HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1976-04-01, Page 114.H con fe ence
Times-Advocqlo, April 1, 1974 Page 11
Member enjoys experience
• DISCUSSING THE NEW EQUIPMENT at Monteith's are, from left to
right, Alvie Lovell, Bob Blair, Nielson Monteith, proprietor, Ross
Bollanytne and Jerry Moffatt, The farm equipment from International
Harvester was on display
house.
at Monteith's as part of their open
photo by Youngs,
Soil fertility and cultivation
signs of good farm management
Why you
should let
H&R Block
worry about your
income taxes.
If the Tax Department
notifies you of a
reassessment on your
return, H&R Block is
available to help you
all year, at no extra
Cost.
Get 4s lilac peace of mjild,
118t14 BLOCK
THE INCOME TAX PEOPLE
383 Main St.
Open 9.6 Weekdays
9.5 Saturday
Phone 2354905
No tspaainimeat necessary
We'll get
your bins up
in a hurry.
In designing grain bins, Butler has
come upon a very simple principle. By
widening the corrugations, we've re-
duced the number of sheets of steel.
This, plus our zig-zag bolting makes
Butler bins fast and easy to install.
What's more, our bins are 12%
stronger as a result.
Other features include a tighter foun-
dation seal, single-stage roof arid a
step-in-hinged door,
As a Butler Dealer, we can give you all
the details. See us soon.
••"-"1:= = = = Z = = = =
'40-3UTLEF>
PERTH
AGRI BUILDERS
RR 2
Staffa, Ont
Phone (519) 345-2284
multommatow,t
Don't Wait . .
ORDER
We have all types of
GRASS SEED
We will mix and treat all
purchases to your specifications
Watch for our
Spring Specials
In Next Week's Times-Advocate
mcgoN4
EXETER
DISTRICT
2354081 Beside CNR station
dfaESrta,ZZ.ZLNZFSZEEStfRtMCZM:iaYM:
SPRING FEVER
/SALE? MF
Massey Ferguson
It's time to spring into action—and we're
offering special low prices on all new MF
farm tractors under 80 pto hp. Check how
much you save:
Apt ., 5 at ,,„ —.41 i 101 r„ iiminuLglossorwii
...., M in
01)fr.
......"*.
-tir ...,-
N N. .='...1411".-, '
V
MODEL YOU CAN NOW SAVE
MF 230 Tractor $500.00
MF 235 Tractor $400.00
MF 255 Tractor $400.00
MF 265 Tractor $400.00
MF 275 Tractor $400,00
Limited to available inventories until April 30th, 1916
If you need a new tractor this spring, you can't
beat these prices. Come see, come SAVE!
SHERWOOD (Exeter) Ltd.
18 Weiiiii0ton St. 285.0743 xetot
ID
Every farmer realizes there
must be appropriate moisture,
heat and soil fertility, coupled
with proper land cultivation, to
produce maximum crop yields.
In Ontario occasionally there is
insufficient rainfall, or too
much, or too little heat, There
isn't much one can do about it
either. But soil fertility and land
cultivation to a large degree, are
management decisions,
During early February of this
year I had the opportunity to see
at first hand just how productive
the barren desert of South-
. Western U.S.A. can be when
abundant moisture is added
through irrigation. Consumers
who enjoy fresh vegetables dur-
ing the winter months can be
thankful for the enormous
production achieved by using
water from the Colorado River,
as well as from other lesser
rivers, and from huge ground
water pumping systems.
I visited the U.S.D.A.
Research Farm at Brawley,
located in the Imperial Valley of
California, and talked with the
Director, Dr. B, D. Meek. Accor-
ding to the Imperial County crop
report for 1974 there were 436,000
acres of field crops grown, i.e.
barley, cotton, wheat. sugar
beets, alfalfa and pasture. Also
grown were over 84.000 acres of
vegetables. Of this huge acreage
49,000 acres of head lettuce was
grown. The remainder consisted
of asparagus. cabbage. can-
taloupes, cucumbers, garlic,
onions, squash, watermelons,
tomatoes (3000 acres), etc. — all
grown under irrigation. The
Imperial Valley is approximate-
ly 200 feet below sea level. The
soil contains much salt;
therefore special treatment of
the soil must be provided to ob-
tain optimum yields.
The annual rainfall in the
Imperial Valley is about 2 in-
ches. While there was much
news media concern regarding
the 3 month drought that ended
in the second week of February
in California and northern
Arizona, the farmers in the
Valley were not at all
111 enthusiastic about the amount of
I rain they got, They much prefer
t to prepare the land, plant their
, crops and then irrigate accor-
dingly, The extra water received
in rainfall simply threw their
fertility program and their con-
trol of the salt content of the soil
right out of whack. So it would
appear rain can he a mixed
blessing even in the desert.
There is no question the
Imperial Valley of California,
with warm climate the year
around, permits its producers to
Gabian Stone
Calcium Chloride
n 100 pound bags
! sand & Stone
travel
tone for
Veeping Beds
EIRL LIPPERT
TRICKING LTD.
Cediton 234.6382
0*
among our best friends. Most of
our meals were put on by
different companies and
organizations. These companies
all belong to the Canadian Coun-
cil on 4-li Clubs and donate a lot
of time and money to the Conn-
ell,
The Conference itself was bas-
ed on crime and justice with
visits to metro police head-
quarters and a visit to a Criminal
Court Trial. There were also
panel discussions arranged
where the delegates had a
chance to ask questions concer-
ning any part of law enforce-
ment.
The panel members were from
all parts of the Criminal Justice
System, for example: a police of-
ficer, an ex-inmate, a parole
We recently added a
system called CANCHEK to
our Scotia Farm Services
Package. CANCHEK's a
simple, inexpensive way of
getting our business people
and computers to do your
books and paperwork.
So come in and talk
to a Scotiabank manager
about CANCHEK and all
the other features of Scotia
Farm Services. But do it
now, before you get into the
spring rush.
Scotiabank
grow crops continuously, alter-
nating lettuce and sugar beets,
which are winter crops, with
wheat, cotton, sorghum, etc.,
which can stand the extreme
heat of summer. They normally
harvest 6 to 8 crops of alfalfa
each year. Hay was selling at $80
to $90 a tan, and was testing 23 to
30('( protein. It is the lettuce
capital of the United States. We
saw trainloads of refrigerated
freight cars being loaded with
boxes of head lettuce, after they
went through huge cooling
refrigerators right from the
trucks bringing the boxes direct-
ly from the fields. There were
line-ups of huge refrigerated van
trucks waiting to be loaded. The
product is shipped all over
U.S. A, and Canada, with much of
it coming directly to the Ontario
Food Terminal in Toronto from
where it is distributed
throughout Ontario.
Being personally intensely in-
terested in Research, I was
greatly impressed with the plant
breeding, soil testing, insect con-
trol and variety selection work
being done at the Brawley
Agricultural Research Farm.
Interestingly enough when it was
thought a few years ago the farm
might be phased out, the farmers
in the Valley put up the finances
to acquire the 160-acre farm on
the understanding the U.S.D.A.
and the State of California would
continue to operate it. Their in-
vestment has paid handsome
dividends through the use being
made of the research results.
One can drive for miles in
Southern California and Arizona
across desert Valleys where only
a few cactus or sage brush
grows. Then all of a sudden one
sees the most lush crops, citrus
groves, alfalfa fields, etc, Where
once there was nothing, the addi-
tion of water irrigation has
transformed the area to top
productivity the year around,
and one doesn't need a very vivid
imagination to understand the
boost given to the area's
economy.
A typical illustration is the
Palo Verde Valley where 106,000
acres have been reclaimed from
the desert through the diversion
of water from the famous
Colorado River, I have never
seen such crops being grown, the
land was perfectly level as far as
the eye could see, there wasn't a
stone in sight, and the rich soil
seemed to go down to a great
depth. One farmer told me he
can understand why the United
States wants to acquire water
from Western Canada. It is hard
for them to understand why the
enormous volume of water
produced by the run-off from the
Canadian Rocky Mountains is not
put to better use for food produc-
tion. Their argument that they
have the climate to use it
appears valid. Perhaps as time
goes on, and the demand for food
continues to grow with an ever
increasing population, some
mutually satisfactory arrange-
ment could be developed to bring
such essential irrigation water to
the vast barren desert lands of
the South Western United States.
There is abundant evidence of
vastly increased yields of alfalfa,
sugar beets, cereals and corn „in
southern Alberta to demonstrate
what can be done to- produce
more food products through
irrigation. Why more irrigation
hasn't been practised in Western
Canada, no one knows. Ontario,
bordered by the Great Lakes, has
abundant fresh water at our very
doorstep. Eastern Ontario,
where much top quality land is to
be found, has a great number of
smaller lakes and rivers that
might well be used to produce
high protein forage for the
livestock industry to which
Eastern Ontario is so well suited.
There can be little doubt that
as time goes on proper land tile
drainage, coupled, where possi-
ble, with available irrigation
water will provide a production
combination that could vastly in- -
crehse food production in On-
tario. ICS a thought all farmers
and consumers alike should be
considering.
fi=
By BARRY MILLER
RR 3, Exeter
The Conference is held in
Toronto every year and 4-II
members from each province
and six members from the
United States attend. The
method of being selected differs
from province to province. In
Ontario there are two provincial
conferences — one for
homemaking clubs and one for
agricultural clubs.
Each county of district selects
a certain number of members to
attend these provincial con-
ferences. From each provincial
conference there are a number
of members asked to take part in
additional conferences and ex-
changes and I was fortunate
enough to be one of these
members.
The Conference is organized by
the Canadian Council on 4-H
Clubs. The transportation to and
from Toronto was left to each
province to organize.
I travelled by train from Lon-
don to Toronto which is an ex-
perience in itself finally arriving
at the Royal York in Toronto
which was to be our head-
quarters for the next five days.
The delegates from Ontario
were asked to a luncheon to meet
our staff member from Ontario
that would be with us for the
Conference. At the luncheon we
were briefed on the Conference
and its history. That evening all
the delegates attended a recep-
tion and dinner followed by a get
acquainted program where we
really got involved in meeting
the many interesting people
from all over Canada and the
United States.
Little did we know that by the
end of the week we would know
most of them by their first
names and would consider them
supervisor and a probation of-
ficer.
We also had the opportunity to
attend the Royal Winter Fair,
the theatre, a tour of Toronto,
the Ice Capades and the Ontario
Science Centre.
On the last night we attended .a
final banquet and farewell party
that went into the small boars of
the morning, On the train, on my
way back to London, I realized I
had probably just experienced
one of the most rewarding weeks
of my life.
I had met a lot of new and ex..
citing people both from Canada
and the States and even though I
may never see them again I will
remember them and the ex-
periences and knowledge I
received from them.
TAX TIPS :FOR'
• CANADIAN'
FAFINWIk1S:
is
4. I NI I Go is ise..
54,95. 144 page value,
free for Scotialvank farm
customers while quaiitities
last. Ask the nianaer when
.ou speak to him about
111•21 Zl0
was cutting his alfalfa as often as
11 times annually. I frankly had
some doubts about that, but on
checking with others learned this
could easily be the case. That
same farmer harvested 11.
million pounds of cooking onions
off 32 acres this summer. They
also grew the large Spanish type
onions. Interestingly their entire
crop of onions was purchased by
a produce wholesaler for
MacDonalds Restaurants, who
claim they sell 17 billion ham-
burgers annually. No wonder
they use a lot of onions!
Immediately east of the Palo
Verde Valley one crosses the
Colorado River where the
Parker Valley is being reclaimed
from the bald desert, Some 65,-
000 acres is already in production
with another 35,000 acres in the
development stage, i.e. clearing,
irrigation channels, roads, etc.
Here again the water from the
Colorado River, which flows
through the Grand Canyon —
over a mile deep, is being used to
transform barren wasteland into
highly productive food producing
acres.
And there are hundreds of
thousands of acres of the most
beautiful land one couldimagine
finding, yet to be developed for
food production if water for
irrigation could be found. The
climate is just ideal, crops can
and are being grown the year
around. While irrigation is being
used more and more in Ontario,
and indeed in parts of Western
Canada, we just don't have the
type of climate to continuously
grow crops to help offset the high
capital cost required for such in-
tensive irrigation systems. One
Put our office staff and
computers to work on your
books and paperwork
now.
Get free
tax tips
book now.
THE BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA
Arnold Laithwaite
1-Acter 235-1142