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SECTION 2 - PAGE 2 - PLAINDEALER - WEDNESDAY. DECEMBER 6.1978 Agriculture At The Crossroad FUN IN THE SNOW ~ Play time can come at any age. and the first From left are Jim Callicott, Jim Mosansky, John Mosansky and snow brings out the spirit of the season in everyone. Above, the Lyle Erickson. More than eight hours of labor went into the snow finishing touches are applied to the fort and snowman these project. residents of Garden Quarter made during the recent snowfall. STAFF PHOTO-WAYNE GAYLORD SOFT WATER RENTAL 6 75 $050 MO. AND ^9 MO. NEW, FULLY AUTOMATIC WATER SOFTENERS NO installation charge 2 year option to buy with FULL rental fee deducted ONE phone call can answer any questions 259-3393 Phone No. 1 in the Fox Valley Area McHenry, III. Copyright 1978 Agriculture may well be at a crossroads insofar as production concentration and considerate use of land and water resources is concerned. From many sides are coming words of caution-sometimes statements of alarm-as a success story almost un- paralled is enjoyed That success story is this: In an age when millions of the world s population go hungry, the United States is able to feed its own people and still be able to export $25 billion worth of farm products annually. Yet. as farmers and others who attended a 208 Water Quality Planning seminar pertaining to soil and water conservation were reminded, the country is losing tons of good top soil yearly from our precious farmland From that seminar and from other studies come information valuable to all who are concerned about the environment, feeding the world, and saving the land Attending the seminar at Sterling was Ed Weilbacher, McHenry county con­ servationist. Water erosion, encouraged by all-out grain crop production policies of the 1970 s is draining topsoil at a staggering rate, at least twice as fast as topsoil can replace itself. Some experts "worry that U.S. agriculture is in danger of putting itself out of business before too many years by permanently imparing soil productivity. In addition, as seminar participants at Sterling heard last month, soil erosion by water and wind is choking rivers and streams with silt Jim Frank, Illinois EPA agriculture adviser and chairman of the Agriculture Task Force relative to the 208 recommendations, said 158 million tons of soil from Illinois land is being washed and blown away annually, "90 percent of it from agricultural land " The huge cost of protecting and rescuing the land can be gleaned from a comment by Frank who said terracing a million acres to meet standards of erosion control would cost million dollars. Comments by Rupert Cutler. This Christmas,give aBell that will ring for years to come '7^ Celebrity. Tksteful. Elegant. Perfect for a Iwdroom nitfht -.land or dressing room. $20 dovv.n. S'J.Hfj month. < h a single payment of $K4. (WV 'IV1 star.* Imagine, a phone set in a capsule. A unique statement of modern taste. $30 down. $3.50/ month (>r a single payment of *10*. \ \ (-*• { / ov*w A X V n O •• The SN< M >PY & W< M >1 )ST< K'K** Phone. Adds a touch of whimsy to any setting. Home or office. $-'$0 down. month. ()r a single payment of Slid. |Q (* * /V.' 1 ^ Noteworthy, Creat for jot ( down messages. Kven has lace fur a phone U»ok. $20 ^ n. month. • )r a single meni of S*7. Sculptura. More than a phone. A contemporary conversation piece. $20 down, $.'{.()5/month. Or a single payment of $*7. Candlestick?** Brightens any room A'ith a glimmer of nostalgia. $20 down, $.'{/month. Or a single pay merit of $H6. a n d T h i s y e a r , p u t a ('hristmas J VII under the tree of someone you care about. Design Line* phones come in styles colors in tun»- with almost everyone on your Christmas list (shown are only a few). And they're so easy to shop lor. .lust pick otic out at the Bell PhoneCenter Store or Phone Booth nearest you and charge it to your phone bill. You'll save tunc and money by taking your phones home with you. This Christmas, be choosey. Choose genuine Bell. You save money when you come in and pick up a Christmas Bell. Illinois Bell M c l l e Ph lf< enter >th. • rv- @ i::il N < onri Hours: M F *:•'«> AM-5:00 PM ,m: Mall Kt. 11* Main Street,Crystal Uke. Hours: Mon. Sat. 10:00 AM 10:00 I'M. Sun. NOOIÎ KOO PM 'h 1'n.rv .J., M,t include salc> lax or installation and monthly extension i-har^es When you I my a IM*SIKII lane phone.y<m buy only "lonth 11nuti•<I warranty. The working parts of your phone remain the property of Illinois Hell and are repaired at unylime without extra • • -nl.it.it throuifh vour nearliy PhoneCenter Store • it t .ininiuiiii atmriH < or[<oration % r,i. <t h t -atures Syndicate I n c . mmnieat ion> < t>r[«iration assistant US secretary, of agriculture for agriculture, affirm the concern: "Soil erosion and the en vironmental problems associated with it are a serious and underrated national problem. It could be ap­ proaching a crisis." the Des Moines. Ia Register, which maintaines a steady focus on agricultural news, asserts. "The crisis is already here. That is the nearly unanimous view of experts both within and outside the govern ment interviewed by the Register." That's James Risser. chief of the paper's Washington News Bureau and a Pulitzer prize winner, repor­ ting He lists some of the in­ formation brought out in recent government and academic documents, information which ties in with what the men and women at Emerald Hill near Sterling were thinking about as they discussed soil and water quality Among Risser's findings from his study: 1 Soil erosion is averaging 9 tons per acre annually from U.S. farms, while new topsoil forms only at the rate of about four tons per acre each year. 2. Soil conservation programs, largely financed by the federaj government, have helped keep the erosion problem from becoming even worse, but at the same time they have thrown away millions of dollars on practices designed more to increase crop yields than to conserve soil. 3 Agricultural pollution of water is spreading, to the point where farming now adversely affects water quality in two thirds of all U S. river basins. 4 Despite optimistic talk of substituting integrated pest management for an almost total reliance on powerful chemical pesticides, pesticide use nationally is still rising and could reach 1.25 million tons by 1985 Many of these chemicals find their way into streams where they pollute drinking water supplies and cause toxic reactions in fish and wildlife 5. The 40 million tons of commercial fertilizers farmers spread on the land each year in nitrogen, phosphorous and other nutrients wash into lakes and rivers where they promote weed growth and sometimes lead to the eventual biological death of water bodies. Livestock manure that also drains into public waters carries potentially harmful bacteria. Risser says so far. "any effect that soil erosion may be having on crop production has been masked by the grownmg amounts of fertilizer applied to the land "Farmers, who in some cases are raising crops more on chemicals than on soil, get large harvests and are un­ derstandably reluctant to engage in costly soil con­ servation practices that might reduce profits.1 ' Removing marginal land from production would be a quick way to lessen erosion, but he points out fencerow to fencerow planting encouraged by the Butz era brought land previously led out of produc­ tion Nothing is being done to encourage retiring that marginal land for more prudent purposes The pendulum policies of the USDA swinging from tight controls to all-out planting have farmers in a difficult position Lyle Bauer. Harper. Kansas farmer who is president of the National Association of Con­ servation Districts, explains: "You can't jump in and out of a conservation system every year or two, or you have no conservation system at all We can't keep on penalizing con- s e r v a t i o n f a r m e r s economically, then criticizing conservation programs for being ineffective " Poor operation of the programs in fact have the U.S. in a position where. topsoil erosion from water and wind is 25 percent greater than in the Dust Bowl days of the 1930 s A report issued in 1975 b^ the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, and industry-funded academic study group headquartered at Iowa State University, is a main catalyst that brings to public attention the seriousness of soil erosion in the United States. There is no reason to believe that on a comparative basis. Illinois land is less seriously threatened Ironically, money spent on federal soil conservation practices were aimed at in­ creasing crop yeilds. not on "critically needed conservation practices having the best payoffs for reducing erosion." At the Emerald Hill seminar, Frank reported on the status of the Agricultural Task force report for the Illinois EPA program He said three years of planning have gone into it The Task force plans ten to fifteen meetings around the state in January and February to explain the report and distribute a 17-page summary of the 450 page report. Public hearings will be held in March, followed by changes before it is forwarded to Governor Jim Thompson He will forward his report to the U.S. EPA by May 1 for its approval or disapproval Frank urged his audience to stay involved in the program. "We seek your inputs We need to inform farmers coming along-the farmers of the future- about the need for soil and water quality control. I'd like to see courses in high schools and junior colleges about such realities as the damage caused by manure in streams, and soil erosion and about how vegetation can serve as a valuable filter of water " He said regulations con­ cerning Illinois' 50,000 feedlots will be enforceable June 30. They were adopted in Sep­ tember and in effect state that "manure from feedlots cannot enter water." DeKalb county has perhaps 300 cattle feeders and another 150-200 hog far­ mers. but in most cases they are the confinement type operations which are already environmentally correct As far as feedlots are con­ cerned. Frank thinks odor pollution could be a bigger problem than pollution of water because builders tend to bring their subdivisions adjacent to farmsteads. Ron Darden. DeKalb county planner who took part in that seminar, said local units should implement soil erosion control, not the EPA Several speakers urged local people to become involved and they asked those attending to sponsor local meetings because they believe education and voluntary local participation is the best hope for improvement in our en­ vironment l>x JOSI I'll COOI.S v/w// /isi (linltmisi news from the Family Service and Mental He*"* Clinic of McHenry County (Editor's note: This is another in a series of especially written articles for McHenry County readers Joseph Cools is a psychologist on the Family Service & Community Mental Health Center staff This ar­ ticle is "Coping - Holiday- Depression") The holiday season, sup posedly the happiest of all times during the year, is ironically the most miserable for many people As children we can remember the excitement and expectation that all of our dreams would be magically fulfilled. Of course, as the child grows up the dreams become increasingly more complicated and less easily satisfied by the transient joy of the holidays Yet the importance given to Christmas in our society seems to perpetuate the expectation that the same feeling of childhood should be recaptured in mid-December If a person is mildly depressed during most of the year, the joyfulness evident in others around him may prove a painful reminder to the depressed person that his own life has not been particularly happy Often, as the holiday season approaches, a person builds up an expectation that finally things will improve, if only for a couple ot weeks When this expectation is not fulfilled as the holidays get closer, one may be left with a sense of hopelessness, disillusionment, and a deepening feeling of depression Psychiatrists have long noted the increase in suicide attempts during the holiday season People susceptible to holiday depression may need a great deal of support before and during the holidays, with an assurance^ that tne depression should (1^,be significantly alleviated shortly after the holidays Those who have experienced depression during the holidays in previous years may profit from seeking professional help before the holiday season approaches Many times, simply the insight that the supposed joyfulness of the holidays is not the same after childhood for anybody can explain the feeling of letdown Taking the mystery out of the reason tor depression can be of significant value in alleviating the actual symptoms If the depression recurs with regularity every year, professional help should be sought before the onset of depression Next The True Believer Quality Control Will Hear 'Professional' Talk Dr John E Condon of 1262 Oak Trail drive, L'bertyville, will be the featured speaker at the December meeting of the northeastern section of the American Society for Quality Control It will be held at Chef Karls Edelweiss Inn, Liber- tyville. Dec 14. with dinner at 6:30 p m and the meeting at 8 Dr Condon is Vice President, Corporate Quality Assurance, Abbott Laboratories and ASQC vice president for education and development His topic will be "The Quality Professional", a discussion of the emerging recognition of quality control as a field of professional endeavor, the leadership role of ASQC in professional development, and a look at the future challenges and opportunities for the quality professional Gifts To Headline His Holiday •3 PC. VESTED SUITS •SHORTS'T SHIRTS'SOCKS By Munsingwear •BELTS*DRESS SHIRTS •SWEATERS*BLUE JEANS YOU'RE SURETO FIND IT AT. . . V MCHIMRY 1421 PIA«L ST. (N«rlfc P»n QWlo) S I ! MEN'SIFASHIONS