AW-Lancaster Farming,'Saturday,- N(overnber 15 V : 2003
OPINION
Closer To Your Environment
A couple of weeks ago, Lancaster Farming staff attended the 2003 fall
Continuing Education Seminar for certified crop advisers (CCAs) at the
Grantville Holiday Inn.
The buzz: pretty soon, maybe late in 2004, farmers will be seeing a com
pletely renovated Pennsylvania Nutrient Management Law.
In 1996, the first Nutrient Management Law for Pennsylvania was en
acted. The law’s purpose: get the streams and Chesapeake Bay watershed
free of nitrogen. The plan: make it as simple as a one-page sheet like Mar
yland, and have the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) ad
minister it.
In stories which we publish this week, we leant from several that we’ve
ventured far perhaps too far from that simple, straightforward,
workable plan, in which the State Conservation Commission oversees
while the PDA does the legwork.
Now, perhaps late this year or early next, a new, renovated law will
take the place of the nitrogen, or N-based plan, that’s been with us for
about a decade.
Farmers are concerned.
They should be.
The plan is going to make land managers more aware of their property
than they ever were before, or thought possible.
As a farm field manager, you will have to know how water behaves on
your land. You will be required to have a conservation plan and actually
put that plan in place. You will have to follow a phosphorous index, or a
way to place your phosphorous-laden manure on that doesn’t leach out
into streams or run off and pollute the water table. The site index will re
strict where that manure can be placed, and it will affect all farms in a big
way.
First there will be a public review and comment period. Those dates
will be posted in our Farm Calendar starting this page.
At the fall CCA meeting, Peter Kleinman, Penn State/USDA, made it
Saturday. November 15
Central Pa. Avian Club meeting,
Mountain View Restaurant, 2
Young Fanners and Ranchers Annu
al Auction and Meeting, Hershey
Lodge and Convention Center,
thru Nov. 1.
Pa. Beef Quality Assurance Recertifi
cation Meeting, Columbia County
Extension (Mice, Bloomsburg,
7:30 p.m., (717) 939-7000.
Editor
Did you attend a Veterans’
Day service this week? If you
weren’t able to, it’s not too late to
honor our veterans. We can and
should remember those men and
How To Reach Us
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• By regular mail:
Editor, Lancaster Farming
RO. 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 37)
Northampton County Extension An
nual Meeting, Star Grange, Moo
restown, 6:30 p.m., (610)
746-1970.
Milk Prices Hearing, Evans Hall,
Keystone College, LaPlume, 10
a.m., (570) 833-4592.
Octoraro Area Young Farmers meet-
Western Pa. Commercial Vegetable
(Turn to Page A 37)
women who have guarded this
nation for generations on more
than one day set aside each year.
We should make it a routine to
spend some time each month or
even each week finding ways to
pay tribute to our veterans.
Now the torch has been passed
to a new generation of veterans.
We have again called on our
servicemen and women to take
up arms in defense of our nation.
But it is a defense like no other in
our country’s history.
It is a defense against faceless
fanatics who value death and de
struction above all else includ
ing their own lives.
We fought battles on the desert
soil of Iraq and won the war,
ousting one of the world’s worst
dictators who for years has
threatened the world with the
horrors of terrorism. We freed a
(Turn to Page A 39)
To Check And Winterize
Your Poultry Housing
Cold weather has arrived in the re
gion and there are several things that
should be done at this time to pre
pare your poultry houses for winter
operations.
Penn State Regional Poultry agent
Gregory Martin points out that
cleaning your fans is more important
now than at any other time. Since
fewer fans will be running during the
winter, it is important that they run
in optimal condition in order to pro
vide adequate air exchange and dry
ing of litter and manure.
Since most fans are run in combi
nation with some sort of shutters, it
is vital that these are cleaned and
checked as well. Poorly operating
louvers/shutters will leak cold air
back into the poultry house and will
create cold spots within a house.
Watering systems will need to be
examined as well, since the removal
of wet manure and litter because of
water leaks would be hampered at
times by climatic conditions. Be sure
that water supply pipes and mani
folds are properly insulated or are
placed in insulated rooms to prevent
pipes from bursting and to insure
that proportioned, pressure regula
tors, and other watering appliances
are in working order during cold
weather.
WE SHALL
OVERCOME
Background Scripture:
1 John S.
Devotional 'Reading:
Romans 5:1-11.
One of the most memorable expe
riences of my life was to join in one
of Martin Luther King’s marches on
Washington. I don’t recall much of
what was said that day, but I remem
ber vividly our singing of:
We shall overcome;
We shall overcome;
We shall overcome some day.
Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe that
We shall overcome some day.
This song was a testimony not to
our own prowess, but of faith in God
to someday overcome the irrational
violence to which the world seemed
committed. We did not expect that
all this “overcoming” would take
place immediately, nor maybe even
in our lifetimes. But we were con
vinced that God would overcome
and we identified ourselves with that
victory. We were living in the power
of the victory that was yet to come.
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-Busmess Council 2000
• Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the
Northeast Farm Communicators
A quick check of the roof and the
truss system should be made to en
sure that there are no sagging or bro
ken timbers in the roof that could fail
under a snow or wind load. This also
includes a check of the roofing as
well to repair loose-fitting roofing
that may be lost in high wind condi
tions. The addition of snow jacks or
other snow diverting devices should
be placed above fan nacelles and
other equipment that would be dam
aged by snow dropping off the roof.
Gutters should be free of debris
that could restrict rainwater from
being carried away from the build
ing. Water near an exterior wall can
“wick” under a wall and cause prob
lems under severe conditions. All
drainage for the housing should be
examined to be sure all water flows
would move as planned and unim
peded.
A review of electrical systems, in
cluding the servicing of generators,
emergency lights, and alarms should
be done at this time, as power inter
ruptions can occur during heavy
snow and rain. Alarm sensors and
systems should be tested if auto diag
nostics are not part of the system.
Battery backups to these systems (if
installed) should be checked and re
placed as directed by the manufac
turer.
Finally, access roads especially for
the feed trucks should be maintained
or repaired. This includes the addi
tional application of crushed stone or
gravel or the regrading of the road to
ensure proper drainage of water
away from the road. Asphalt paved
roads should be top-sealed at this
time. Locks to gates should be exam
ined and lubricated to prevent freez
ing and rust accumulation. Signage
should be easy to read and clearly
visible.
With these steps in place, we hope
the downtime due to systems failures
will be minimized. The small invest
ment in time early may help reduce
the potential loss from system failure.
To Be Aware Of
The Northeastern Integrated
Pest Management Center
Penn State and Cornell University
will share a four-year, $4.3 million
grant from the USDA to jointly ad
minister the Northeastern Integrated
Pest Management Center.
Established in 2000, tti£ Northeast
ern IPM Center promotes practical
pest management solutions for urban
Where’s The Evidence?
Some three decades later, we have
seen some good changes, but the
world is still baldly resistant to the
kingdom of God. When in my daily
newspaper I read of the inhumanities
and evil that still prevail in the
world, as well as a seeming world
wide indifference to these realities, I
sometimes forget that “we shall over
come” because God will overcome.
It is human to want to have some
evidence that God’s kingdom will fi
nally prevail, but 1 John 5 suggests
that we tend to look in the wrong
places for that evidence. (I confess
that I find 1 John’s style, particularly
in this fifth chapter, awkward and
difficult. I’ve read it many times be
fore I began to find it helpful.)
“For whatever is born of God over
comes the world; and this is the vic
tory that overcomes the world, our
faith. Who is it that overcomes the
world but he who believes that Jesus
is the Son of God?” (5:4,5). I will not
likely find evidence in my daily
newspaper that “we will overcome.”
Nor will I find that evidence in eccle
siastical statistics or anywhere else.
The evidence is not “out there” but
inside me. “Our faith” of which 1
John speaks is an “inside job.”
“He who believes in the Son of
God has the testimony in himself’
(5:10a). What is this “testimony”
that Christ’s disciple finds “in him
self’?
“And this is the testimony, that
God gave us eternal life, and this life
is in his Son.” Standing alone, this
verse suggests that the testimony is
the promise of eternal life after
death. It is that, but it is much more,
for 1 John 5 speaks not just of what
is to come after death, but befoVe:
“He who has the Son has life; he who
has not the Son of God has not life.”
and rural settings in Pennsylvania,
New York, Delaware, Maryland,
New Jersey, West Virginia, the New
England states, and the District of
Columbia. The grant represents a 44
percent annual increase over the cen
ter's previous level of funding.
The center, one of four regional
IPM centers across the country, is the
hub for a network of university re
searchers and extension specialists
and serves as a clearinghouse for
print and electronic information sup
porting the adoption of IPM. Inte
grated pest management aims to
manage pests such as insects, dis
eases, weeds, and animals by com
bining physical, biological, and
chemical tactics that are safe, profit
able, and environmentally compati
ble.
The Northeastern IPM Center’s
co-directors are John Ayers, profes
sor of plant pathology and director of
Penn State’s Pesticide Education
Program, and James Van Kirk, Cor
nell senior extension associate. Van-
Kirk oversees daily operations of the
center.
“The increase in funding will en
able us to develop new programs and
enhance support for users of pest
management information, including
farmers, nursery operators, park and
turf managers, building superinten
dents, pest control operators, home
owners, gardeners, and others,”
Ayers said. “The center will continue
to facilitate communication among
these groups and others with a stake
in pest management policy and im
plementation, such as consumer and
environmental organizations, govern
mental regulatory agencies, research
ers, and educators.”
New initiatives will include com
petitive grants programs to support
the development of IPM planning
tools, the creation of new IPM publi
cations, and the establishment of
IPM research or extension projects.
In addition, the center will organize a
new biannual conference for those in
the region with an interest in IPM is
sues. The conference will help priori
tize IPM needs and promote new col
laborations among participating
institutions.
Quote Of The Week:
“I don’t know what your destiny
will be, but one thing I know: the
only ones among you who will be
really happy are those who will
have sought and found how to
serve. ”
Albert Schweitzer
Eternal Life Now!
So eternal life does not start when
I die, but I can experience it here and
now. The experience of that eternal
life in Christ is Something 1 know,
not from outside evidence, but from
evidence within.
What is that evidence but the
inner assurance that “we will over
come” with God? We have not seen
the victory with our physical eyes,
but with the inner eyes of our faith.
I know that may not sound very
evidential! It is-human to want to
have it in black and white, carved in
stone with a lifetime guarantee. But
in my lifetime I have seen the failure
of so many things that have been
• printed in black and white, carved in
stone, and experienced the failure of
lifetime guarantees, that I have come
to realize that the only assurance is
that of trusting God.
1 John 5 concludes with this coun
sel: “Little children, keep yourselves
from idols” (5:21). If we think in
terms of the idols that the writer of 1
John confronted, his advice seems
terribly out of date. But an idol is
anything that rivals God and thus
our world is still full of idols. So let
us keep from anything that rivals
God, so that by our faith we may still
with God “overcome the world”!
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Gphrata 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