Selected Articles from the LAND Newsletter
President's Report
By Richard Volk, LAND President
Well, here it is the end of August. The greatest share of the small grain harvest has been finished in my area. It has been a fast and furious harvest. The weather was hot and lasted for several days. The heat was not good for either the edible beans or the soybeans. There is still a good crop of beans out there but the yields will be smaller.
The hot weather during August brought some very frightening moments. The northeastern part of the country and a large part of Canada experienced a major power failure, which is figured to have been caused by a large tree falling on a major power line in Ohio. I understand that environmentalists prohibit trees from being trimmed in certain areas near power lines. This goes to show how dependent we are on our energy whether it is electricity or oil. Without electricity this country would come to a complete stand still. We couldn’t even buy groceries as the prices are in the computer, nor get into a motel room as most locks are electronic.Another problem - one couldn’t open a window for fresh air as many of buildings are air conditioned and because of that have windows that don’t open.
It makes you wonder what a planned terrorist attack could do to our power system, when one tree brought parts of the country to a stand still for two days.
There are a lot of things happening with federal legislation right now as you’ll read on pages 2-3. I urge you to contact not only our Congressional delegation, but other legislators as well. And ask friends to call, too.
Just a reminder that the Annual Meeting is coming up in December. Make your plans now to attend as we will have good and interesting speakers. Remember, if each member recruited a new member it would greatly increase our membership and influence.
Until next month have a safe and bounteous harvest.
