HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1975-04-09, Page 13Beef producers air complaints in. Lo*ndesboro
By their own adirnis-
• sion, times are tough for Huron
'county's 700 beef producers these
days, but despite low prices and
high costs only about 40 pro-
ducers turned out in Londesboro
recently to discuss industry pro-
blems.
The Londesboro meeting of
beef producers was called by the
Huron County Federation of
Agriculture to see if the pro-
ducers themselves could come up
with any solutions to their pro-
blems. Federation President
Doug Fortune of Wingham said
he was disappointed at the
turnout in this, Ontario's, second
largest beef producing county:
"This is a working meeting to
find answers," he said. He noted
that current top prices for
fertilizer,
Magic cannot turn a lawn into a
patch of emerald-green velvet. •
"Proper feeding and care can,
though," says Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food horticul-
turist, R. F. Gomme. He
suggests gardeners fertilize their
lawns in the early spring, after
the frost has left the ground but
before growth has begun,. and
again in early May, mid-June and
early September.
Frequent light feedings are
better than one heavy feeding.
They prevent nitrogen burn,
especially during periods of rapid
growth, and ensure that the grass
has a continuous supply of
nutrients. It is important to
remember that lawn grass growns
under artifical conditions. While
in nature, a bluegrass plant might
fill a square foot of soil and have
little or no competition, in a lawn
it has only a fraction of a square
foot of soil and plenty of
competition. In addition, its
ability to manufacture food is
reduced because it is cut at
regular intervals.
Use a balanced turf fertilizer
with an analysis of either 10 parts
nitrogen, six parts phosphorus
and four parts potash; or seven
parts nitrogen, seven parts phos-
phorous and seven parts potash.
Apply it at the rate of 12 pounds
for every 1000 square feet. To
ensure even spreading, calculate
the amount needed, weigh- it out
and divide it in half. Move in a
north-south direction when apply-
ing half of the fertilizer and in an
east-west direction when apply-
ing the rest.
To encourage thicker surface
growth, improve the lawn's
appearance and prevent weeds, -
apply a one-quarter inch top
Every week more and more
people discover what mighty jobs
are accomplished by low cost Post
Want Ads. ' Dial Brussels
887-6641.
Unfit
is
blah.
Pa/mammon
heart )1P
finished steers have dropped to
about $38 per hundredweight
from a high of $56 more than a
year ago.
But questions were more
plentiful than answers at the
meeting. Those present had
plenty of complaints but few
answers.
The biggest suggestion came
from Alan Walper of RR3,
Parkhill who proposed a market-
ing board for beef to "take the
humps out of this business." He
proposed a modest supply
management program at the
federal level without quotas,
"If we've got low prices and
can't find a solution I'm suggest-
ing it's about time we looked at a
marketing board,— he said.
dressing of weed-free sandy loam
to lawns on clay soil and a
weed-free clay loam top dressing
for lawns on sandy soil. ,
Bill Pullen of RR 2 Blyth, said a
marketing board is overdue.
"It's about time we started
working together and not trying
to make money a,i the other guy's
expense, he said.
The proposal was approved in a
close vote. .
Three other points also won the
agreement of the meeting.
-The federal beef stabilzation
price program should be modified
So farmers can receive assistance
every three months when prices
fall below 90 per cent of the
average price over the past five
years of $45 CWT. At present,
farmers are reimbursed at one
year intervals.
-Grants should be sought from
the ' federal , and provincial
governments to improve public
relations to tell consumers about
the problems facing . the beet
producer.
-Importation of beef from the
United, States should be control-
led by a 10 to 1 formula based on
the relative total populations oi
Canada and the U.S.
Another proposal, that super-
markets and other chain food
stores have gross profits restric-
ted to "reasonalbe" lev .els on
beef products, 'failed for lack of
support,
The beef producers over-
whelmingly approved the
shortening of the time period, for
assistance under the stablization
plan.
Wingham-area farmer George
Underwood said current federal
imporation restrictions on beef
front the United States need to be
modified.
Speaking as chairman of a
farmer study group, he said that.
10 per cent of the total annual
United States beef production
"nearly equals our total produc-
tion in Canada.
' With that situation," he said.
"it doesn't take many of their
cattle to drop our prices."
Federal regulations which
permit imports from the U.S. to
remain at 100 per cent of the level
of total imports from that, country
averaged over the past five years
are inadequate, he said.
He suggested a ratio be
established under which one beef
cow could be imported from the
United States for every 10
exported from Canada to its more
populous neighbour.
The new formula, he said
would maintain a more equitable
balance based on populations of
22 million and 220 million.
(The Blyth Stand rd')
Lawns need
not magic
Let's face it, you don't need a bank to tell
you how to plan your future. That's your
business. And we respect it.
But let's say you've got your plans all
sorted out And your plans are going to need
money, come to us. We'd like to help you. We're
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We can custom tailor an entire credit
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to month and season to season operations and
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We can lend you the money you need now.
And the nice thing is that you can arrange
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If you wish we can also arrange low-cost
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Whatever your credit needs, the person to
talk to is your local Commerce manager. So if
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include money, come talk to us.
THE BRUSSELS POST, APRIL 9, 1975' —13
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