Farming '90, 1990-03-21, Page 18B2. FARMING ‘90, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1990.
After 22 years as Ag Rep Don Pullen's still an optimist
BY KEITH ROULSTON
As he moves toward retirement
as Huron County’s Agricultural
Representative later this month,
you can’t help feeling Don Pullen
has been a perfect match for the
farmers of Huron County: forever
optimistic throughout the some
times gloomy times of agriculture.
As the man with his finger on the
pulse of Huron county’s largest
industry. Mr. Pullen is well aware
of the problems that never seem to
be far from the surface but, like the
farmer who complains that you
can’t make a living in farming yet
each spring optimistically goes out
to plant another crop, he remains
an optimist about the future of
farming in Huron. Ontario’s most
prolific farming county.
He isn’t quite a Huron native,
growing up on a farm near
Whelan's Corners, just across the
Perth county border, but he has
been involved in the county most of
his life. He was involved with 4H
work from his early years and
reached the top at age 19 when he
won the Queen’s Guineas at the
Royal Winter Fair, the highest 4H
beef calf-club award.
He studied at Ontario Agricul
Outlook
Livestock looking up,
cash crops still spotty
Things are looking up for livestock production in 1990 but the future
still is not encouraging for cash crops, Don Pullen, Agricultural
Representative for Huron County said recently.
From agricultural outlet seminars he has attended recently, he says,
the cattle market looks like it should be stable although cattle numbers
are starting to build again. Still, prices for fed cattle should be stable
through the year, he feels. Stocker prices should remain good. The
cow-calf business is rebounding since fewer cattle are coming from the
west to fill local needs.
Pork prices haven’t been strong in the last year but some forecasters
feel there may be a turnaround. Many producers feel the tripartite
stabilization program has been the salvation of the industry in the past
year or so, he said.
Quota commodities are very nervous about the future because of
GATT and Free Trade negotiations. It would be sad if such
well-organized commodities are jeopardized down the road, he says.
Cash crop farmers who have a debt load continue to face problems,
he says. It’s difficult to convince your banker to extend your line of
credit with the predictions of the experts about the industry. Too many
farm families are still facing difficult circumstances, he says.
Don Johnson
Branch Manager
TOPNOTCH FEEDS LTD
Brussels, Ont. Branch
887-6011
tural College and worked as a
summer assistant in Perth, Well
ington and Dufferin and finally
came to Huron in 1963 as assistant
Ag. Rep. He was named Ag. Rep.
in 1968. Over the years his slow
drawl and his dry wit have high
lighted farm meetings in all corners
of the county and he has become as
much a part of agriculture as the
farmers themselves.
He's watched the good times roll
into the bad times and back again,
watched whole generations of far
mers seem endangered. The last
decade has seen a heavy toll on
farmers in the county as high land
prices, high interest rates and low
prices have hurt many. The genesis
of many of the problems that hit in
the 1980’s lies in the mid-70’s, he
says. In the early 1970’s one of the
busiest programs administered by
his office in Clinton was the ARDA
farm enlargement program. Two
staff members were kept busy
helping farmers take advantage of
the program to buy land at $100 to
$150 an acre for farm enlargement.
All told nearly 20,000 acres was
bought under the program.
But about 1974 corn hit the
unheard of price of $4 a bushel and
Glen Raynard
Sales Consultant
land prices soared. People began to
look at land for its real estate value
rather than the value in producing
agricultural goods, he recalls.
Suddenly much of that ARDA land
was selling for nearly 10 times the
price it was purchased for.
“And yet,” he said recently,
“what is the agricultural value of
that land even today? Maybe it’s
not worth much more than $400-
$500 an acre.”
When interest rates soared in the
early ‘80’s farmers with a large
debt load from buying expensive
land were in trouble. The bottom
dropped out of land prices because
many farmers couldn’t hope to pay
off the cost of the land on what they
could make off it. With equity of
the higher real estate values gone,
many farmers couldn’t hope to pay
' ‘Agriculture is a cornerstone of our economy and of
our rural communities. Iam proud and honoured to
represent the interests of Huron and Bruce County
in Ottawa and as always look forward to the many
challenges and successes that the future brings.
Best Wishes From
Murray Cardiff, M.P.,
Parliamentary Secretary
to the Minister of Agriculture
Huron-Bruce
SAVE MONEY......BERN CORN
WITH THE
NEW
*Burns 1 bushel per day
average [$3.00]
*No Chimney Required [Vent]
*24 Hour Fuel Capacity
*Emissions do not harm the
environment [CO 2]
*Free standing or Fireplace
insert
*Corn Furnaceand Pool Heater
coming this fall
STOP IN TODAY AND SEE THE NEW CORN HEATER
AT ONE OF THESE LOCATIONS
McG AVIN'S
FARM
EQUIPMENT
WALTON
887-6365
off the cost of the land on what they
could make off it. With equity of
the higher real estate values gone,
many farmers were in deep trou
ble. Low commodity prices
throughout the latter part of the
decade only added to the problem.
And yet farmers of the county
continue to be optimistic, Mr.
Pullen points out. Two programs
for young farmers, the Beginning
Farmers Assistance Program and
the FarmStart program saw 500
young farmers in the county sign
up, one 10th of the entire number
in the 54 counties and regions in
the province.
Don Pullen continues to sing the
praises of agriculture in Huron
County whenever he can. “We
have the most positive and most
enthusiastic farmers in the world
SALVERDA
BROS. SALES
& SERVICE
R.R.41 LONDESBORO
John527-1929
Ed 482-3106
right here in Huron county,” he
says. “Certainly we have the most
productive land base. If agriculture
should happen to go sometime, this
place will still be here because
we’ve got the soils and we’ve got
the climate and the people.” He
ticks off the figures to back it up. In
Huron close to 90 per cent of the
land is class one, two or three,
classes of soils that pose virtually
no limitations for the growing of
most crops. He’s quick to hand out
sheets showing Huron’s position as
number one in the value of agricul
tural products sold, first for im
proved farmland, first in number of
census farms, first in the produc
tion of crops like barley, white
beans, silage corn, rutabags,
spring wheat and sows and boars
Continued on page B3
RICHARD
LOBB
CLINTON
482-7898