EIGHTEEN The Gazette-Times Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, Nov.2, 1978
Farmers involvement is needed to avoid unworkable conservation laws
"We farmers must broaden
our thinking and involvement
in agricultural conservation
and pollution abatement is
sues, or this movement will
run right over us." That was
the message Stewart Smith,
Associate Administrator of
the Agricultural Stabilization
and Conservation Service
(ASCS) had for more than 200
Oregon farm leaders attend
ing the statewide ASCS confer
ence in Bend October 11-12.
Attending the conference
from Morrow County were
Kenneth Nelson, county com
' mitteeman, his wife Julie, and
Judy Buchke, county execu
tive director. Harold Kerr,
county extension agent, also
attended.
In his remarks to the ASCS,
Extension Service, and other
agricultural specialists from
Oregon's 36 counties, Smith, a
former Maine potato grower,
urged farmers to get involved
in the whole conservation
planning and decision-making
process. "We must provide as
much assistance, information,
and alternatives to the proper
authorities at local levels as
we possibly can," he said. "If
we don't, you can be sure
someone else will, and the
consequences could be rather
severe."
Smith referred specifically
to the agency's Agricultural
Conservation Program
(ACP), which provides fed
eral cost-sharing assist
ance to producers who volun
tarily perform selected con
servation practices on their
land. ACP, he said "is in a
great deal of trouble."
Full funding, at $190 million,
for the 40-year-old conserva
tion program was approved
for 1979 only on the provision
that the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) take a
hard look at ACP to see where
it fits into overall conservation
needs. Congress has also
directed USDA to evaluate its
entire agricultural conserva
tion effort and to recommend
changes and new directions in
its programs.
"A great number of peo
plein and out of the Con
gress," Smith said, "view
conservation in a very broad
and general sense not mere
ly in terms of holding soil on
the fields, as we have with
ACP. Others view some of our
ACP practices as primarily
production-oriented, and not
designed primarily for con
servation." "The problem is one of
perception what is agricult
ural conservation if not to
protect land for production for
future generations? But if we
want to keep ACP and hold our
own in this conservation
movement, we must redirect
our thinking."
"We must broaden our
conservation effort," the as
sociate administrator contin
ued, "and make it more
comprehensive, not only to
clear ourselves of whatever
charges are made that we
farmers see conservation pro
lems too narrowly, but to take
the lead in getting at solutions
for some very critical national
conservation problems."
Smith strongly encouraged
ASC committeemen, who ad
minister ACP financial assist
ance to the farmers in their
states and counties, to direct
more funds into water pollu
tion abatement projects under
the provisions of Section 208 of
the Water Pollution Control
Act of 1972. That section of the
"Clean Water" law calls for
identification and solution of
nonpoint source water pollu
tion problems, a category that
includes most agricultural
pollution, such as sedimenta
tion and runoff of soil and
agricultural chemicals into ,
streams and rivers.
The growing national con
cern with rural water pollu
tion and the farmers' natural
concern with holding soil on
the land are really "two sides
of the same issue," Smith
noted. ACP practices designed
to prevent soil from eroding
downstream can also achieve
the goals of the clean water
effort.
ASCS, through its ACP pro
gram, offered the only federal
cost-sharing assistance now
available to farmers for'
agricultural conservation and
pollution control. It is also the
only federal agency whose
programs are actually admin
istered and operated by farm
ers, he said.
Also speaking on the conser
vation issue was William
Young, director of Oregon's
Department of Environmental
Quality' Young reviewed the
recommendations of the De
partment's agricultural sub
committee on Section 208
plans, which included a prop
osal that a 5-year voluntary
208 program be established
prior to mandatory . water
cleanup measures. He told the
farm' audienee that he ap
preciated 'agriculture's con
cerns over' mandatory agri
cultural pollution standards,
i n M n n l l I k. n
i r . 1 M . T i 1 mum
I L-ii I I I I J L-virla
1 1 mrlLL 1 ffl T
U'A mm
iy I 1 1 I Mm
& Aim
but noted that the state agency
faced considera
ble pressure to put a manda
tory water cleanup program
in effect,
' A highlight of the confer
ence was a panel discussion
featuring three county com-
mitteemen moderated by
State cpmmittee chairman, .
Martin H. Buchanan, of Milton
ton-Freewater. Dennis Gilson,
Lake County, Merton Sahnow,;
Washington County, and Stan
ley Timmerman, Umatilla
County, discussed ' county
committee responsibilities as
they relate to the operation of
the county ASC office, how
committees should cooperate
with other agencies, and how
local farm program decisions
are made to adapt federal
farm programs to local condit
ions. Other speakers at the state
wide conference included
Jerome Sitter, director of
ASCS's Emergency and In
demnitv Payments Division in
Washington, D.C., who noted
that under USDA's new emer
gency livestock feed program,
county ASC committees can
Cont. on page 17
tfif'! si ffioi food s2ir
n n n n
fin
ma
Straight Trim . . Soft, Medium, Hard.
Regular 56c .. . Save 68c on 3
ill!
...H, W lHILNI
i
I
Tough and Rugged Ready for
Hiking and all Sports. Full
range of Sizes.
ORE-IDA COUNTRY STYLE
Dinner Fries
Quick Fix, Heat & Serve
Kkg.
with Flooride to help to reduce cavities . . .
Tube J Xj
(a)
Reg. $11.95
Q 1
Vida! g
Sassoon
Bel-air Pizzas
Cheese 20-oz. Sausage 23-oz.Deluxe 24.5-oz.
$49 I $89 $98
Froien Bread Dough to Bake at Home
White 32-oz. I Wheat 32-oz.
2-Loaf Pkg.
2-Louf Pkg.
0
Welch's Frozen Cranberry
Juice Cocktail
firm
mm
For Lovely, healthy and squeeky clean hair.
8-oz. I J to)
Size LJ
'ilin
Now at Safeway . . . Finest Quality Color Print
C-110-20 or C-126-20
TOT
Ea. L-
Safeway
J IHlose
Sheer or All Sheer Hose
Reg. 99c Save 33c
(o)
r
2J
1
1
Refreshing
mm
12x. Size (0)
eifser Pius
Pynamo Oef ergenf
Liquid Laundry
Detergent 50c Off
Label 128-oz.
i
a't'(;V,1 Cold Tablets . . . Helps relieve congestion,
1
36's
, ... .c-ihier. ou cl . Jr. 1 x i
i - :w k nam or neaaacne, runny nose.
s4rV wv" t irn 1 ' "i Jr ""y II
m
Limit 6 Pair Per Coupon With Coupon Below
if ne G On !yrSois
Assorted Shades and Styles
Reg. $1.39 Save 40c
iXjT ' S52agiffiiri- mmmmmmm-
BOHSEI
ZFPVi J f
Color U Xi
Rich Wood Grain Look
Automatic Fine Tuning
Solid State Design
1
1 3aisi
TC-700
mm
Caprice
Aid
- .
Liner
Crockery Chef Cooker Start in the
Moming; Serve in me veu.3.
f5 (F5!
fSoreico 12Cipp
V-3 ViJX U mm Xr -T Ti
Dial-a-Brew Electric Coffee Maker
fx
lm, iii
m-m llrl"""r"""1"m""","i
Pack
J J
A Grpat Little
for Touch-ups
!ct7 Model 103C
FXS mmi l
iLHeaffl
1
Pro
imii-u-""-" jonifc. m
Limit 6 Pkgs. Per Coupon With Coupon Below
I Hini Nw. 7, If 71
Safeway
Panty
Hose
Sheer or All Sheer
Reg. 99c .. . With Coupon
,c
Pair
Uwt 4 Pair Ptr Cwpa
rtmm4 DlrblM . . . Cart VaM 1 f w M.
1 2 3 4 5 4 otSl,
i Hira 7, If 71
Safeway
ECnee Hi
Nylons
Assorted Shades I Styles
Reg. $1.39 . . . With Coupon
1M i Pkft. pw CwfM
NMIMita...Uiilal KtlmnM
?QI 1 3 4 S 6fl
nfiM Proctor z-Hce Q
r-ss
. i guu iw I"- mat
mjku, $t)95 ;u(C J
5 Ek7y. 395 South
Open Sam to 11pm.
HERMISTON
HIGHLAND
LAIRD
McKRN? IE I !j
CCOtVfHGMT lTa SAFCWAV STOPICS, INCOrt0ATCO
Smith pointed out that