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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1980-10-15, Page 16Wingham Memorial Shop QUALITY SERVICE CRAFTSMANSHIP , Open Every Weekday Your Guarantee for Over 35 Years of CEMETERY LETTERING BOX.158, WINGHAM JOHN MALLICK 16 — THE BRUSSELS-POSTrOCTOBER 15 1980 Wants foreign ownership freeze Continued from page 3 in Mr. Van Beer's words. The federation director said "neither Merle or I had sent him an apology." 'Mr. Van Beers said the minister told the farmers his figures showed only 5,000 acres of Ontario farmland is owned by foreign investors. Mr, Van Beers said a Rural Development. Outreach Project (RDOP) study done by the University of Guelph has found there are over 7,000 acres of farmland owned by absentee owners. The Huron County Federation director said. Ralph Barrie, OFA president, also met with Lorne Henderson without any' success. Mr. Van Beers said concern about foreign ownership is now causing an uproar in Mr. Henderson's home riding in Lambton County where 900 acres was sold to a non-resident Mr. Van Beers said concern over non-resident ownership is "snowballing now", and he said federation members will be keeping up the pressure on the minister to take action on the issue. Mr. Van Beers said Mr. Henderson can use a ministerial order to put a freeze on non-resident pur- chases of farmland while registration of these pur- chases takes place. Mr. Van Beers said the four farmers who met with the agriculture minister gave up a "beautiful day" when they could have been harvesting crops on their farm. He said in addition to the Huron County Federation's resolution, they also presented the minister with resolutions from the Women's Institute and Colborne Township council which expressed concern over non-resident ownership of farmland. Following their meeting with Henderson, the Huron delegation met with Jack Riddell, Huron MPP and Liberal agricultural critic in the legislature and Murray Gaunt, MPF for Huron-- Bruce. They also met with the New Democratic Party's agricultural critic, Donald -MacDonald. Mr. Riddell and Mr. Gaunt told the delegation the minister is not prevented from taking action by the bill now before the legislature.It is very simple they said, to attach an amendment to the bill placing a freeze on the • purchase of Ontario farmland by foreign non-resident interests for the time period covered by the bill. TENTATIVE PLANS Huron Federation of Agricultune president, Merle Gunby, said there are tentative plans to take a resolution to the Ontario . Federation of Agriculture asking the OFA to request a freeze on the sale of Ontario farmland to foreign absentee owners. The Huron federation hopes the clout of a resolution from the pro- vincial organization may have a greater effect on the' minister. Mr. Gunby said the Ontario agriculture minister finally admitted at the Thursday meeting there is a problem with foreign absentee ownership in Huron County at least. Last month, the Huron, Federation called. for the resignation of the minister unless he took immediate action, to curb the sale of Ontario's farmland to foreign absentee interests. Mr. Henderson's response to the call for his resignation was to quote yet again, the results of a ministry of by Pat Lynch, Soils & Crops Spec. Ted Rothmel, I don't have to tell you that the corn borer has cost you money this year. The prob- lems are - how much is it costing and what can you do. I have checked some fields this past two weeks. I have found up to 25% of the plants lodged due to corn borer. I have also seen fields that have more than 25% of the plants lodged due to causes other than corn borer. However, I will .talk about corn borer first. Control methods for corn borer are calculated on controlling enough of the corn borers to make it worthwhile most. years. You can't get rid of all of them. To control corn borer you have to check for damage in July. If you have a certain peicentage of plants with eggs or early feeding signs, you spray. This spray will control a percentage of the borers. It will kill the borer that it comes in contact with. However, this spray only lasts for a short time. It will not kill borers that hatch later in the year. So you see the problem. You can spray for corn borer but unless this spray is timed right, it won't do any good. It also is recommended to be sprayed into the whorl of the plant. Can yoin, sprayer do that? Another factor involves the number of eggs laid in relation to usual yield de- pression. CORN BORER NO WORSE THIS YEAR There was no significant d,irference in the number of adults laying eggs this year as opposed to last year. We obtained this information from the people who monitor corn borer every year. How- ever, there may have been greater survival of eggs laid. Or the one 'that did hatch may have done more damage But, given average 'condi- tions, the number of adults around this year usually would not make spraying Pay. A big, difference seems to be related to hybrid differ- ences. This difference, I interpret as stalk strength. I have checked 3 of the area corn trial demonstrations this past week. There is a big ddifference in standability. You may interpret this as corn borer tolerance, I, inter- pret it as stalk strength. When I see a hybrid standing like a fence and the hybrid next to it hugging, the ground, to me that's a difference in stalk strength. I don't believe the farmer who suggested that "the adults of the corn borer check for corn hybrid signs and then only eat certain hybrids". PLAN OF ATTACK FOR 1981 Pick strong stalked hybrids agriculture study which says land belonging to foreign absentee owners in the province is less than 1 per- cent. He did invite re- presentatives of the Huron. Federation to meet with him The federation was This will buy you some borer tolerance. If you are going to spray, you have to check for feeding damage in July. We can show you with slidei at winter meetings what to look for. The timing of this spray is critical. Too,.early and the spray is gone before the eggs hatch. Too late and the borer will get into the stalk and the spray will miss them. A popular misconception is that deep ploughing will reduce next years', corn borer damage. Deep ploughing may slightly reduce the number of ' adults that em- erge from your fields. It won't reduce those that overwinter• in your neigh- bour's fields. His will fly to your fields. As well, any benefit from deep ploughing will be offset by detriments of poor soil management. MORE DOLLARS ON WEED CONTROL I think that you can make more money by getting a better handle on weed con- trol. In general, I think our weed control is better than last year. But I hope it's not as good as it will be next year. When you are com- bining, write down what In a study published by Donald Hillman, Michigan State University, the dairy nutritionist found that feed- ing cows excessive amounts. of iodine' can harm milk production and result in poor reproductive performance. It is suggested by Hillman that producers analyse the 'amount of iodine fed in their rations. In that study carried out on dairy herds in Michi- gan on cows fed various amounts of ioding (from about 10 mg to more that 400 mg/cow daily), milk production decreased as the iodine content of the milk increased. Milk from herds receiving the recommended level of iodine contained about 0.1 to 0.2 parts per million (ppm) iodine. Herds fed iodine to control foot rot received 50 to more that. 400 mg iodine daily. Milk pro- duced, decreased 14 pounds per cow daily per 1 ppm iodine in milk, stated the ' prompted to renewed action following the sale of over 1,000 acres of farmland in McKillop township to foreign absentee interests during the summer. Another 500 to 800 acres of McKillop farmland is a prospective purchase by weeds you have in what fields. Identify -them now. It's hard to make a recom- mendation next spring when all there is to' god on is "you know it's that grassy type of weed that looks like' pig- weed." 'HARVEST CORN SILAGE AT PROPER DRY MATTER Corn silage produces a high yield of energy.In order to take advantage of this, the corn crop must be harvested at the best stage and handled properly for peak perfor- mance. Corn should be har- vested for silage at about 32 - 38% dry matter (generally full dent). The corn plant continues to store energy and increase in tonnage of dry matter until it reaches the full dent stage. If juice runs from the silo, the corn was cut too early. This would indicate less than 50% dry matter at harvest. Corn, harvested too 'late or not containing enough moisture, results in loss of yield and greater chance of mould growth. In addition to stage and correct length of chop (1/4 to 3/8 theoretical cut) it is important to eliminate as much air as possible from the silage. This promotes a investigator. Dairymen should be ad- vised to limit iodine intake of dairy cows to the recom- mended nutritional allow- ances of 0.5 ppin in total dry matter or about 10 mg/head/ day. Continuous feeding of an excessive amount of iodine can also result in poor reproductive performance. The length of calving interval and the number of days before the first detectable heat period were increased when excessive iodine was fed according to experiments in New York and Maryland. Mortality of calves from cows fed excessive iodine was 36% compared to 14%. Hillman reported that farm surveys turned up the fact that milk from about half the herds sampled contained ex- cessive iodine, due largely to the amount of iodine fed in the ration from commercial protein, mineral and salt intakes, foreign absentee owners at this time. In Colbourne Township considerable acre- age was sold over the summer to the same type of buyers. The. Huron Federation of Agriculture has been working closely with the Rural Development Outreach Project University of Guelph (RDOP) in studying foreign ownership, The RDOP is presently involved in the second phase of the study, looking at the effect of foreign ownership on communities. The first phase of the project was completed and presented to federation members last June when it was disclosed that 9.5 per- cent of the county's land was owned by peopie living outside the country. Too much iodine hurts production WEDDING INVITATIONS THE HURON EXPOSITOR PHONE. 527-0240 SEAFORTH Cut corn borer. :costs,. better fermentation, thu • better produet, NOTICE Do NOT ADVERTISE IN THE BRUSSELS POST BECOME A MEMBER OF A DISTINCT Phone 88-76641,