wcdms&y, cpril 7, 1970
daily ndbrsdksn
n
By Cctsb Ammons
Few persons think of fanners when they eat their
morning toast or bowl or Wheatks, but it is fanners
who bring those products to the breakfast table.
Farmers today are developing new ways to provide
products which are inexpensive and healthful, said three
Nebraska farmers who will participate in Food Day at
UNL. .
The farmers, Fern Norris of WalthiU, State Sen. George
Burrows of Adams and Bert Evans, a UNL economics
professor who has a smafl farm in northern Nebraska, con
tend that the emphasis in farming is shifting from produc
ing food chemically to organic farming.
Organic farming is farming without useing pesticides or
chemical fertilizers. The three farmers agreed that these
are the farming methods of the future.
Norris, who calls herself a farm wife, said she believes
that chemically produced foods are unhealthy.
"Nationwide, our food is contaminated," she said.
Norris and her husband farm 4S0 acres in northeastern
Nebraska. She said they decided to convert to organic
farming when their cattle became contaminated by
chemicals and died. Norris contends that organic farming
wiH improve crop quality and result in healthier animals.
The Norrises were chemical farmers for 27 years
prior to their conversion to organic fanning in 1974.
However, Norris said, organic farming involves more
then just discontinued use of chemicals.
Rotaoa ernc&es sc3
Crops are rotated to enrich fields with varied
minerals, she said, and farmers use compost to return
natural matter to the soil and to maintain it. Compost is
decomposing animal and vegetable refuse.
Burrows said he is using manure, rather than chemicals,
for fertilizer. He said he thinks it will be dangerous to
continue using chemicals in farming without testing then-long-range
effects. .
Both Norris and Burrows expressed concern that small
family farms are disappearing in America.
Norris said she thinks small farms are still "the most
efficient way to produce food."
Stronger government support of small farms is
needed, according to Burrows.
Evans agreed that to maintain a free system of
fanning, the government must subsidize farm prices.
Fanners have suffered from inadequate government pro
grams during the administrations of President Gerald Ford
and former president Richard Nixon, he said.
Farming is a family business which stands out in a
corporate society, Evans said, arJ he said he thinks this is
the farmer's disadvantage.
Evans said a farmer's return for the work he does is
"drastically low" compared with the profit made by food
retailers and farm machinery manufacturers.
However, Evans said, he does not advocate corporate
farming.
Instead, he said, farmers should organize to get the
profits they deserve.
Farmers work every day to produce large quantities of
food, which makes it inexpensive for the consumer,
Evans said. Food in the United States is -cheap-compared
to food-'costs in other countries, he added.
Any problem in the system is passed back to the
farmer, Evans said. If food retailers aren't selling many
products, they lower the price they pay the farmer, and
often that price reduction is accompanied by a rise in
machinery costs, he said.
Norris said less machinery is needed for organic than
chemical farming and added that organic fanners don't
need to work the fields as much as they do for chemical
farming.
Ccsscmers waste food
The three farmers agree that food waste is not a
problem on the farm, but that a large amount of food is
wasted by the consumer. . "
Convenience foods result in consumer waste because
third
feed
for
thought
they spoil faster and the materials used in containers
contribute to pollution, said Patricia Kaminski, a member
of Lincoln's Open Harvest Food Cooperative, and an
organizer of Food Day at UNL.
She said the food cooperative sells only "whole foods,"
such as raw beans, rice and grains, and added that persons
carry food home in their own containers.
These foods, when prepared correctly, are more
efficient and economical because a consumer can choose
his own quantities, Kamhnki said.
The first step to a more healthful diet is to establish
a closer relationship with the land, Kaminski said. Even
city dwellers can have gardens, she said, adding that she
agrees with Burrows and Norris that small family farms
must be preserved.
Kaminski said she advocates persons buying food that
is regionally produced on these farms. This food often is
fresher and retailers and consumers can find out what the
product contains and how it was grown, she said.
Studies have shown that foods grown in a person's
particular region are often the foods most healthy for
their consumption, Kaminski said.
Local food stores stock more regionally-produced
foods than those found at supermarket chains, she said. It
is important to lock at the labels when shopping to "be
sssrare of what you wiH be eating," she said. .
If consumers show a demand for regionally-produced
foods, she said, more stores w3 stock them.
"A men who is willing to undertake tho discipline
and the difficulty of mending his own ways is worth more
to the conservation movement than a hundred
who are insisting merely that the government
and the industries mend their ways."
Wendell Berry, A Continuous Harmony
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BimM)AfiESTA?
The Electoral Commission of ASUN shall hold a
referendum on 14 April 1976.
Polling places shall be open 8 am. to 8 p.m.. in the
East Union on East Campus and in the Student Union
on the City Campus.
' ABSENTEE BALLOTS: Students who will not be
in Lincoln. Nebraska during the hours the polls are
open because they are on officially recognized Univer
sity field trips may. by stating the official function on
a form supplied by the ASUN secretary and having
their signature notarized by 4 p.m. on the Friday
before the election, be permitted to vote by absentee
ballot.
DISABLED BALLOTS: Disabled shall be defined as
being unable to attend class due to confinement to
University Health Center or a hospital. Students so dis
abled shall call the ASUN secretary before noon of
election day. A ballot will be brought to the student
before 9 p.m. on election day.
Other applicable rules of the electoral commission
shall apply to this election.
The referendum is concerned with the following
material. -
Afl ORGAfliC ACT
Be it known tf tat by the powers vested in the Senate
of the Associated Students of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
hereinafter known as ASUN. under
Article VII. Section I. Paragraph D of the ASUN Constitution:
for University Reform, hereinafter known as the
Coalition, is a recognized student organization under
the Coalition Constitution submitted to the Senate.
We further declare that the Coalition shall herein
after be the supreme student governing body of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln and shall assume all
responsibilities, contractual agreements, rights, powers,
duties and official functions of ASUN as presently de
fined and outlined by the By-laws of the Board of
Regents of the University of Nebraska, the By-taws of
the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the laws of the
State of Nebraska, the Nebraska Constitution, and the
Constitution of the ASUN.
We further declare that all monies of the ASUN be
transferred to the respective student activities accounts
of the Coalition and that the present application for
UPFF funding by the ASUN is hereby transferred to
the Coalition.
We finally declare that within eight class days or by
the last class day of April. 1 976. whichever comes first,
there by a general election. In this election the
members of the Coalition Assembly shall be determined
We. the Senate, thereby declare that the Coalition J
SAT.7LE BALLOT
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Vats by pisicM est f!s darkened box to the left
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punched rectangle to tha left of your choice must be
complstely re?ROsd
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