation of the
commandments: .. you shall love
the Lord your God with all your
heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
And, “you shall love your neighbor
as yourself.” (Mk 12:6,7).
Human Exceptions
Never are we more ingeniously
creative than when we are busy
working out exceptions to this com
mandment. We rule that neighbors
must be worthy of our love, that for
eigners cannot be neighbors, that this
rule does not apply to enemies. We
justify violence and preach an eye
for-an-eye justice, adulterating our
Christian witness.
We are at war again. Of all the jus
tification that I see and hear regard
ing this war, I have heard virtually
nothing about the relevance of Chris
tian teaching. Authorities are quoted,
but not Jesus Christ, although yester
day I saw this bumper sticker; “Who
Would Jesus Bomb?” Good question!
Jesus and the good news are about
transformation, not obliteration.
As we have suspended some of our
civil liberties “for the duration,” shall
we all also suspend the gospel of
Jesus Christ?
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
— by—
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Slemman Enterprise
William J. Burgess General Manager
Andy Andrews, Editor
Copyright 2003 by Lancaster Farming