vision2020
Re: The Right to Burn vs the Right to Breathe
Yesterday I spent a lovely day out in the fields with all the workers on
my family's farm. What were we doing? Managing a stubble fire. My
father is the head of the farm and he doesn't like to set his fields on
fire for fear of them getting out of control and disrupting his
neighbors peacefulness. We only burn about every five years because the
ashes help to replenish valuable nutrients back in the ground. While
burning helps it also causes problems. It increases the problem with
erosion.
It may seem to those who don't farm that every field is set aflame every
single year; but that is hardly the case. There are many fields and
most have a rotating schedule of burning and crops. Only a small
portion of the fields around here are burned each year and that is to
help the growth of the crops. I have serious problems with asthma and
my father has a type of lung disease. While I am not against the
burning; I will encourage it to go on until a way is found relpinshes
the fields while helping people who don't burn to enjoy the two weeks
out of a year that this is a problem.
A group called Save Our Summers is working to end field burning. But
they are going about it by way of more laws(correct me if I'm wrong)
that restrict farmers from doing proper jobs. Already in Washington you
must obtain permits to burn and there are a number of specifics entailed
to them. I don't know very many farmers that are so attached to burning
that they will refuse to stop. They will when there is scientific proof
that there is a better way. Putting more laws on our farmers will only
hinder our towns. If production goes down on the farm then less is
spent in town. Prices for things like beer and bread go up. This
problem can't be fixed by more laws; only by more research.(Same thing
with the dams).
Again I will say that burning is only a portion of a year, hardly taking
up any of our time. Next I expect a group that will complain about the
amount of grain truck traffic during harvest. Some towns are based on
farming. Without it those towns would not survive and neither would the
people. Help the farmers improve not disappear.
M
Perhaps someone can elighten me as to what field burning can accomplish
that decent agricultural
management cannot? (What about crop rotation or planned usage? What,
actually, are farmers burning
that cannot be used otherwise?) Just curious, since I really don't know
what makes burning an important
aspect of annual farming...
- Keith Howe
----- Original Message -----
From: Wayne H Beebe
To: Vision 2020
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 1999 12:12 PM
Subject: The Right to Burn vs the Right to Breathe
Another smokey day on the palouse. Looks like the smoke is
coming from the East. Regardless.
I note that the President of the Washington Wheat growers
association says it is the right of the
farmers to burn, they have been doing it for generations. What
about the Public's right to
breathe clean air? My lungs are hurting today. Isn't there a
better way?
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