OPINION
(Continued from Page A 10)
used to determine the best location for the well and two others
in the township. Since when has technological data been al
lowed to override the law of the land?
The township says it needs to make sure that there is a se
cure water supply in case any of its other municipal wells
should fail. The township is also gearing up for future com
mercial and residential development. But it hasn’t properly
explained why the water for this growth must come from a
dairy farm that will see none of the benefits of that growth.
Township leaders should not forget that one of the main
reasons new; residents (and businesses, as a result) are drawn
to areas such as East Cocalico in the first place is the well
managed and beautiful farmland found on properties like the
Zimmerman’s.
And, if more and more farms like the Zimmerman’s contin
ue to be squeezed out for development, where will townships
find enough open land to recharge their groundwater supply
in the future?
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beats a tower silo for
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inconvenience.
Last year, these pages hosted a lively debate over SB 1413,
state legislation that would have given farmers more leverage
against township restrictions. The bill failed to pass the Penn
sylvania House of Representatives last fall, but the issue is as
pertinent as ever.
Last year’s debate was divided between advocates of large
scale, confinement livestock operations and supporters of
small, diversified farms.
The latter group opposed SB 1413 on the grounds that
township officials are clewed tq take care of all their residents,
including those who believe that their quality of life is threat
ened by industrial-scale agriculture. They called the bill an at
tempt to intimidate townships into allowing large livestock
producers to keep growing.
Large-scale advocates supported the bill, decrying what
they called “illegal” township restrictions imposed on a num
ber of confinement hog and poultry operations in the state.
They argue that those large operations, operated mostly by
families, are necessary for ag’s survival.
The Zimmerman case should help these two groups see that
they have more in common than they might have realized in
the past.
The Zimmermans don’t want to put in an industrial-scale
livestock operation. They’re not asking for anything except
to be able to keep dairy farming on their land.
The issue here isn’t about big vs. small operations or any
other conflicting agricultural ideologies.
It’s about the survival of agriculture in Pennsylvania, peri
od.
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 17, 2003-A25
(Continued from Page A 10)
very well and we remain optimistic about the brand’s
long term prospects. However, delays in the initial
launch of Quest, as well as the external factors that we
discussed in our call, have led us to conclude that we
have sufficient tobacco inventory to carry us through
the next season. We will not be growing commercial
quantities of tobacco in 2003 for Quest in any location,
and would certainly turn to Pennsylvania first in the
unlikely event that anything changes. Pennsylvania
will continue to be our primary option for growing to
bacco in the future.
At this time, we have every intention and expecta
tion that we will resume growing tobacco for Quest in
2004. We will stay in direct communication withiyour
office to assure that you are well aware of our pgpi at
the earliest possible date. '
Thanks you for your support, and we look forward
to growing our Quest tobacco in Pennsylvania well
into the future.
Summit To Focus
On Use Of Manure
As Renewable Energy
ALEXANDRIA, Va. When life hands you
lemons, make lemonade. But what do you do
when life hands you manure?
Simple. Make electricity.
It’s not pie-in-the-sky (or cow-pie-in-the-cor
ral) thinking either. The technology is here, and
it’s already in use throughout the world. It’s
called anaerobic digestion a process by which
synergistic actions between bacteria act to break
down waste products. One of the resulting by
products of that natural process is a biogas that
can be used to generate electricity.
In addition to being a source of renewable en
ergy, experts say anaerobic digester (AD) tech
nology could effectively and efficiently address a
number of persistent environmental problems as
sociated with agricultural and municipal waste
management including water quality and air
quality.
The question for policy makers and industry
professionals is how to make more wide-spread
use of that technology. Consequently, a two-day
summit, June 2-4 at the Hilton North Raleigh in
Raleigh, N.C. will provide a forum to address
some of the barriers, both technological and insti
tutional, facing AD technology.
Sponsored by USDA’s Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS), the U.S. Dept, of
Energy and the Water Environment Federation
(WEF), the summit will also provide a forum for
examining the opportunities for public and pri
vate sectors to work together to facilitate digester
adoption within the context of animal waste
management, rural economic development, and
environmental improvement.
For more information, contact the Water En
vironment Federation at confinfo@wef.org, call:
(800) 666-0206, or visit the WEF Website at
http://www.wef.org/Conferences/.
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