AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 3, 2003
OPINION
Hanging Tough
More than 16 months of depressed dairy prices prices to produc
ers that have dropped through the floor while the price of a gallon of
milk remains virtually unchanged at the checkout counter have
placed unbelievable hardship and strain on our dairy families, many
of whom read our paper and depend on us for advice, for solutions.
Are these these desperate times seeking desperate measures?
At least for the past year, according to Pennsylvania Farm Bureau
(PFB) estimates, the price received by dairy farmers has been below
the cost of production.
Some striking (and maddening) facts were reported by Mike Evan
ish, manager of PFB Members’ Service Corporation’s Business Serv
ices. According to Evanish, though the dairy enterprise has been the
“shining star” of Pennsylvania agriculture in the past few years, it was
PFB’s conclusion, after reviewing taxes (which is what Evanish does),
that when a farm was profitable, “it was the result of government pro
grams and crop insurance proceeds not commodity sales.” (em
phasis ours).
You can shake your heads in disgust, but the horror story continues
from there. Nearly every other commodity produced in Pennsylvania,
noted Evanish, is sold at a price below the cost of production.
Though many other concerns were at the forefront of a media meet
ing at Farm Bureau’s Camp Hill offices late last week, including prop
erty tax reform, tort reform, ag education, homeland security, and
other issues, the viability of ag remains at stake.
According to Evanish, because dairy is struggling, “infrastructure is
more at risk than ever. It is well documented that once infrastructure
is lost, it doesn’t come back.”
Evanish means the infrastructure that includes vets, loan officers,
accountants, technical experts such as mechanics, agronomists, feed
specialists, and suppliers, labor, and equally as important, neighbors
who share the same concerns.
Evanish noted he grew up in Pittsburgh and watched the steel in
dustry disappear. “So much has gone away, and you can’t bring it
back,” he said. “We have to have a profitable farm business, not a
farm business getting handouts.”
Farm Bureau in the state is home to about 32,000 members, and big
emphasis is attracting and keeping the young and beginning farmers.
We have a story about the Young Farmer and Rancher programs else
where this issue. But if more farms continue to opt out of dairying,
can the state survive on tree farms, raising vegetables, hatcheries, and
looking for other viable niche markets? And how can those farms be
passed to the next generation?
Can it survive the onslaught of illegal ordinances that prohibit agri
culture?
If processors decide to merge, or producers would cooperative as
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Saturday, May 3
Md. State 4-H Dairy Bowl Con
test, University of Maryland,
College Park campus. Animal
Sciences Building, 8:30 a.m.,
(301) 403-4284.
Md. Sheep and Wool Festival,
Howard County Fairgrounds,
Maryland, thru May 4, (410)
531-3647.
Penn State Master Gardener of
Lancaster County First Annu
al Plant Sale, Farm and Home
Center auditorium, Lancaster,
9 a.m.-3 p.m.
How To Reach Us
To address a letter to the editoi:
• 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 @ lancnews.infi.net
Please note: Include your full
name, return address, and
phone number on the letter.
Lancaster Farming reserves the
right to edit the letter to fit and
is not responsible for returning
unsolicited mail.
Spring Draft Horse Clinic, Dia
mond Lane Farm, Roaring
Spring, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
SWCS Maryland Old Line Chap
ter 2003 Spring Tour, Allega
ny College Continuing Educa
tion Building, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Secrest Arboretum’s Plant Dis
covery Day, Wooster Campus,
Ohio Agricultural Research
and Development Center, 9:30
a.m.-3 p.m., (330) 263-3776.
Perry County Farm Safety Just 4
Kids Day Camp, Ickesburg
Fire Co., Ickesburg, 9 a.m.-
11:30 a.m.
Valley College, Doylestown,
thru May 7, (215) 345-3283.
Milk Quality/Stray Voltage
Workshop, Steese’s Restau
rant, Grove City, thru May 7,
(724) 748-4115.
Ag Plastic Combustion Forum,
Penn State, University Park 9
a.m.-3 p.m., (814) 865-7685.
Wednesday, May 7
(Turn to Page ASS)
To Vote In Primary
Election May 20
Pennsylvania will conduct its
primary election May 20. In the
primary election candidates are se
lected within each party for the
ballot for the fall general election.
Because this year’s election focuses
on local and countywide races,
some people refer this as an off
year election. This can lead you to
believe that this year’s election is
less important than elections where
state and national offices are on
the ballot.
However, if you accept this logic,
you are making a significant mis
take. Offices on the ballot this year
include county commissioner,
school board director, and town
ship supervisor, among others. De
cisions made by those elected to
these positions will have a signifi
cant impact on your family’s life
and your ability to operate your ag
ricultural business.
HIDING JESUS
Background Scripture:
Mark 7:24-37.
Devotional Reading:
Luke 7:1-10.
When I was a pastor in subur
ban Harrisburg, there was an old
table in the basement on which was
situated the church’s mimeograph
machine. Weekly I labored at it to
produce the church’s worship bul
letin. The table was a mess, cov
ered with layers and layers of mim
eograph ink and dirt. I was all for
replacing it with a sturdy metal
table.
However, one day one of my pa
rishioners, Lemuel Hoover, asked
to see the table before I disposed of
it. After looking at it a few min
utes, he asked to take it to his
workshop. Weeks later he brought
it back, one of the most beautiful
pieces of furniture I have ever seen.
All those years, 1 and other pastors
had labored at that table and had
not known of the beautiful treasure
that was hidden beneath the dirt
and grime.
Something like that often hap
pens to the gospel. This treasure
often becomes covered with layers
of theology, ritual, church politics,
and civil religion, so that we miss
the original truth, beauty, and
power of it. That is why both
Christians and churches need fre
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-Business Council 2000
• Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the
Northeast Farm Communicators
County commissioners have
many responsibilities, including
local funding and direction of the
county agricultural preservation
program, local funding for agricul
tural agencies, and management of
county growth. Local township of
ficial’s decisions impact zoning and
numerous regulations that can im
pact your business. School board
directors operate your local school
district and their decisions impact
the quality and cost of education in
your community. At each of these
levels of local government, deci
sions are made which directly af
fect the tax structure as well as tax
rate.
While this is a very busy time of
the year, you can’t afford to ignore
this important election. If you
don’t have time to research all of
the candidates on your ballot, ask
someone you trust who has studied
the issues to give you an update.
Reading a voter’s guide from a re
spected organization you are famil
iar with is another way to get a lot
of information with a minimal time
investment. Don’t let the off year
label on this year’s election fool
you. This is important!
To Seek Alternatives
To CCA-Treated Lumber
On March 17, the Environ
mental Protection Agency (EPA)
granted the voluntary cancellation
and use termination requests affec
ting virtually all residential uses of
chromated copper arsenate (CCA)-
treated wood. Under this action,
affected CCA products cannot be
used after Dec. 30, 2003 to treat
lumber intended for use in most
residential settings. This transition
affects virtually all residential uses
of wood treated with CCA, includ
ing play structures, decks, picnic
tables, landscaping timbers, resi
dential fencing, patios, and
walkways/boardwalks.
This action was proposed in Feb
quent spiritual renovations, reviv
als, and renewal in order to find
anew the priceless treasure within.
Otherwise, like my table, the gospel
may look grim and worthless.
He Won’t Stay Hidden!
The miracle, however, is that,
despite our conscious and uncon
scious efforts to hide Jesus, he can
not remain hidden. Mark tells us
that Jesus and his disciples entered
the region of Tyre and Sidon. “And
he entered a house, and would not
have anyone know it; yet he could
not be hid” (Mark 7:24). Later on,
when he is traveling from Sidon to
the Sea of Galilee, he heals a man
who was handicapped both by
deafness and a speech impediment.
After the healing, Jesus “charged
them to tell no one; but the more
he charged them, the more zealous
ly they proclaimed it” (7;36).
We seem to have two forces in
play here. One the one hand, it is a
human trait to knowingly or un
knowingly hide Jesus under the
trappings of our own humanity. On
the other, there is in the long run
something inherent in Jesus that
will not permit us to get away with
hiding him or keeping him a secret.
We may obscure him for a while,
but we cannot keep him hidden.
Jesus and his disciples went into
the regions of Tyre and Sidon to
temporarily get away from the
crowds. Now known throughout
Galilee, Jesus might expect that in
this land of non-Jews he could
catch his breath in anonymity. But
then a Syrpophoenician woman
comes to him, begging for him to
cast out a demon from her daugh
ter. Why did this Greek woman
come to Jesus? Because, Mark says
that she had “heard of him” his
reputation had preceded him from
Galilee.
Jesus Beyond The Layers
ruary 2002 by the registrants of
CCA-pesticide products used to
treat wood. Phase-out of the resi
dential uses will reduce the poten
tial exposure risks to arsenic, a
known human carcinogen, thereby
protecting human health, especial
ly children’s health and the envi
ronment.
The current action follows up on
the February 2002 publication of a
notice of receipt of voluntary
cancellation/use termination re
quests, which also provided an op
portunity for public comments to
be submitted to EPA. A notice of
the cancellation order will be pub
lished in the Federal Register, and
that document will include the
agency’s response to comments.
Consumers may continue to buy
and use the treated CCA wood for
as long as it is available.
The transition to using the new
generation treatment products is
well under way. The agency is de
ferring any action on two uses in
volved in the termination requests;
therefore, wood used in permanent
wood foundations and fence posts
for agricultural uses may continue
to be treated with CCA at this
time.
EPA is working with the regis
trant community and other stake
holders to ensure that safer, com
parable alternatives will be
available. EPA is continuing its
work on an ongoing comprehensive
reevaluation of CCA-treated wood
that has been under way as part of
the agency’s effort to reevaluate
older pesticides to ensure that they
meet current health and safety
standards. More information on
CCA treated wood is available at
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/
factsheets/chemicals/lfile.htm.
Quote Of The Week:
“Treat the Earth well. It was
not given to you by your parents.
It was loaned to you by your
children. ”
Kenyan Proverb
It might sound as if Jesus wants
to restrict his ministry to his fellow
Jews. He even sounds insulting: “It
is not right to take the children’s
bread and throw it to the dogs”
(7:27). Does Jesus really see the
Greek woman as a “dog”? This
sounds out of step with the rest of
what we know of him.
I believe Jesus is using some
commonly held prejudices to ex
pose their hardness of heart. Per
haps he perceives that she will not
easily be rebuffed. His answer
would have caused most of us to
turn tail, but this determined
woman ever so politely throws
Jesus’ words back in his face, so
that, without apology, he can pro
claim: “For this saying you may go
your way; the demon has left your
daughter” (7:29,30.).(8y compari
son, our prayers may seem pretty
ineffectual.)
Is it not true that many of us try
to hide Jesus, dressing him up as
Methodist, or Baptist, Presbyterian,
Lutheran, or Episcopalian? Paint
ing him over with colors that will
appeal only to the “chosen few”?
Spreading layers of our culture,
economics, or ideology over him
until he disappears from sight?
Soren Kirekegaard wrote:
“Order the parsons to be silent on
Sundays. What is there left? The
essential things remain: their lives,
the daily life with which the par
sons preach. Would you, then, get
the impression by watching them
that it was Christianity they were
preaching?”
Watching us at our daily lives,
do others see us incarnating the
gospel or something else? Are we
revealing him to the world or hid
ing him?
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
Andy Andrews, Editor
Copyright 2003 by Lancaster Farming