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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1969-03-27, Page 14Pay 14 Times-Advocate, Mi.rch 27, 1969 GROWERS AND CANNERS MEET At the annual Can-Crop goodwill banquet at the Exeter Legion Hall, Wednesday, Gordon Hill, a member of the select committee on farm income was the guest speaker. Above, Mr, Hill, extreme right is chatting with Ted Wright, head fieldman of the Exeter branch of Canadian Canners and area farmers Walter McBride and Rheiny Keller. T-A photo Claim clock set back To form national union The Provincial Board of Directors of the O.F.U. met in Guelph on March 18 and 19. The Board reaffirmed its earlier decision to integrate into a National Farmers' Union. Following the unco-operative attitude of the Federation of Agriculture, their continuous recedings on agreements, and their decision to accept the Government's Farm Income Committee G.F.O. proposals, the Board felt that it would be useless to waste more precious time. 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R, 2, HENSALL, ONTARIO 262-5626 Unified voice may assist .fair return for farmers A unified voice for farmers may be the solutipn to helping farmers get a fair return for their investment and labor, a group of Huron and Perth farmers were told at the eighth annual Can Crop banquet held at the Exeter Legion Hal, Wednesday, Gordon Hill, Varna, a member of the special committee on farm income, said farmers needed one organization whichcan speak with one voice for farmers, The single organization was one of the many recommen- dations presented by the special committee and another member of that committee, Malcolm Davidson, Brucefield, is presently working towards a vote of Ontario farmers to see if they agree with the idea. Hill said that the June vote would require support of 60 percent of those voting to be carrie. Hill, a former president of the Ontario Farmers' Union, explained there was presently two organizations in Ontario representing farmers and sometimes they opposed each other in an attempt to gain new members. He said some of the opposition was not in the farmers' best interests. He said lack of finances, along with the duplication and waste involved in having two groups, made them both ineffective. The Varna farmer also said the marketing boards control the Fed. of Agriculture, while the Farmers' Union understands very little about the operation of marketing boards. "The best the marketing boards can do is get the price the market allows," he said. Hill said the new organization should use the best of both present organizations and should be aggressive and militant. "It should strive to gain this if it can't achieve its goals otherwise," he said. The need for farmers to control farming was also one of the points made by the special committee. Hill said farmers must join together and take control of farming to develop programs with the other segments of the food cahin. "To compete (with other countries and areas) we must increase our efficiency, but we musn't depend on efficiency alone to solve our income problem," he said. Speaking about subsidies, he said subsidies which helped develop farmers' abilities were good, but product subsidies have not answered the farmers' needs. He said they have glutted markets, kept people in farming who shouldn't be and have increased land value and therefore production costs. However, he Said if other segments of the economy were to be subsidized, then farmers would have to be too. In the field of credit, Hill said there was a need to get away from security as a guideline in borrowing and replace it with a system where the capacity of the farm management to repay was the basis for loans. OTHERS INVOLVED Taking a look at those associated with farming through the "input industries," Hill noted that only 10 percent of the consumers' dollars go to the farmers and therefore those getting the other 90 percent must also be as efficient as possible so food can be as cheap as possible and still provide an adequate income for all concerned. "If we're going to compete, we'll have to buy inputs at prices comparable to our competitors," he advised, adding that people in the input industries would have to put their own houses in order or the government should be asked to step in and make them do so. President claims deception, untruth Walter Miller, of Tara, President of the Ontario Farmers' Union, says, "The OFA campaign committee for a General Farm Organization, headed by Malcolm Davidson, is founded on deception and half-truths when this committee calls itself "an independent body." Miller made this statement after the Wingham telecast "Focus on the Farm" held March 16, 1969. Mr. Ken McKinnon, a member of the OFA Finance Committee which reported a few months ago at the Federation annual convention and presently a newly appointed member of the OFA Campaign Committee, said during the Wingham telecast "we are a committee of independent people really not working for anyone, but attempting to gather support across this province." Further, during the telecast, Mr. McKinnon, who is a director of the Ontario Milk Marketing Board, went further to skirt the issues when questioned about the members of the campaign committee and their relationship to the Federation of Agriculture. Mr. Miller Is presently saying, "I challenge the statement made by the OFA Campaign Committee that it is an independent body." The farmers were told they would also have to become more aggressive marketers and would have to learn "what, where and when" the market wants and then follow these guidelines. He was highly critical of governments urging people to get into farming when in fact there were already almost twice as many farmers and land in Ontario than was needed, Hill pointed to the fact there were millions of acres in Western Canada producing goods for which there was no market and yet the government was spending public money clearing more agricultural land. He noted that the Ontario government had also "lured" some people into farming in this province when it was impractical and he urged this be curtailed immediately and that a program be developed to help these people adjust to other occupations. It was also noted that marketing was one of the main areas in which changes were required. "The problem is not how to produce enough, but bow to market it so we can produce adequate incomes," he stated. He said farmers would have to use the same basis as any other industry and market their produce in the quantities and at the time it can be absorbed. WILL IT WORK In a question and answer period, Harry Strang asked if all the diversified elements found in farming could be held together in one organization. Hill replied it would depend on the organization and it would need people who would listen to radicals or they (the radicals) would start another organization. However, he said if the single organization did its job, there would be little appeal for other organizations which may start. "Don't build an organization because we want to," Hill said in conclusion, "build it because we need it." He said this is what prompted the formation of the Farmers' Union. He said farmers would be "daft" if they think they can build an organization and then sit back and watch it work. "Build it and then the work starts," he said, adding it would require the active participation of all farmers. He said emphatically it would have to be a business organization, and not a fraternal one, and men who can do the job should be the only ones elected. "The only thing standing in our way is farmers," he concluded, "and the only thing that will hold it back is farmers." Co-chairmen for the banquet were Jules Del3rabandere and Jack Urquhart, DeBrabandere said in his remarks that the farmers and the processors must work together to bring success to both. Other head table guests included Don Pullen, Huron ag rep; Newt Ashton, Perth ag rep; Ted Wright, head fieldman at Canadian Canners, Exeter; Exeter Mayor Jack Delbridge, and their wives. The wives of the farmers in attendance were treated to a talk by Dr. Louise Elder, a chemist with Canadian Canners. She told of the canning process and also showed slides of Europe taken during her recent trip there. h RMER! Looking For More Money For Your Livestock? TRY THE SASKATCHEWAN WHEAT POOL LIVESTOCK DIVISION TALBOTVI LLE ALL SLAUGHTER CATTLE DELIVERED FRIDAY ARE SOLD SATURDAY MORNING FOR TRUCKS OR INFORMATION CALL ST. THOMAS 631-1850 that the Government's Farm Income Committee G.F.O. proposals are like setting the clock back 20 years and that they have proven inadequate throughout farm organization's history. "Farmers today recognize that their problems are National and cannot be solved by a Provincial organization or government. Farm leaders who lead farmers to believe otherwise are being less than honest. For the past fourteen months we have shown our goodwill ,and talked and listened to the proposals of the Establishment only to find that they betrayed us each time," said Mr. Miller, President of the Union. At the Convention held in Kingston, last November, the grassroot members voted for a plan that would set up a totally integrated National Farm Organization, in which the locals, districts, and Province of the Ontario Farmers' Union as presently constituted would function' as. a•-: Region of the N.F.U., and would be then better equipped to deal with regional (or Provincial) matters as it would be backed by the resources of a National Organization. At the same time, it would enable farmers across this country to unite and to stop allowing the production of farmers in one part of the country being used to lower prices in other parts. A National Farmers' Union will be able to deal more effectively and on the same level with the Farm Supply and Farm Product Processing Corporations, to increase farmers' net incomes. The Convention's delegates decided last November to integrate into a National Organization after 90 days. The Provincial Board has now authorized the Executive to proceed with the plans in accordance with the membership's decision. The founding convention has been set by the National Farmers' Union's Committee for July 30th, and 31st. Hog producers meet in Toronto More than 500 delegates attended the annual convention of the Ontario Hog Producers Marketing Board held at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto last week. Ross Love, who represented Alf Warner for Goderich township told the T-A Tuesday afternoon "It was the largest turnout I have seen in my 20 years at the meeting and every township in the province was represented. Township representatives from Huron, Grey and Bruce made up Zone 6 and presented three resolutions that were passed by the delegates. Love said the most important resolution passed was one that would scrap the present farm organizations, the UFO and F of A and come up with a new group with a new name. Also, each marketing board would be a part of the new organization. A second resolution asked that promotion of pork products be increased rather than decreased. In 1968 the budget for pork promotion was down by 25%. The marketing board was urged by it's delegates to take strong action to prevent pork and pork products from entering Canada at prices lower than that —Please turn to page 15 I