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The Huron Expositor, 1976-05-06, Page 21N A N HOEGY'S FARM SUPPLY LTD BRODHAGEN Phone 345-2941 • Bagged and Bulk Fertiliz e r for Pickup, Delivery and - Bulk Custom Spread Bulk Granulated Ammonium Sulphate in stock MNINI• 1.111 @IMMO 01.1.0 Keep CORN input costs at a minimum by using Anhydrous Ammonia, Farm Cheimitals or spring planting are now in stock ' Bladex Sutan Aatrex Lasso Fu'radan Eptam Afesin Patoran Basagran Treflan to name a few '$4 SHOULD HAVE EXPECTED DIFFICULTY — "New producers should have expected difficulty in getting established," Ken 'McKinnon (left), Vice-Chairman of the Ontario M ilk Marketing Board, told a meeting of over 125 concerned dairy farmers in Blyth Thursday. Larry Hunter, Ontario Milk Marketing fieldman, and Ian Kennedy, Milk Industry Branch, look on while McKinnon explains the farmers' position. Dairy farmers say they are olitical. footballs for export market Free Estimotes tio Job Too Small DAVE HEIMPEL DECORATING Painting, Papering, Light Carpentry; Floor Sanding and. Refinishing Industrial, Commercial and Residential. _ STRATFORD • D. HEIMPEL WM.' MOSES 393-5590 (We accept collect calls) 271.6305 •••••#.414~1y40,1:40 4.••••••••••••••• • •••••••••••• Lower Interest Rates NOW AVAILABLE ON 1st and 2nd Mortgages anywhere in Ontario on RESIDENTIAL — INDUSTRIAL COMMERCIAL and FARM PROPERTIES Interim financing on new construction or land development REPRESENTATIVES IN YOUR AREA ' PHONE SAFEWAY INVESTMENTS & CONSULTANTS LTD. Head Office: 56 Webcr Street, Kitchener, 15191 744-6535 Branch Office: 705 Goderich Street, Port Eigin.15191832.9510 WE BUY EXISTING MORTGAGES FOR INSTANT CASH FASTER FEEDING LESS CLIMBING THE BERG SILANLOADER Check these featuress — Three point suspension for blow in and feed out, the same day convenience ' — No leveling or waiting for silo to settle — Spring loaded auger always cuts clean on edge of silo — Power ring drive always level, always positive — 26" Blade Blower' handles bulky haylage easily with low RPM, for lest bearing problems and high output — Heavier than competition auger for longer tasting s durability • Couple this with a REASONABLE PRICE and you have an • unbeatable combination. Write or phone for free estimates on your particular needs. • Keith Sietnon. Mobbing & Farm Equipment R.R.#4, Waltori,'Ontario Phone 3454734 a* ?la wow •AnN ul Loa IIVSAVTKIAIr imiimatitaistioastiNitoriarnwitlititatat Barn Cleaning, Disinfecting and Spraying with CARBOLA Also Cattle Spraying for Lice and Warble • Control J DAY or ' We, try to keep the SERVICE RITE Report from. Queen's Park Dairy farmers protest quota reductions '4' —m On Libs are a actsted by BobBobIrottar. Ektal• Rd:, ElnorsTObt, N3B 2C7 INVESTED 80,000 Paul PasSmbre, an Usborne father's dairy herd at the encouragement of the .Township dairy farmer built this new dairy barn at an Ontario government. Now he faces possible investment of approximately $80,000, expanding.his . bankruptdy. Huron will fly own flag BY Shirley J. Keller ' With any luck at all, the County of Huron will be flying its own ensign by the first of July this year. The property committee of Huron County Council reported Thursday it has ordered 114 ensigns - 27" x 54" at a total cost of $2,078.22, from Gamester Advertising Service Limited. The blue and 'white ensign bearing the county crest and the trillium was the design agreed upon following a flag contest in Huron last year. The flag manufacturer has modified the design somewhat to facilitate production. , The flags will be for sale tIrroughoid the. tOurity for abOut $20 each. The now-defunct food prices review board has been se- verely criticized by farmers and 'farm organizations for the final report which tried to find a villain in the food-price chain. The final report of the board before most of those who were working for it joined the anti-inflation board, includ- ing Beryl Plumptre, suggested in strong terms that farm marketing boards were the villains. Not so. said farmers, Not so, said Eugene Whelan and Bill Newman„ the federal and provincial ministers of agri- culture. „ There just ain't no villain unless you can blame world- wide inflation, they said. But R.G. Wirick. a research di- rector for the food prices board and now on . the staff of the anti-inflation board, maintains that "the marketing board option i to stability in farm incomes) has little, if anything, to recommend it." I *disagree with Mr. Wirick although I do not accept marketing boards without a few reservations. For instance I do not like complete production control because this im- plies quotas and quotas have a way of beconiing valuable. Witness what happened in milk quotas in Ontario until the milk marketing board put a freeze on the sale price of quotas.. , Those quota prices tend to be integrated into cost of production and that, it seems to me. is an unfair burden to place on the consumer because the consumer must pay more for the product. Policing the quota system can be-_ come an extremely costly procedure, Just ask the. people in charge of quotas for the Canadian Egg. Marketing Agency.. Marketing boards have their drawbacks. But until something better comes along, farmers should pull out all the stops to reinforce them. They need to fight back when boards. are criticized. Mr. Wirick proved in his report to the old food prices board that farmers are no poorer, on average, than any other Canadian. He says that, in 1970, the average farmer was making $2.300 less than'tiie average Canadian worker. But in 1973, the average farmer made $4.000 more' than the average Cana`clianworker. Therefore, Mr. Wirick concludes, the average farmer in Canada is doing fine„ thank yen, What bothers, ine is something 'that ,has Oen said, before in this corner. .Why shouldn't most farmers in Onada, particularly in Ontario, make 1141‘,0411 the average car' nadian? The average farmer has one ,heiNva .investment in land, buildings and eqnipmgnt that Ihe average calla, than worker does not have to lay out to pialce4tiow; The average Canadian farmer fps an itiVegrnent Of at least $100.000, probably much mere, in his, operatkkil which other workers do not have. Is it asking too inueb, for That farmer to get a little return on his investment? 'omething else that should be taken, into consideration, to d. is that a great many farmers depend on members of their families for much of the labor on the farm. IL really amounts to slave labor, in the long run, for some family members. They get little compensation for their toil. And that is another reason why so many young people have left the farm. They worked like slaves for years siw- ply because the returns to the farmer were not great enough to pay them. When- an opportunity to make some money arose, they took it. They thumbed their noses at the Old Man and left, Mr. Wirick's statistics proved that farmers are not poor. He proved they make just as .much money as the average worker. But is that enough? Farmers have to contend with the vagaries of the mar- ket place. They have a tremendous outlay in capital. And of far greater importance. they have to contend with the weather. They take all kinds of risks every day throughout the planting, growing and harvesting seasons that would make your average Canadian worker cringe. Farmers do not punch a clock. They don't gather around the water coolers or the coffee lounge or call in sick three days a Month. If 'Mr. Wiriek's figures are correct — and . I'm in no position to doubt them — then farmers are making as much as the,,average Canadian workers. But is it not rea- sonable to suggest that they should make more than the average because of-the investmentthey have-and -the-risks they must take? (By John.Miner) ".The future though may be too far. away for those dairy farmers who have to meet bank payments now and had expected to cover their investment by their increased production... , One such case is Albert • Whiting ' of R.R.#I , Ethel. Mr Whiting said that because of the 15 percent cut he would have to sharply decrease his herd just after he had built it up to 40 cows, investing from $35;000, to $40,000 in the operation. "There will be- a shortage next year and I will have to build it up. The government is making a roller coaster out of it! Now I can't • pay the principal on the loans which I took out, specifically because of the Ontario government's policy, I'm facing bankruptcy because the govern- ment isn't keeping its word," said Whiting. Whiting has calculated that the 15% cut will mean a loss of $3,500 • in income. "I'd like to take a can of milk and dump it over the whole country", said Mr. Whiting ,,who was detained by police and later released after and warned in Toronto for dumping milk outside the Ontario legislature last week. *'We are just political footballs for the export market with industry getting the benefit." Alice Burt of R.R.#1, Ethel, is another dairy farmer who will be hurt because of expansion.`Over the last two years the Burts have built up their 'dairy herd and are now caught. "This month we are overshipping by 10,000 lbs. and next month we ,will be over- shipping by t5,000 lbs. In order for us to stay within the quota we will have to cut our herd size by half or dump our milk." she said. Mrs. Burt has no intention of taking the situation sitting down. "By the time I get finished everyone in this country is going to know what happened,." she said. She said she planned to form a feminine delegation and go 'to Ottawa but she refused to say when they would go. "They are not going to have a chance to put up barricades on us like they did in Toronto". Mrs. Burt said prOducers aren't allowed to. advertise, but that several people around' Ethel intended to put up signs with just "Surplus" written on them and this would mean that anyone could drop in and obtain milk free. or leave some money behind. Mrs. Burt said that the Ontario Milk Marketing Boardd—Should raise the price of 'butter, since they were losing that tnarket anyway, and lower the priCe of skim milk powder. "That way the surplus will be taken care of." • Paul Passmore is a 23-year-old dairy farmer in Usborne Township who also greatly expanded his dairy, operation in the last year. Mr. Passmore built a new dairy barn at an investment of approximately $80,000 and expanded his herd size from his father's original fifty cows to a hundred at a cost of another $50,000. Now he has his back to the wall with not much room to turn. "Why should the industrial milk producers take the brunt of ,the problem. Why aren't the fluid producers being penalized? Only 80 percent of their milk goes to fluid and the other 20 percent goes into industrial. If you took away the milk from the fluid which goes into industrial there wouldn't be the surplus problem. I think the Ontairo Milk Marketing Board should be called the Ontario fluid Milk Producers marketing Board", Mr. Passmore says. 'Mr. McKinnon of the Milk Marketing Board claims the board did consider cutting back those who hadlluid quota as well but decided against it. "Pe ople are going into group one (fluid) to protect themselves against such situations as the. present one, We could see no reason to 'discriminate. against them.". 'Mr. Passmore says that it will be very difficult for him to obtain any more quota so that he wouldn't have tq cut back his herd drastically. "Unless you know somebody who is 'selling out y ou can't get quota. It's going to be who you know, not how hard you work or what you know', he said, A lot of industrial producers would be willing to take less if they could sell it all", said Passmore. You just can't switch a cow on and off.. "I wish a hundred times every day that I had never built that barn. Dairy farming is hard enough without .having to worry about selling the damn stuff.," By Murray Gaunt Harry Parrott, Colleges and Universities Mini;ter, said this week he = will' make an announcement within two weeks about "differentials" in university tuition fees for foreign students. , . Foreign students on student visas comprise five per cent of Ontario university under- graduates and fifteen per cent of graduate students. , It appears that Ontario has decided to charge foreign students a foreign student fee surcharge, and only the amount remains to be decided. A number of angry dairy farmers turned up at the Legislature this week to protest the recent milk quota reductions of fifteen per cent by the Federal Government. The Provincial Government "an' involvement through the Ontario Milk Marketing Board and also through the provincial program called IMPIP, which was, a . program the Province announced in July of 1973 designed to encourage industrial milk production in the ProVince. Now there is a surplus of milk , and many dairy producers feel that, since they were encouraged to increase production by the Province, the Province now has a responsibility to assist them through this difficult adjustment period. In conversations I have had over the past- number of weeks, ,and particularly the last few days, with the Minister and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, I am told that the Ministry is studying several alternatives to try and assist_produeers-teetbpe with their t reduced income due to the cutback. The existing distribution system for Wintario lottery tickets will be scrapped when the Olympic , Lottery operation in Ontario is.wound up, according to Culture and 'Recreation Minister Robert Welch, He indicated it will probably be 'replaced with a system that requires fewer distributors, generally handling more tickets, once incomes have to be'derived from a single lottery. The official agreement under which Olympic Lottery tickets are sold in Ontario expires at the end of August. OMR ••••••• 1.111•11 M.,=• 0111•110.1 1 Seed Corn supplies are still available United RX30 Trojan . • e TX90 Dekalb XL 12 Northrup King PX20 also National Grass Seeds available I v.. omoye. imam owl“.1....“01.1 mom* MOM .0frir HOEGY'S FARM SUPPLY