AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 14, 2003
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OPINION
Editor’s note for all Guest Editorials: Please keep in mind that
the opinions of the writers don’t necessarily agree with the edit
or’s. For the benefit of our diverse readership, we strive to provide
a balance of opinion in Lancaster Farming.
Smart Growth And Agriculture
Guest Editorial By
Bryan Butler
Maryland Cooperative Extension
Carroll County
As an extension educator and as a small producer, I have struggled
for many years trying to find the magic enterprise called “profitabili
ty.” I receive several calls a month asking what to do to make money
on 25 acres from new landowners.
Often, after a 45-minute conversation, the caller seems offended
that I will not share the secret of “profitable agriculture” and that I
will not tell them about the miraculous new type of animal that re
quires little care, creates virtually no waste, can be purchased for little,
and can be sold for a lot.
The other variation on this theme is the person already in produc
tion worried that commodity grain prices are bad and wanting to
know what can be done that is exactly the same as what is currently
being done but will somehow make more money.
Often these existing producers have had trouble for years and can
not find a way to develop consistent profitability due primarily to
worldwide market forces that they cannot control and the fact that
the U.S. has a cheap food policy that is subsidized on the backs of the
producer. This situation gets a little more hopeless every year as
equipment gets older and producers seem to be at the mercy of fewer
and fewer marketing outlets.
Meanwhile, I hear a great desire to protect farmland and open
space. Many euphemistically believe that this will prevent sprawl,
which overburdens our schools and roads, and will preserve the rural
character of the outlying counties of the state.
One of these stopgap measures has been the purchase of develop
ment rights from producers through, one program or another. This
certainly restricts what may come of that land in the future, but this
has little if anything to do with the preservation of farmers, rural
character, or agriculture in Maryland.
If that money is spent just to keep the operation afloat, has that re
ally served the farmer in any way or not? Some believe that when is
sues of smart growth or overall land use are dealt with, existing pro
grams such as. Rural Legacy, Ag Land Preservation, and TDRs have
done enough and that efforts should be focused on more urban areas.
Saturday, Juno 14
Maryland Wine Growers’ Field
Day, Burkittsville Vineyard,
Burkittsville, Md.
Washington County Lamb Class
ic, Washington County Fair
grounds, (724) 225-7108.
Water and Manure Management
for Horse Farms, Sebastian
Riding Association, Skippack
Twp., 2:30 p.m.-5 p.m., (610)
489-4506.
Somerset County Holstein Asso
ciation Club Picnic, Latuch
Bros. Dairy, Rockwood, 7 p.m.
Composting Seminar, Milky Way
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@lancasterfarming.com
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.
(turn to Page A 32)
Farm, Uwchlan Ave., Chester
Springs, 1 p.nr., (610)
696-3500.
Small Scale Poultry Workshop,
Penn State Cooperative Ex
tension Union County office, 9
a.m.-l p.m.
Bradford County 4-H Dairy and
Livestock Field Day, Alparon
Park, Troy Fairgrounds, 9
Spruce Creek, thru June 19,
(814)623-4800.
4-H Ambassador Conference,
Penn State Main Campus,
University Park, thru June 18.
Schnecksville Community Fair,
Lehigh County, thru June 21,
(610)799-9467.
Baleage Workshop for Cattle
Producers, farm of A 1 and
Emmagene Cisco, Lindley,
N.Y., 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
Bradford County Meat Quality
Assurance, Extension Office,
Towanda, 2:30 p.m.
Bradford County Meat Quality
Assurance, 4-H Building, Troy
Fairgrounds, 7 p.m.
Cumberland County 4-H Speak-
(Turn to Page A3O)
To Review Your
Com Weed
Control Program
This growing season is off to a
challenging start as we have arrived
at mid-June, and too many growers
are still planting corn and full-season
soybeans. In addition to delaying
planting, the wet, cool, cloudy weath
er is challenging our weed control
programs.
Extension weed specialist Dr. Wil
liam Curran offers these points con
cerning weed control in com.
First, rainfall has been plentiful so
far this season. If you were on the
ball and managed to plant back in
late April, your com is likely off and
running. However, if you’re in the
May or June group, it’s been a slow
start. At Rockspring, we had 4.71
inches of rain in May with 12 out of
31 days receiving 1/10 inch or more
(24 days received 1/100 inch or
more). At our Southeast Research
and Extension Center in Lancaster
County, we received 4.41 inches in
May and had nine days received V/tO
inch or more. So, total rainfall hasn’t
been that unusual, but the frequency
WHAT TIME
IS IT?
Background Scripture:
Haggai; Ezra 5:1,2.
Devotional Reading:
1 Corinthians 3:10-17.
When was the last time you said,
“I don’t have time for that”? Think
for a moment: did you not really
have the time or did you have it and
didn’t want to give it?
Thirty years ago I remember read
ing newspaper and magazine articles
about all the time-saving devices that
were being invented to give us more
free time. “What will we do with our
leisure time?” one of them asked.
Today, even for allowing that I am
30-plus years older, I don’t seem to
have any more time now than I did
then. I never worry about what I’m
going to do with my leisure because I
don’t seem to have much, if any. Yet,
the last time I said, “I don’t have the
time,” it was to my grandchildren. In
retrospect I would admit the reason 1
didn’t have time was because I had
my priorities wrong. I mention this
only because I suspect that many of
my readers find themselves in the
same kind of situation, lacking not in
time but in motivation.
Lancaster Farming
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• Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the
Northeast Farm Communicators
of rain is certainly keeping us out of
the field.
If you did manage to plant back in
late April or early May, you should
be scouting for weed escapes. The
frequent rainfall we have been get
ting can cause some of the herbicides
to dissipate and lose their effective
ness sooner than we sec in drier
years. In particular, watch for grass
breaks from the acetamide herbicides
(Dual, Harness, Outlook, Topnotch,
etc.). These products are fairly water
soluble and are more likely to dissi
pate under wet conditions.
Also, watch for breaks with large
seeded broadleaf weeds such as vel
vetleaf and common ragweed. We
are seeing both these species escape
in our field trials, particularly where
atrazine rates are 1.25 pounds per
acre or less or when the soil-applied
treatments went out in late April or
early May.
Secondly, if you are still trying to
make your first herbicide application
and the com has emerged, think
about several key weeds that will
drive the weed control program. If
you planted Roundup Ready, Liberty
Link, or Clearfield com, you have
additional product options and some
insurance toward good weed control.
However, if you are not growing a
herbicide-resistant com hybrid, then
emerged annual grasses require the
use of a foliar-applied grass herbicide
such as Accent, Basis Gold, Option,
or Steadfast. Emerged yellow nut
sedge probably means you’re going to
have to include Permit or Yukon
(Permit plus Dicamba).
If you are still dealing with small
com (V 3 or less), you will likely need
residual control of annual grasses
and broadleaves. Think about includ
ing atrazine, Prowl, or a grass/
atrazine mixture (Bicep, Guardsman,
Harness Xtra, Keystone, etc.). Prob
lem perennial weeds may require you
to come back a second time, so you
may want to think about lower cost
programs up front. Results have been
impressive in Penn State trials with
some early postemergence programs
where the com and weeds are small
and soil residual herbicides are in
\ 'A
A Daily Miracle
The interesting thing about “not
having the time” is that we are all
given the same number of hours per
day. Arnold Bennett wrote that “The
supply of time is a daily mira
cle You wake up in the morning,
and lo! your purse is magically filled
with twenty-four hours of the unma
nufactured tissue of the universe of
life. It’s yours! the most precious of
your possessions.” Our supply of
money and even the necessities of life
may be easily depleted but, so long as
we live, God gives us a fresh supply
of time daily.
So, the problem is not a shortage
of time, but what we do with what
we have.
This was the stinging rebuke that
the Prophet Haggai brought to the
exiles who had returned to Jerusalem
in the days of Shealtiel, the governor
of Judah, and Joshua (the same as
“Jeshua” in Ezra). They had started
to rebuild the temple, but the project
soon slowed down and stopped alto
gether. The people must have ex
cused themselves, saying they were
too busy replanting themselves in Je
rusalem to have any time left over.
Where Time Goes
That is when Haggai singes them
with this question; “Is it a time for
you to dwell in your paneled houses
while this house (the temple) lies in
ruins?” (Haggai 1: 4). It is obvious
that the returned exiles are only con
cerned with material pleasures. It is
not that they don’t value rebuilding
the temple, but that it is too far down
their list of priorities.
A weary mother exclaimed,
“Where does the time go?” and her
little daughter answered, “Why,
Mother, your times goes into all the
things you do.” Or don’t do. There is
no tune to waste, but there is time to
help those in need.
eluded. Be sure to check a current
label for maximum com size and ac
ceptable tank mix partners. Also, re
member that atrazine may not be ap
plied to com beyond 12 inches tall,
because of water quality concerns.
Atrazine premixed products may be
more restrictive.
To Welcome Dr. David Johnson
David Johnson, field biologist with
BASF Corporation, has been named
scientist-in-charge at Penn State’s
Southeast Agricultural Research and
Extension Center in Landisville.
Johnson has experience in laboratory
and field research as well as product
development in the agricultural
products industry.
(Editor’s note: Lancaster Farm
ing published a feature story about
Johnson on page I of the May 10
issue.)
As manager of the 160-acre re
search center, Johnson will work
with faculty members and the agri
cultural industry to conduct variety
trials, soil fertility studies, and pest
management research. He also will
oversee work on agronomic and hor
ticultural crops. This season’s re
search focus will be on evaluating
com that has been genetically modi
fied.
Johnson received his bachelor’s
degree in agronomy from Penn State
in 1984. He continued his education
at the University of Arkansas, earn
ing a master’s degree in 1989 and a
doctorate in 1993 both in agronomy/
weed science.
The Southeast Agricultural Re
search and Extension Center in
Landisville is located in Lancaster
County. The center is an important
Pennsylvania site for applied re
search on agronomic and some horti
cultural crops. Research involves cul
tivar testing, pest management, cover
crops, inoculants, fertility, and vari
ous management studies.
Quote Of The Week:
“Man must cease attributing his
problems to his environment, and
leant again to exercise his will
his personal responsibility. ”
Albert Schweitzer
Natalie Victor writes of the “24
hours in which to do,the one thing
needful, instead of 10 or 12 in which
to do a dozen ” So where does
your time go?
Perhaps the returned exiles think
that, once they have all the material
pleasures they need, then they will
get back to work on the temple, the
focus of their religion. But apparent
ly these people would never have
enough material pleasures for, no
matter how much they have, it never
seems to be enough. “You have sown
much and harvested little; you eat,
but you never have enough; you
drink, but you never have your fill;
you clothe yourselves, but no one is
warm; and he who earns wages earns
wages to put them into a bag with
holes” (1:6).
These people didn’t really have a
time problem. They had a steward
ship problem and their lives were
empty in the midst of material plen
ty.
What time is it?
Time to do well,
Time to live better,
Give up that grudge.
Answer that letter,
Speak the kind word to sweeten a
sorrow,
Do that kind deed you would leave
till tomorrow.
(Author unknown).
Lancaster Farming
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Ephrata Review Building
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William J. Burgess General Manager
Andy Andrews, Editor
Copyright 2003 by Lancaster Farming