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The Lucknow Sentinel, 2014-03-19, Page 66 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, March 19, 2014 Bruce Federation of A Garit Reid QM! Agency The Bruce County Federation of Agri- culture (BCFA) represents the interests and concerns of 1,455 farm families in Bruce County as members of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA). BCFA president Patrick Jilesen said its main objective is to promote and sup- port initiatives, which benefit the agri- cultural industry and the community of Bruce County. Jilesen said it's important to have the BCFA as an organization that can sup- port the farmers of Bruce County when they have issue. The BCFA has the ability to lobby the provincial government for any important issue that may pertain to the agriculture sector. "Our group is important because we are a lobby organization representing just over 1,400 farmers in Bruce County;' said Jilesen. "We can bring issues right to Queen's Park as well as issues right to our researchers at the OFA who can help us bring a clearer message to the riculture represents thousands of farmers Garit Reid NI Agency Bruce County Federation of Agriculture past president John Gillespie is seen with current president Patrick Jilesen. The BCFA represents almost 1,500 farm families in the region. government. We also have access to many resources if we aren't able to help farmers directly and I think through our process of meetings and lobbying we are able to get things done." Jilesen also believes the board of volunteers for the BCFA work hard and are in tune with the many issues farmers face in the county. He added the varied age of the members allows for a lot of good experience and fresh new perspectives for the farming issues faced in Bruce County and Ontario. "Our board continues to have strong representation in each municipality throughout Bruce County. We also have strong what I like to call generational renewal. We have a good mix of ages. It's such a nice thing to have so many differ- ent views on things. On the board we have members in their 20s and a mem- ber in their 80s" said Jilesen. The state of farming has stayed fairly steady in the past year even with the way the economy has been, he said. Jilesen is confident with the state of the rural econ- omy and only sees it getting stronger. "Obviously the commodity prices have been quite strong in the past year. Com has definitely leveled off quite a bit, but beans remain quite strong. Cash crop- ping is in good shape and most farmers in the area run on a crop rotation and the Local motorcycle racing hero Mitch Card gave a show and tell presentation to groups of wide-eyed kids at both the Ripley and Lucknow branches of the Bruce County Public Library on Friday, March 14. Card, who won the 2013 Superbike National Championship at just 17, brought his trophies, equipment and parts of his 190 horsepower Honda motorcycle to show the kids and talk about racing. • . • • The Lucknow Sentinel Birthday Club Madison Ritchie March 23, 2005 9 years old Nelson Helm March 24, 2007 7 years old Your child can be a member of the Sentinel's birthday club call 519-528-2822 to register rE _ tilaknow Sentinel 619 Campbell Street 519-528-2822 Damion Donaldson, 11, took in the event. Mitch Card Photos by Steven Goetz NI Agency _ PARK THEATRE GODeR ICH 524-781: 7:30 Nightly silk too oFm- Mar. 21 - 27 11111tFciElia T Atb._ R urn* DWATley Pios. Mows -4.4N SON OF GOD 7:30 Nightly 0 www.moviegnks.ca im. -BK1-265-3438 Brett Alton, 10, tests the weight of Card's leathers. 11411 ' 1.1411. Ohl Alb, Ink .- -.11114.14 401 liglierfilltiki411.6 tolb flit 444 fip# Make 'Your GINII 'clime, (ae 1 uil , infer. kit! et a .45260 Eli Kievan i, control 524.23zi livestock producers usually just plant what they need," said Jilesen. To me the agriculture sector always looks positive in the economy and we are always mov- ing forward as an industry in Bruce and Ontario. Our organization is also always looking ahead and our focus is on the generational renewal. The more young farmers we can get on board the better. We have the people who go away from the farm to go study and gain experience and we want them to come back to the area. We want agriculture in general to stay in this area. I've seen a lot of positive things happening in recent years with younger farmers taking over farms or expanding farms with their parents" Jilesen said there have been a few issues in the past year that have come up and he is proud how the board has han- dled them. The one issue is trying to get natural gas in the area to save on energy costs and an issue with the OSPCA. "Getting natural gas to every farmer in Bruce County is important because our energy costs on the farm directly reflect onto food prices, so if we can get those costs down it will be a help to everyone involved," said Jilesen. "We had some issues last year with the OSPCA last year on how they were being operated in the area. I think we did a really good job of getting all of the municipalities, farmers and OSPCA together to resolve the issue. I think we can have a good partnership with the OSPCA, time will tell, but there are changes in Bruce County that we wanted to see like having the Ontario Commodity Council involved in any investigation. I think getting them involved is something I'm very proud the BCFA was able to get done." Jilesen said he and the BCFA will be part of the Chesley Agri -Fair, April 1 to 2, where they will have a booth talking about the importance of farm safety especially road safety for farm vehicles. Jilesen added that he would also like to organize something with the young farmers 39 years of age and younger. Jilesen said he hopes to give many young farmers a voice to address any questions or concerns they may have. Jilesen said there is a bright future for agriculture not only in Bruce County but for the rest of Ontario as well. "It's an exciting future. Over the last seven or eight years seeing how well agri- culture has done in such a tough econ- omy is great to see. The agriculture sector has also provided so many people with jobs especially people coming out of post secondary school," said Jilesen." Anyone is welcome to come to the BCFA meetings held the fourth Monday of every Monday the Bruce County building in Walkerton added Jilesen. "Anyone can come to our meetings. We provide a positive environment and everyone there is a volunteer and anyone passionate about agriculture in Bruce County we highly recommend joining us. For more information on the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture, visit www.ofa.on.ca/about/county-federa- tion-sites/bruce.aspx or call 519-364- 3050 (Hanover office).