Why we do things...

Why in the world would I write a story about a guy like Walter Lyon? That was the question I got today on the phone from a conservationist in Maryland. He was polite and thoughtful, and wasn't quite that blunt, but I got the message. One of his farmer contacts in Baltimore County had brought him a copy of the article to prove, once and for all, that farmers are not the culprits in the problems of the Chesapeake Bay.

My caller was distressed and wondered whether or not when I, as a journalist, wrote that kind of story, did I check out the facts or didn't I really care about that. Well, I do care and I do check out the facts as well as I can. Fact one is that Walter Lyon has prepared a compelling presentation that he is sharing with interested groups and individuals, some of them in high places.  Some of them see some sense in what he says.

Fact two is that for many years, Walter Lyon was the Elvis Presley of the clean water movement before there even was a clean water  movement.  Or maybe not the Elvis Presley, but Jimmy Buffet, at least. When my editor spied a piece in a local newspaper about Lyon sharing his philosophies with a local service club, he wondered if I'd be interested in talking to Mr. Lyon. Yeah, I wanted to talk to Walt. And if Steven Hawking called me to say he didn't believe in black holes, better believe I'd be on a plane to chat with Steve.

I knew when I wrote the story that conservationists would be upset, and some would say I had set their work back by years and years, and I did get the comments. Maybe there were some setbacks, but I absolutely know there was dialog that took place that wouldn't have taken place if the article hadn't appeared.

I pointed out to the caller that since the Walter Lyon story appeared, there have been any number of Lancaster Farming stories about the work of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and other conservation groups - including stories I did with the CBF office in Harrisburg, and another about the work of the Stroud Water Research Center.

I expect that many of our 55,000 regular readers took note of those stories, as well.

You have just one week from today to apply for federal stimulus money to finance BMPs on your farm. In a story in our current issue, Lancaster Farming staff writer Chris Torres notes that there is money available for things like anaerobic digesters and riparian buffers, but farmers have to go after it quickly. For more information on BMPs check out this web site: www.pennvest.state.pa.us

Is this what you mean by mixed breed? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqcHAeAMCfU