AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 23, 2003
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OPINION
Perception Is Everything?
It’s an increasingly crowded world.
In February this year I spoke to a traveler from California (original
ly from Pennsylvania) who attended the Pennsylvania Vegetable
Growers Association dinner. The visitor spoke about trying to feel at
home in the “crowded Northeast.”
In this crowded part of the country, with an increasing population
of nonfarmers, more than ever the general public is setting all the
rules.
Last week I attended a meeting about land use and nearby property
values sponsored by Penn State at Berks Heim near Leesport. About
three dozen real estate agents, township and borough planners, and
planning commission staff attended.
They heard the results of a June 2003 Penn State study (funded by
the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development and Citizens
For Pennsylvania’s Future) on the impact of open space and potential
local “disamenities” on residential property values.
To make a long story short, “disamenities” refers to those facilities
that, in the public house-buying perspective, actually can decrease the
value of a residential unit if they are located close by.
For instance, the study pointed out that a house within two miles of
a landfill can have a substantial “disruption” to the quality of life of
living in houses. The same holds true if a large-scale animal fa
cility is located within a mile.
Dr. Charles Abdalla, associate professor, ag and environmental eco
nomics at Penn State, noted that a location near a landfill decreases
the value of a home property by 12.4 percent.
A real stunner, according to Abdalla: a house located within a mile
of a large-scale animal facility, at 200 animal equivalent units, de
creases the value of the property by 6.4 percent! Fortunately for the
homeowners and producers, large-scale animal units aren’t as bad as
landfills. The study looked at 3,342 houses within a two-mile radius of
a landfill, and the average decrease in property value was 2.6 percent,
or about $2,442, with a total impact of $B.l million. Still, that’s signifi
cant!
(Types of large-scale animal houses effect prices differently. Abdal
la pointed out that poultry was worse than swine, worse than cows,
but the actual difference was not “statistically significant.”)
More work needs to be done to look at the mechanics of these rela
tionships. Analyses must be done on measuring why the differences in
house values takS place, especially since there weren’t any major sta
tistical differences in those who live near a sewage sludge treatment
facility.
Saturday, August 23
Franklin County Holstein Show,
Fairgrounds, Chambersburg,
9:30 a.m.
Gardeners Selects Open House,
Lancaster Farm and Home
Center, Lancaster, 9 a.m.-l
p.m., (717) 394-6851.
Game of Logging I, Training
Course, Bucks County, (814)
867-9299.
Berks County Grange Auction,
Leesport Farmers’ Market.
Sunday, August 24
West End Fair, thru Aug. 30.
Central Susquehanna Woodland
Growers’ Association Annual
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 A3O)
Picnic and Business Meeting,
Fred and Kathy Fries, (570)
784-8490.
Monday. August 25
Soil Hydrology and Liquid Ma
nure Workshop, Clinton
County, NRCS Field Office,
Mill Hall, thru Aug. 26, Mon.
9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. and Tues.
8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
New York State Fair Dairy Day.
Manure Injection in Wheat Stub
ble Demonstration, Robert
Stone farm, Williamsburg, 10
a.m.-noon, (814) 695-1881, ext.
3.
Tuesday, August 26
lowa Farm and Field Fest, Ames,
Boone, lowa, thru Aug. 28,
(800) 827-8007.
Allentown Fair, thru Sept. 1,
(610) 433-7541.
Big Knob Grange Fair, thru Aug.
30, Rochester, Beaver County,
(724)774-7093.
Centre County Holstein Show,
Centre Hall, noon.
Ohio Manure Science Review,
Lima, Ohio, 9:15 a.m.-3;30
p.m., (419) 738-2219.
Manure Application and Injec
tion Field Demonstration,
Schrack’s Dairy Farm, Loga
ntown, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., (814)
355-4897.
Wednesday, August 27
(Turn to Page A3O)
To Lighten Your Load
Farming has always been a de
manding profession with many chal
lenges. The last two years, however,
have been more difficult than many
because of weather extremes com
bined with low commodity prices.
The ongoing strain of unpaid bills
piling up and the frustration of unco
operative weather can really drain a
person’s resolve.
On Sept. 4-5 the Lancaster County
extension office will conduct several
meetings to give some guidance in
dealing with creditors and the accu
mulated stress of recent months.
These half-day sessions will be re
peated in four locations in Lancaster
County to make it convenient to at
tend.
The first meeting is scheduled at
the Hoffman Building in Quarryville
from 9:30 a.m.-noon on Thursday,
Sept. 4. That afternoon the same pro
gram will be conducted from 1 p.m.-
3:30 p.m. at the Salisbury Township
office located at the east end of the
village of White Horse. On Friday
morning, Sept. S, the meeting will be
conducted in Manheim at the Lan
caster DHIA lab. The final repeat of
the program will be held at the Mar-
BY NO
HUMAN HAND
Background Scripture:
Daniel 2.
Devotional Reading:
Revelation 21:1-7,
To appreciate the Book of Daniel,
you need to understand it as a class
of ancient literature known as “apoc
alyptic.”
Two books of the Bible are apoca
lyptic, Daniel and Revelation, but
there are also apocalyptic passages in
Isaiah 6; Ezekiel 1,2 and 3; Joel 2
and 3; and Mark 13. These passages
are ecstatic writings and use allegory
narrative with a symbolic rather
than literal meaning.
Apocalyptic literature was popular
in the ancient world and often pres
ented a cosmic drama of two worlds,
the seen and unseen, in conflict. It
also made symbolic use of numbers
and beasts. This literature usually
appeared in times of crisis as a kind
of code that would be understood by
those who needed to understand.
The Book of Daniel has as its
backdrop the four and a half centu
ries of history that followed the death
of Alexander the Great and the
breakup of his empire into smaller
Lancaster Farming
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tindale Fire Company from 1 p.m.-
3:30 p.m. that day.
Since these challenges create a
burden for all members of a farm
family, both husbands and wives are
encouraged to attend. The topics will
include “Farm Stress and Family
Safety,” which will be presented by
Jane Boyd, an agricultural nurse
from the University of Rochester.
Boyd has presented programs on
farm safety in Lancaster County
schools and is familiar with our
farms. The topic “Talking With
Your Creditors” will be presented by
a representative from our Lancaster
County lending institutions. This will
be very valuable information as the
ag economy continues to work
through the recent downturn.
It will be especially valuable for
both husbands and wives to attend
because the last session will be of
fered separately for men and women
and will deal with the different issues
they face. The women’s session is en
titled “Dealing With Family and
Children During Tough Times” and
will be presented by Janneke Van
Buskem of Life Management Associ
ates of Lancaster. The men’s session
is entitled “Farm Stress and How To
Lighten the Burden” and will be
presented by Dan Hess also of Life
Management Associates.
There is no cost to attend the
meetings because of the generous
sponsorship of Lancaster County
lenders. For more information, con
tact the Lancaster County extension
office at (717) 394-6851. Registration
is not required but would be appreci
ated to assist those who will be set
ting up for the meetings. Take a few
hours out of your schedule to attend
this helpful event before the busy fall
harvest season starts in earnest.
To Continue Monitoring
Tomatoes For
Late Blight
Last week, late blight on tomatoes
had been confirmed in Lancaster,
Erie, and Crawford counties and in
southwestern New Jersey and south
eastern Michigan.
Lancaster horticulture agent Tim
Elkner reports‘that since then, this
potentially devastating disease has
been confirmed in Centre County, as
kingdoms under his lieutenants, but
particularly the reign of Antiochus
Epiphancs (175-164 8.C.), whose two
ruling ambitions were to dominate
Egypt and make the culture of the
middle East Greek Hellenistic. The
Jews stood in the way of his ambi
tions geographically and culturally.
Many of the Jews bitterly resisted
Hellenization. Those that ‘did not re
sist were thrown into conflict with
those who did.
To Encourage Faith
On Dec. 25, 168 8.C., Antiochus
Epiphanes responded by desecrating
the Jerusalem temple with Greek
idols. Under the leadership of the
Maccabees, the Jews revolted against
him, defeated his forces and on Dec.
25,165 8.C., the temple was cleansed
and rededicated. As you can see,
these were turbulent times and the
book of Daniel was written to en
courage the faith of the Jews.
However, the writer of Daniel did
not use the actual historical situation
of his times. Instead he set the con
flict centuries earlier when the Jews
were captives in Babylon. So, he is
using the story of Daniel as an alle
gory of the situation in the days of
Antiochus Epiphanes. Thus the four
beasts in the king’s dream represent
the Babylonians, Median, Persian
and Greek empires in succession,
and the great stone represents the
kingdom of God that shall “break in
pieces all these kingdoms and bring
them to an end, and it shall stand
forever ” (v. 44,45).
So his readers are to take heart,
first, in the promise that God would
bring his judgment upon each king
dom in its turn. At any particular
moment in world history we may be
confronted by a powerful nation that
threatens to sweep all before it. That
is what the world thought about Na-
well as central New York and north
east Maryland.
Warm, dry weather will reduce the
threat of this disease, but any return
to a cool, wet weather pattern will
again increase the risk of late blight
spreading to tomato and potato
fields. Continue to monitor your
fields and adjust your spray schedule
based on the weather conditions and
the threat of the disease in your area.
Since last week, a special local
needs label (Section 24c) has been ob
tained in Pennsylvania for Curzate
60 DF fungicide (DuPont) on toma
toes. Curzate fits into the group of
fungicides that have some systemic
activity and should be used in rota
tion with other systemic fungicides if
you have late blight in your field or it
is confirmed within 150 miles. You
will need a copy of the special label
in your possession at the time of ap
plication. This label can be obtained
at the Lancaster extension office
Website (http://
lancaster.extension.psu.edu/) or from
your chemical supplier.
If your field becomes heavily in
fected with late blight (more than 10
percent of the leaves killed and/or
5-10 percent of the green fruit are af
fected), it could be too late to save
the crop and you should consider de
stroying it. However, if you have
crop insurance, be sure to consult
with your adjustor before destroying
any fields/crops.
More information related to this
disease and control options are post
ed at the Leola and Weaverland pro
duce auctions. Control recommenda
tions have also been posted at the
Lancaster County Website. Go to
http://lancaster.extension.psu.edu/
and down in the left comer click on
“Late Blight Alert” under the Cur
rent Issues section. You can also get
more information by contacting your
local extension office or by calling the
Lancaster Extension Office at (717)
394-6851. Your extension office can
also provide you with control inform
ation for potatoes.
Quote Of The Week:
“Failure can be divided into to
those who thought and never did
and those who did and never
thought.”
Reverend W. A. Nance
poleon, Hitler, Stalin, and many oth
ers. At the time it does seem as if
nothing can stop them. But, as Dan
iel told King Nebuchadnezzar, “there
is a God in heaven “ (v. 28). Actually,
not only is there a God “in heaven,”
but also a God working in and
through history. In his hands are the
rise and fall of empires.
Intoxicated By Power
Nebuchadnezzar is an autocratic
tyrant who followed and preceded
other such tyrants. He is a brutal, un
caring man who can say to his advi
sors “... if you do not make known
to me the dream and its interpreta
tion, you shall be tom limb from
limb, and you houses (homes and
families) shall be laid in ruins” (v. 5).
He is intoxicated with his power, but
his own dream tells him that God in
his own good time will pull down his
kingdom: “... a stone was cut out by
no human hand, and it smote the
image on its feet of iron and clay,
and broke them in pieces; then the
iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver
and the gold, all together were bro
ken in pieces, and became like the
chaff of the summer threshing
floors But the stone that struck
the image became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth” (vs.
34,35).
The past, present, and future be
long to this God, and “the God of
Heaven will set up a kingdom which
shall never be destroyed, nor shall its
sovereignty be left to another people.
It shall break in pieces all these king
doms and bring them to an end, and
it shall stand forever” (v. 44).
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