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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1987-04-15, Page 26PAGE 26. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1987. Farmers told 'use it or lose it' Farmers across the county must find ways to boost membership in their federation of agriculture within the next few months, or they stand a good chance of losing one of their five voting voices at the provincial level, according to Bob Harrison of RR 1, Monkton, a regional director of the Huron Federation of Agriculture (HFA) and chairman of the group’s membership committee. Speaking to the sparse gather­ ing of farmers at the HFA’s monthly members’ meeting in Londesboro last Wednesday, Mr. Harrison said that HFA member­ ship now stands at around 1,775, nearly 25 members less than are technically needed to warrant the county’s five regional directors and voting delegates to Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) monthly meetings. Speaking to The Citizen later,, Chris Palmer of RR 5, Wingham, second vice-president of the HFA and regional director for Huron north-west, said that a concentrat­ ed membership drive will take place throughout the county this June, and that all farmers should Farm Way of the future: keep chins up and diversify A business advisor from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) told Huron County farm­ ers last week that the future is in their hands, and that the best thing they can do is to keep their chins up - and to look for ways to diversify their operations to improve their cash flow. But one farmer was heard to mutter that “they (OMAF) got us into this mess in the first place (by telling us to specialize); and now they are trying to save their own skins by telling us to diversify.” However, Colin Reesor, OMAF specialist from Markdale, retained an upbeat note throughout his presentation to about 25 farmers at the monthly meeting of the Huron Federation of Agriculture in Lop- desboro last Wednesday, insisting that pessimism is the mostdestruc- tive emotion, and assuring his audience that things are going to get better as early as this summer. “I think there may be some pretty good opportunities in agri­ culture coming up soon, but you have to be an optimist to take advantage of them,” he said. Going on to list some, he mention­ ed that land rentals seem to have reached an equilibrium with land prices; that consumers are switch­ ing more and more back to “real” food; that crop conditions around the world don’t appear too good at this time in relation to Canadian conditions; and that productive acreage in the USA is really beginning to shrink, opening new markets for Canadian fanners. And to the comment that the Ministry could and should be doing more, he told the farmers that they themselves should take the initia­ tive in telling OMAF exactly what sort of advice and assistance they want from it, and what sort of personnel would best serve them through local offices. “I’m a great believer in writing letters,” he said. “Government departments count the letters they get, and they always read them; so ifyou wanttoget a point across, write to them - constituent’s letters get right through to the minister, ’ ’ he insisted. Most of Mr. Reesor’s presenta­ tion centered on ways and means to diversify a farm operation, and on the philosophy behind the process, that of not putting all one’s eggs in one basket. ‘ ‘The trick to diversifi­ cation is to look around and see what makes money, but not to invest too much money in the project until you can see what kind of a return you are likely to get, ’ ’ he advised. Telling farmers that they should “go down to the end of their lane and look back’ ’ in order to see just what are the possibilities of their own particular operation, he added that the most successful attempts to diversify usually involved some tried-and-true method of doing things, but with a little more flair than anyone else. He said that the possibilities are endless on the average farm, pointing out that one farmer had devised a method of cutting down the labour costs of hand-picking sweet corn for his roadside stand by simply mounting a mower bar on his tractor that cut the com off at chest level, above the ears, so Continued on page 27 take the opportunity to renew their memberships at that time if they want a strong and unified voice in agricultural affairs. “Losing membership through attrition is our greatest danger right now,” he said. ‘‘In east Wawanosh Township alone we have lost eight members in the past year; a couple have died and the others have been forced out or have quit, and no young guys are getting into farming these days.” The plea from members of the Huron executive echoes the com­ ments made by Jack Wilkinson, a! Camlachie farmer and vice-presi­ dent of the OFA, speaking at several farm meetings across the province in recent weeks. ‘‘We need all the help we can get. Many farm issues have to be addressed. There is a need for well-researched and documented evidence for presentation to gov­ ernments, and there aren’t enough people to handle the work, ’ ’ he said, noting that the OFA mem­ bership of about 25,000, out of a population of close to 80,000 farmers in Ontario, has not increased lately. Citing the same statistics, Mr. Palmer said that virtually every farmer in Quebec is a paid-up member of their provincial federa­ tion of agriculture, and that their strength in numbers certainly seems to be paying off. He rememberedthat when Eugene Whelan was the federal minister of agriculture, he said in a speech during the Quebec referendum in 1980 that ‘‘75 per cent of the government money that crosses my desk goes to Quebec.” ‘‘We just want equity,” Mr. Palmer said. ‘ ‘ And the only way we are ever going to get it is if you guys start supporting us.”L Cleaning Power This is one of the new COLD generation power washers, from the World’s leading manufacturer, KARCHER. Rugged, versatile and HOT STEAM economical, with a wide range of accessories, it is easily adapted to almost any cleaning challenge. 91 KARCHER Pressure Cleaning Systems HURON TRACTOR BLYTH 523-4244 Let Cook's help you maximize it... economically N-P-K, micronutrients, custom blending, on-time application, competitive prices, sound advice—Cook's has everything to help you map out a fertility program to get your crop off to a fast start and finish strong. Plan your yield program with the professionals. 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