The Rural Voice, 1979-01, Page 5Young farmers
Tell how it is to start up in the seventies
BY ALICE GIBB
Ten years ago, the Challenge of Abundance study. published
by the provincial government. suggested the small, traditional
family farming operation would soon be a thing of the past.
Statistics Canada census figures from 1951 to 1976, show the
number of family farm operators in the country dropped by 50
per cent.
But today, the rush to leave the farm seems to be over.
Agricultural schools are reporting an increase in student
enrolment and more of their graduates are returning to the farm
instead of taking jobs in agri-business or government agencies.
Despite fluctuating prices for farm products, the high cost of
farmland and the trend to specialized, heavily -capitalized
operations, young people are still choosing farming as a career.
VALUE INDEPENDENCE
After talking to six younger men who decided to give farming a
try, it's obvious there are some characteristics most young
farmers share. First, it's likely they grew up on a farm
themselves and are familiar with life in the rural community and
the physcial work required in a farming operation. They value
the independence of being self-employed and are constantly
re-evaluating ways their operations can be improved and
eventually expanded.
Whatever their personal educational background, they all
recognize today's farming is a complex business which demands
that farm operators spend extra hours keeping abreast of the
latest information - through membership in farm organizations,
through OMAF-sponsored short courses or by reading farm or
commodity publications.
And although all the farmers admitted they were tied into a
seven day a week routine, none regretted the decision to return
to the farm enough to seriously consider getting into another line
of work.
Beef farmer MacArmstrong. 31, of R.R.2, Teeswater,
graduated from the University of Guelph with a BSc(Ag.) in 1970
and a Masters of Science degree two years later. He bought his
first farm while still in high school and managed to keel it going
while he was attending university' During the summer months,
between his courses at Guelph. Mr. Armsti ..g worked for
Ciba-Geigy, and today thinks his experience in agri-business was
as valuable as his university education. After graduation, the
beef producer was assistant ag. rep. in Halton County for a year
and a half. Then he worked in Saskatchewan, first on ranches
and then for an agricultural chemeical firm. In 1975 Mr.
Armstrong and his wife decided to move back to Bruce County,
and he bought a second farm down the road from where he was
raised. Today Mr. Armstrong owns two -100 acre farms, works
his father'. place nearby and his wife Alma, a veterinarian, also
owns beef cattle.
Mr. Armstrong isn't an advocate of taking over the family
farm. He advises buying your own farm rather than your father's
since, "Then you can do with it as you please without
interference. and financially, it's a separate organization. If you
go bankrupt. you don't take your father down with you."
Paul and Glen Ahrens. of R.R.2, Elmwood, also in Bruce
County, are brothers and partners in a dairy operation
that's milking 45 cows. Paul, 28, graduated from the
MAC ARMSTRONG
.University of Guelph with a BSc(ag.) in 1972 and his brother
1;Icn, 24, graduated from Guelph's two year diploma program
three years later. The brothers now farm 250 acres in partnership
and rent an additional 100 acres from a neighbour. Their father
still works with them in the dairy operation on a part-time basis
and someday the brothers hope they can support a fulitime,
three. man operation.
Although Paul Ahrens realizes farming is becoming in-
creasingly specialized, he doesn't think the family farm will die
out, as some experts predict, but "the one man operation will
become few and far between."
FOR A YEAR
Brad Carnochan, 23, of R.R.3. Seaforth, has been farming for
the past three years, but only on a full time basis for a year. Mr.
Carnochan, who operates a farrow to finish operation, and grows
some cash crop. graduated from Centralia College of
Agricultural Technology in the spring of 1975. with a two year
agricultural business management diploma. He planned to farm
from the start. but worked at the Seaforth Co-op for two years
while buying his father's farm. Now Mr. Carnochan is farming
fulltime, while his father has taken over a nearby cash crop
operation. Like many younger farmers, Brad is planning to go
into the business "fairly gradually" since he knows there are a
number of years ahead when "there'll be time for expansion."
Tom Melady, 28, of R.R.2. Dublin. has been involved in a
family farming operation with his father Edward for the past
eight years. Mr. Melady had finished one year of the two year
agriculture course at Centralia when he decided he was "sick of
school".
When Mr. Mrladv entered the fancily farming operation. his
THE. RURAL VOICE7JANUARY 1979 PG. 5