El4-Grower & Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 17, 2003
Have A Place
(Continued from Page El 3)
tionally hard winter.
The fish may have adapted
to a milder climate during the
past three winters, said Fre
hafer, and the pressures of
this winter caused greater
than-usual loss, as customers
are reporting.
“We’re anticipating that
people are going to need more
fish than ever this year,” he
said.
In addition, “in the spring,
everybody’s pond turns
green,” said Frehafer. “It’s re
ally nothing to worry about.”
Pond plants, barely out of
their soil with new shoots, do
not filter sunshine, which the
quick-growing algae takes ad
vantage of. The algae takes
over for a period of time until
the plants start growing and
the water clears.
Plants are an integral piece
of the pond’s ecosystem. Oxy-
NFU Board Defends
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The National Farmers Union
board of directors commended
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
and Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif.,
for their efforts to uphold the
integrity of federal organic
standards. The legislators are
working to repeal a recently
passed law that would weaken
standards for organic meats.
A measure included in the
FY-2003 omnibus appropria
tions bill would allow livestock
producers to label their prod
ucts “organic” even if they use
conventional, nonorganic feed.
This approach was considered
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www.separcd.org samuel.high@pa.usda.gov
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For A Pond?
genating plants, for example,
provide oxygen, food, and a
place to lay eggs for the fish,
and use up a lot of nutrients
quickly, which inhibits algae
growth.
Examples of these “bunch
plants” are Anacharis, Cab
omba, Millfoil, Homwort, and
Parrot’s Feather.
Most of the floating plants
are tropical and will need to
be purchased each spring.
“It’s even tough keeping them
in the greenhouse over win
ter,” he said.
Frehafer will be organizing
a pond tour, part of three
tours in the Lancaster, Harris
burg, and York counties that
features ponds from those
areas. The tour provides a
chance for pond owners to
share ideas and answer ques
tions of interested partici
pants, he said.
For information about the
tour, call (717) 626-4771.
and rejected by USDA in June
2002 and opposed by the or
ganic industry.
In a letter to the co-authors,
the NFU board stated, “Legis
lative language granting a
waiver for organic livestock
producers to use conventional
feed damages the very frame
work of the organic standards,
and the legitimacy of the or
ganic farming industry.”
In October 2002, the USDA
implemented federal organic
standards which stated only
organic feed could be fed to
animals in order to label them
organic. According to NFU
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Liners have gotten not only bigger In addition to liners, preform ponds
but also more heavy duty over the are available,
years.
Integrity Of Organic Standards
president Dave Frederickson,
these standards provided a re
liable structure for organic
producers to protect the integ
rity of their sector and for
consumers to trust the organic
seal.
Lancaster
Farming's
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“After years of thorough
discussion and debate, the fed
eral organic standards imple
mented in October 2002 pro
vide a reliable structure to the
fastest-growing sector of pro
s
duction agriculture,” Freder
ickson said. “Efforts to weak
en these standards would have
a dramatically negative im-
pact on organic production.”