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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1978-03-08, Page 6FASTER FEEDING LESS CLIMBING THE BERG .SILOIJNLOADER Check these features: - Three point suspension for blow in and feed out, the same day convenience — No leveling or waiting for silo to settle — Spring loaded auger always cuts clean on edge• of silo — Power ring drive always level, always positive — 26" Blade Blower handles bulky 'haylage easily with low RPM, for less bearing problems and high output — Heavier than competition anger for longer tasting durability Couple this with a REASONABLE PRICE and you have an unbeatable combination. Write or phone for free estimates on your particular needs. Jamesway parts available. SUILOS EVERYTHING -SETTER FOR WARNE Keith Siemon Plumbing & Farm Equipment R.R.#4, Walton, Ontario Phone 345.2734 Renovations Repairs- Additions RESIDENTIAL. AGRICULTURAL • COMMERCIAL NOW IS THE TIME TO GET THAT INSIDE WORK DONE Henry F. Exel Construction BRUSSELS ONTARIO P.O.BOX 218 Phene 887.6561 OPNOTCH TOPNOTCH FEEDS LIMITED Spring Is Coming 3RDER YOUR -Seed Grain -Seed Corn -Fertilizer While Quantity, Quality and Good Prices Last., CHECK OUR PRICES BEFOREYOU BUY We are also in the market for. -Feed -Mixed Grain Brussels 887 6011, "WV 4 in farm financial matters farm experience matters... - . . . and that is just what you can count on, farm financial experience, when you team up with the Royal Bank. Here is FARMPLAN . . . the RbyarBank's financial services package that provides Line-of-Credit Financing including Credit for operating, expansion and improvements. Here is FARMPLAN Creditor Life Insurance, the FARMCHEK Business Record System, FARMPLAN Income Opportunities and total AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT Services. Here too is the ROYFARM MORTGAGE Program. Your Royal Bank manager will be pleased to discuss FARMPLAN and the many other Royal Bank services with you. ROYAL BANK serving Agriculture • BRUSSELS.. BRANCH . u. Good farm mangement is the key both to preventing erosion. problems on farms and reducing farm originated pollution of the Great Lakes water basin, Dr. Dick Franks of the Ontario Ministry of • Agriculture and Foods Pesticide Lab told the monthly meeting of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture in. Hensall ,Thursday night. Dr. Franks was speaking on the subject of the Pollution from Land Use - Activities Reference Group (PLUARG) which was formed under the auspices of the Inter- national Joint Commission to look into pollution problems in the . Great Lakes. He • warned the farmers present that if we don't do something 'to improve the quality of water in the Great Lakes basin; we may survive, but future generations won't. Once the Great Lakes get in bad shape, he said, it will take a long time to bring them back. It's batter to stop pollution before it gets into the water system. - • During the speech Dr. Franks was generally very sympathetic to the concerns/ and problems of farmers but he said that while farmers like to be independent they have to remember that we - are all dependent •on each other. He is often. criticized, he said, by farmers who have the feeling that steps to. ". curb • pollution . and erosion will cost the farmers more money: "But ,• if we don't dO something about. it" he said, "farmers won't be able to make any money becausel many won't have any land." - Erosion, he said, is a rapidly growing problem in southern Ontario and said that 'On a. recent airplane trip over Huron County he could see where the snow hacl turned brown because of -wind erosion. He blamed modern cropping practices for • many erosion problems and said government has been as much to blame as anyone in urging farMers ,."to grow corn, corn. corn," He said • in Wellington county he has seen many farrim that were very good before they went " into corn that now haVe tremendous erosion problems fromcorn being planted year after year on side hills. Most of the erosion Fosses, he said, arc in a two to four . week period in the spring during runoff. Duringthe ' rest of . the Year there is crop cover. The first year corn is. planted. on land the erosion may be not be great because there is a good soil structure but as corn crop after corn crop is planted, the amount of vegetable matter in the soil decreases making it easier to wash away in heavy runoff. Although erosion is a major problem in itself, it alSo increases water pollution by carrying ferti , fixer residues in these soils into the water system. The problem of most concern to the International Joint Commission is, phosphorus which' promotes plant growth in the water and changes the chemical balance, killing off fish crops such as trout in favour of poorer quality fish like carp andsmelt which can thrive in, the new water conditions. In connection with. phosphorus, he said, • studies showed that farniers were, on average, putting on two and a half times as much phosphorus as needed for the growth of their crops and, in some cases up to 17 times 'the amou nt • of phosphorus recommended by the soil test was applied to crops. He told farmers that. they are throwing their money away putting on fertilizers they don't need. "I get the impresion that 'in some areas there arc a lot of ,gullible farmers" who arc being sold fertilizer by fast-talking 'sales- men, he said. Still, he said, the amount of soil from erosion getting into the . Great Lakes System from erosion isn't as big a problem for the water system as it is for the, farmers. He warned farmers that we could - eventually face the problems of the Mediterranean 'sea basin which went through many of the same erosion and pollution problems much earlier in history. Now farmers in Cyprus and Greece, he said, arc actually farming on the subsoil and aren't getting nearly -the yield- our farmer's get off their rich land. We don't want to be peasant farmers like those :in the Mediterranean, he said. Pollution • fr'om livestock operations is not as big a problem as it often „ appears. Dr.. Franks said. Livestock pollution is very visible and thus anuses concern. He said that new facilities bbilt should Nye Some kind otimanure disposal system to keep pollution, out of the water stream but if the government wants farmers to change their existing systems., he feels the government should provide some of the money. But the good farm manager is not causing. pollution problems. either from livestock or from erosion, he stressed. "Pollution starts. at home,' In other business at. the meeting, representatives of the Huron County Board of Education were present to answer qUestions about the current impasse in contract negotiations 'with Huron County Secondary School teachers. John Elliott, board chairman, Herb Turkheim and Clarence MacDonald provided information on. the two issues of the strike, teacher workload and sick.-leave. gratuity. Since there were no representatives of. the teachers' side of the dispute present, the meeting did not result in any action to support one side or another in the dispute. Gcrry Fortune reported on the successful bus trip to Ottawa wich saw 46 people fromHuron, Perth and Bruce counties (21 from Huron) attend the .. farmers meeting in connection with the National Food Policy Conference. You know when some-, one tellS you to take a walk?. Maybe they've got the right idea, (7_7 ..,..kM7fMC/Patr/Ofl Wo'k.Today. 6—THE BRUSSELS POST,MARCH 8,1978 Huron F of A hears Good I•nonagement. can prevent erosion.