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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