HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-01-10, Page 13Fred Meier re-elected
Gay Lea chairman
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1990. PAGE 13.
Family farms do have future,
Christian Farmers Federation told
Fred Meier
Fred Meier, RR 4, Brussels, was
( re-elected chairman of the board of
* ' Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limit
ed at a meeting of the Board of
Directors held on December 7,
1989.
This is Mr. Meier’s second term
as chairman. Also re-elected to the
executive were John Stafford, RR
1, Wroxeter, first vice chairman
and George Pinkney, RR 3, Lis-
towel, second vice chairman.
Robert Turner, RR 5, Owen
Sound, retired as director this year
and was replaced by Ray Robert
son, RR 2, Markdale, elected by
member shareholders at a Zone
Farm women's safety
workshop planned
You are the first person at an
accident - what would you do?
Can you turn off a tractor in an
emergency?
A family member is caught in a
power take-off. Can you turn it off?
What information would you give
if you called for help?
These are some of the questions
that will be answered at the Farm
Women’s Safety Workshop on
January 20 at Vincent Farm Equip
ment, one mile north of Seaforth.
z | Registration begins at 1 p.m.
* Vollowing which there will be two
Pre-retirement seminars
set for farm couples
Farm couples seeking advice on
planning their retirement are invit
ed to attend one of three Pre-Re
tirement Seminars sponsored by
the Rural Organizations and Ser
vices Branch of the Ontario Mini
stry of Agriculture and Food.
Seminars will be held March 6
and 7 in Gananoque, March 20 and
21 in Stratford and March 27 and 28
at Alliston.
Farm couples will be challenged
to look forward to their transition
from active farming as an oppor
tunity for new goals and new
experiences.
Seminar topics will address com
ponents of a successful retirement,.
sufficient income, a variety of
enjoyable activities, a flexible time
table and a healthy lifestyle.
Registration fee of $180.00 pro
vides overnight accommodation,
meals and seminar speakers and
materials. Registrations will be
received at Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture and Food, Box 1030,
Guelph, Ontario. N1H 6N1, Atten
tion: Pre-Retirement Seminars, on
annual meeting held in Owen
Sound on December 5.
Mr. Turner had been associated
with Gay Lea since its beginning in
1958, serving on plant committees,
then as a delegate and finally, a
director.
Edwin Miller, RR 3, Exeter was
re-elected director by member
shareholders at the Zone 2 annual
meeting held at Brussels on De
cember 4 and Thomas McGee, RR
2, Flesherton, was re-elected direc
tor by the delegates at the annual
meeting on December 7.
The Co-operative’s after tax
earnings of $2.3 million was the
second highest in history on sales
of $155 million.
A dividend of $1.05 a share was
paid to common shareholders and a
patronage dividend issued to milk
and cream producers, returning
close to $700,000 in total dividends
to members.
As well, the Co-operative paid
down debt and replaced and im
proved existing assets and equip
ment.
Gay Lea Foods Co-operative
Limited has been operating in the
province since 1958. Its dairy
products are sold across Canada
and it is owned by 3,600 Ontario
dairy producers and their families.
Facilities are located at Weston,
Guelph, Teeswater, Woodstock,
Baden and Ottawa.
films. The first “How to Have an
Accident”, illustrates common
hazards and problems, and the
second is entitled “Tractor Safety
is no Accident”. There will also be
hands-on demonstrations with
power take-off and grain wagons.
Later in the afternoon there will be
discussions on fire safety.
Anyone interested is asked
call Vincent Farm Equipment
527-0120 before January 17.
Participants are advised to wear
warm clothing and suitable foot
wear.
to
at
a first come, first served basis.
Deadline is February 16, 1990.
For more information contact
Jane Muegge or Nick Geleynse at
the local OMAF office (482-3428 or
1-800-265-5170).
Corn - 2750, 2950, 3630, 4170
March prices - $88.50 a bag
Soyabeans - 051, 081, 074.
The family farm has a future,
delegates to the Christian Farmers
Federation of Ontario’s annual
convention were told early in
December, but panelists had vary
ing messages on how to keep it the
cornerstone of Ontario agriculture.
Rita Burak, deputy minister of
the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture
and Food told the 200 CFFO
delegates that 99 per cent of
Ontario farms are family-owned,
and family farm corporations ac
count for only six per cent of farms.
“We can predict that the family
farm will remain the cornerstone of
Ontario’s agricultural production.”
At the same time, more and
more of the province’s agricultural
production is being produced by
fewer farmers. Whereas at the turn
of the century the average farmer
produced food for 12 people, that
same farmer now produces food for
120 people, and 75 per cent of
Ontario’s agricultural production is
produced by 25 per cent of the
farms.
“OMAF is committed to the
family farm because it believes it
can continue to be a viable econo
mic entity,” she said. “I don’t
apologize to economists or to the
media for saying the values of the
family farm are worth building
on,” she said, calling on farmers to
work with OMAF to shape the
future of the family farm.
University of Guelph agricultural
economist George Brinkman
stressed a need for efficiency,
saying that producers face increas
ed integration of agricultural mar
kets. “We no longer farm as
Canadian farmers”, he said. “We
farm as Canadian producers in an
international marketplace.”
“Get used to macro-economic
policies such as trade agree
ments,” Brinkman told the CFFO
January is inventory
time on the farm
for
BY DON PULLEN
AGRICULTURAL
REPRESENTATIVE FOR
HURON COUNTY
January is inventory time
those farmers who keep books on a
January to December basis. An
accurate beginning and ending
inventory is needed for both crops
and livestock in order to determine
how cash sales have been influenc
ed by inventory change in the barn
or bin. These figures are also
needed for the annual net worth
statement that shows the change in
equity for the year.
Other values are needed to give a
complete picture.
•Year end value of accounts
receivable and accounts payable.
•Market value of purchased feed
supplies.
•Market value of machinery,
quota, land and buildings.
delegates. “They are going to be
there whether we like them or
not.”
‘‘The family farm will survive,
but farmers must learn to be good
producers, managers and marke
ters who pay attention to macro
economics if they are to survive,”
he said. “The future’s going to be
for the good and the best.”
“It is wrong for me to assume
that we are going to be self-suffi
cient,” said Brinkman. “What you
have to be is good to survive. We
need to generate output.”
Brinkman believes supply man
agement will continue, in a modi
fied form that is more responsive to
competition. “The distinctiveness
of Canadian farming will continue
to decline because of an increased
emphasis on farming as a business
and less as a way of life,” he said.
“But because family farms pos
sess some economies that large
companies don’t have, they are in
little danger of being displaced by
corporate operations,” he said.
“We simply haven’t got an en
vironment that lends itself to
coporate ownership.”
Brewster Kneen, a Toronto food
systems consultant and publisher
of the monthly agriculture news
letter, Ram’s Horn, believes agri
business must move away from
exports to survive.
He urged the family farmers to
foresake “the utopian vision that
things can carry on as they are
now”, with the trend towards
increased competition, striving for
greater efficiency and the use of
more chemicals.
“We have to move away from
export agriculture production to
production for self-sufficiency,” he
said.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be using
all of the prairie for grain produc-
O.M.A.F. Publication 37 in
cludes forms that can be used to
take inventory. There are also
pages where you can use the
figures to complete an accrual
income-expense statement and an
annual net worth statement. Ask
for Publication 37 at your local
O.M.A.F. office.
Ti *
TO-
NOTICE TO
SN0WM0BILERS
It has been brought to the attention of the council of the Village of
Blyth that there have been several snowmobiles trespassing on private
property without the permission of the property owners. Also there
has been an excessive amount of driving on the streets within the
village.
It appears that some of these machines are being driven by
underaged drivers which is an offence punishable by law. The Blyth
Snow Travellers would like to strongly urge these drivers, as well as
theparentsof unqualified drivers, that this practice be stopped
immediately to preventthe possible passing of a by-law to prohibit the
operation of snowmobiles within the village limits.
The snowmobile club tries to set up and maintain several miles of
trails in rural areas around the village and it is our request that this is
the only place that snowmobiles be operated. Please comply with our
wishes.
tion,” he said. “We have to deal
with a more balanced agricul
ture.”
Describing the federal govern
ment’s discussion paper on the
future of farming as “highly ideo
logical and violent,” he suggested
that farmers need to strike a
balance between the past and the
future. “We pay very little atten
tion to the past or the future in our
present system. There’s very little
perspective and we’re paying a
very high price for that.”
“The corporate context of family
farming must be addressed,” he
said. “When the input supplier and
the buyer is the same corporation,
what room do we have to define the
familv farm?”
IMPORTANT NOTICE
to all
Huron County
Pork Producers
Take notice that the 1990
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE HURON
COUNTY PORK PRODUCERS
MARKETING BOARD
will be held
WED., JAN. 17, 1990
at 1:00 p.m. sharp at the
Blyth & District Community Centre
^-For the purpose of the proper business of the
annual meeting.
^Election for vacant positions on the HCPPA.
Marion Taylor Bruce Bergsma
Secretary President
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Call Wayne anytime at
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CallGordatnoonoraftersixp.m. at
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Q.S. Rep. Don Ruttan
887-9884
Between 7:15and8:15a m
ART BOLTON SEEDS
White beans, Certified Donald
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Certified Barleys include:
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SPECIAL PRICES FOR JANUARY
•40 kg. bags - 50/50 mix Donald and Leger
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