HomeMy WebLinkAboutSaluting Huron County's Agricultural Industry, 1987-03-25, Page 14PAGE A14. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1987.
Giving farmers
an even break
PERFORMANCE
TESTED
QUALITY SWINE
II0HOWAY FARAIS
W YORKSHIRES
LANDRACE
•DUROC
Wayne Fear and SonsFarm Information Centre
wants to help farmers
get the information they need
Performance tested:
gilts & boars from a herd
with very good mothering
ability.
Excellent Boars
QS F1 York & Landrace
gilts, open or bred, avail
able on a regular basis.
YORK,LANDRACE
HAMPSHIRE and
DUROC X HAMP
Herd classified Good by the
Animal Industry Branch.
CONTACT WAYNE FEAR
AT
MONOWAY FARMS
6 miles west of Brussels on
Huron Rd. #16.
Call Wayne anytime at
519-887-6477
if noanswer call Mikeat
519-887-6485
atnoonorafter6p.m.
Bill Purdon, President of the Farm Information Cent re m
Wingham calls up information from commodity markets on the
Centre ’ s computer system, linked by satellite to markets
around the world. The Centre is intended as a place farmers can
go to gel the information they need to compete.
Trying to give farmers an even
break in an economic world where
everybody seems to make money
from farming but the farmer is
what brought the Farm Informa
tion Centre into existence.
Located now in an industrial mall
northof Wingham, The Centre last
year became a non-profit organiza
tion dedicated to being a total
information centre where farmers
can findout about, and learn about,
anything to do with farming.
The Centre, emphasizes Bill
Purdon, RR4, Wingham, presi
dent of theboard of di re ctors, is
intended to augment, not replace,
information given by agencies
such as the Ministry of Agriculture
and Food.
The walls of the Centre’s
spacious office are lined with
graphs charting the rise and fall of
various commodities over periods
of many months. Just inside the
front door is the computer hooked
up to bring in market reports from
around the world.
Delving into the mysteries of the
future markets was the interest
thatled to the organizing of the
centre back in 1984, before it was a
non-profit organization.
Every farmer out there, says Bill
Purdon, has to at least understand
the futures market, even if he
doesn’t use it, so that he can
market his commodity better. The
futures market has made farm
marketing a world-wide operation,
centre on the Chicago Board of
Trade.
The point is illustrated when the
telephone rings and Mr. Purdon
answers, goes over the computer,
taps a few keys and summons up
the latest trading results from the
Winnipeg Grain Exchange and
reads some of the quotations to the
client over the phone. Flick a few
different buttons and the Chicago
exchange comes up or the New
York stock exchange or the Toronto
Stock exchange: information from
around the world is as instantly
available via satellite to Huron
county farmers as it is to traders on
Bay Street.
Members of the Centre can use
the information in various ways,
from simply looking at the market
trends and adjusting the shipping
of their own production to dabbling
in the market to help their own
income when prices for farm
products may not be good.
Using the futures market can be
the least risky things a farmer can
do, Mr. Purdon says. To illustrate,
he compares the farmer who goes
to the bank and borrows $35,000 to
putinpigs. From the crop of pigs he
hopes to make $7,000 profit over
several months of hard work. But if
the farmer used the same amount
of money and skillfully played the
futures market on pork bellies, a
price shift of 50 cents in one day
could give him the same return on
investment.
It’s a frightening new world
however to farmers who are raised
ontheideaofdoinga good job of
raisingthecommodity, puttingitin
the truck and taking it to market
then sitting back and waiting for
the cheque to arrive. It’s a big
problem for farmers to have the
Continued on page A15
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