Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1980)
SIXTKKN The lleppner Gazette-Times. lleppner, Oregon, Thursday, February 28, 1IIHII i Guest mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm commentary By Tad Miller In recent years (here has been tremendous pressure applied to various government agencies to ban the use of some valuable agricultural chemicals used for control of weeds and insects on forest and agricultural lands. Some of-these pesticides have al ready been banned and the use of others, such as 2,4.5-T. have Clean enviroment- Utopian desire unrealistic if world is to be fed been severely restricted. Ef forts bv concerned groups and individuals to further restrict the use of agricultural chemi cals is being intensified al most daily. Most of the concern of these people stems from a sincere desire to live in a clean environment an environ ment that would exclude even the remotest possibility of them, or anyone else, contact ing cancer or aborting a pregnancy. This Utopian de sire, although shared by the majority of the people in the United Stales, is totally un realistic at this time. If the agricultural and forest indus tires are to continue to feed, clothe, and shelter this na . tion's citizens and a good part of the rest of the world, thev arc going to need all of the production and conservation tools available to them, and this includes the use of agricultural chemicals, at least until the time something heller comes along. The dryland wheal country of the Pacific Northwest has long been known for it's extreme soil and water ero sion problems. Efforts have gone on for more than 511 years to find a way to curb this problem and conserve the soil. Nothing tried on a large scale has been totally satisfactory bill it has been found that crop residue (stubble) left lying or standing on the soil surface lends to help the flow of water into (he soil and slow, or even slop, the flow of the water down the hill until the soil has a chance to absorb it. There are three methods of accom plishing this. The first method is trashy fallow or stuhhle mulch farming. This has boon a long established method of keeping crop residue on Ihe soil surface but has only proven to be moderately successful. The second method, minimum tillage, and the third method, no tillage. are still very much in the experimental stage. Both methods require varying amounts of agricultural che micals for the control of weeds, grasses, and volun teer. II is believed, once perfected and new and better chemicals become available, that both methods will prove to bo highly effective in controlling soil and water eroision. But. these methods cannot be used without the use of agricultural chemicals. The American farmer, in order to continue to supply food for a hungry nation, must learn to take better care of his soil. He is continually doing a better job with the help of new and better tools, new techno logy, and the use of agricul tural chemicals. TIII'NO FRILLS' SUPERMARKET jd jq 1845 NORTH FIRST TO C17 1 STORI I! - m m w istir mm m 9 w mum war .. 9 AM to 7 PM 7 MVS WK. A USDAF00D' im tethi i HI ItttiSikqi f. ITU"? f9f!mS , . J Pi ;t ft 'U' , I s s ' T MHO 0) 0) 0 i)i 7- HILLS -4 sfl 2! r ( - Li CUPTO? t'J5 If! j I 3 Hi? f"3 ? .3 V Si 1 rn z, A Of ) 1 v 1 i r 4 H rV4 SiiTii w w k v; r If'" " 7 f , 1 'Ji 11 en'.;?.:
