Loading...
The Rural Voice, 1978-10, Page 24financial and administrative capacity to qualify under the Act. It applies to all storable crops grown in Canada, except wheat, oats and barley grown in the area covered by the Canadian Wheat Board. "We have already guaranteed loans totalling about $57 million to 15 producer groups for the 1978-79 crop year," says Murray Pearson of agriculture Canada's grains and special crops division. Three producer groups from British Columbia are taking part in this year's program: Interior Vegetable Marketing Agency Ltd., Vernon, $150,000: B.0 Tree Fruits Ltd., Kelowna, $11 million and B.C. Coast Vegetable Co-operative Association. Richmond, $2.8 million. In Alberta. the Alberta Potato Com- mission of Lethbridge may borrow up to $3 million under the program. In Ontario and Quebec. the following organizations have received guarantees on loans made under the Act: Ontario Soya -Bean Growers' Marketing Board. Chatham, $30 million; Ontario Burley Tobacco Growers, Chatham. $500.000; Norfolk Fruit Growers' Association. Simcoe, $880,000; Quinte Fruit Growers' Ltd., Trenton. $240.000; Blue Water Storage Ltd., Thornbury. $340.000: Feder- ation des producteurs de pommes de terre du Quebec. Montreal, $2.6 million and the Federation des producteurs commercials du Quebec, Montreal, $2.25 million. Three producer groups in the Maritimes have signed up for the program: P.E.1. Vegetable Growers' Co-operative Associ- ation Ltd., Sherwood. $60.000; the Nova Scotia Wheat Marketing Board. Canning. $160,000; and the Grain Corn Producers' Association of Nova Scotia, Canning, S30,000. "There are also a number of other producer groups that have indicated they would like to participate in the program." Mr. Pearson says. "Last year was the first year the advance payments program was in operation. It worked well and most of the participants have re-applied for a loan." Information on the Advance Payments fol. Crops Act is available from Agriculture Canada, Grains and Special Crops Division, Sir John Carling Building, Ottawa, Ontario. KIA 005. about their products. Tom Bates. a Guelph professor, made a speech to the Waterloo and Wellington chapters of the Ontario Soil Crops Improvement Association earlier this year in which he urged farm organizations to pr osecute companies and lobby govern- ments for investigations when misleading and false claims are made. The federation had already made its complaints before Bates made those comments. Hannam said farmers will continue to spend as little as possible on chemicals, and he expects the industry will continue "to try to make as much profit as you can out of our hides." Tension will continue between the two he said. ' He urged the 375 delegates to ."stop nit-picking" at marketing boards and told them they could co-operate in promoting agriculture as a "vital link in our economic well-being", in achieving a more equitable tariff arrangement which would favor food exports and discourage imports. He warned them that the entire agricultural industry could "slide away" in the wake of imports landed here with the aid of subsidies from the exporting country. He also said the industry had come to expect consumer complaints about food prices but can't take them seriously when the fastest-growing sales are for the most expensive. most highly processed food. OFA will pressure on prices Peter Hannam, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) recently spoke to ,a meeting of the Canadian Agricultural and ChemicalsAssociationand warned that the federation will apply public and private pressure to have chemical companies explain their high prices and policies. The Federation has asked the federal and provincial governments to launch investigations of two companies which it considers are making misleading claims PG. 24 THE RURAL VOICE/OCTOBER 1978 Amor PLETCH ELECTRIC WINGHAM • Residential • Farm • Industrial • Commercial Phone Collect 357-1583 We are ready to receive your 1978 CORN CROP We have . Storage Grain Bank . Custom Drying to serve you better OPNOTCH TOPNOTCH FEEDS LIMITED Seaforth 527-1910