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The Rural Voice, 1979-01, Page 10r A matter of principle by J. Carl Hemingway Co-op auto insurance explained 1 suppose that it will be New Year's Eve very shortly when you read this but it is only November 28th as 1 write. As I have said before it is difficult for me to write so far ahead. I guess I shouldn't complain. Some of the letters we get take almost that long to arrive in our mail box. I guess I'm the impatient type. When a good idea comes along I like to see it put into practice immediately but progress seems to be slow in gaining acceptance. I was delighted to get a copy of U.C.O. News Sept. -October 1978 - Vol. 12 No. 5 on the back page of which was a clear explanation of the new coverage that has been added to Cooperators Auto Insurance policy at no added premium. This new coverage will protect you up to the limit of your liability coverage if you are clobbered by an uninsured or inadequately insured driver. Perhaps I should only be thankful that Cooperators Auto Insurance has added this important protection but 1 find it hard to forget that the CoOp Insurance Committee asked for this coverage about 1960. It has only taken eighteen years and 1 may be the only member of the Committee left. Just a bit discouraging, isn't it? Farmers are noted for the improvements they have made in production efficiency and modernization of their methods. They have apparently done much better than oth er industries but they too have been tremendously slow. Way back sometime between 1903 and 1910 my father put in a new stable in the barn. He used "passage" feeding and a "litter -carrier" design. Where he got the idea, I don't know, but again in the early '60's I happened to call in at a dairy farm where the owner, with the guidance of the Dept. of Agriculture, was putting in a new stable of exactly the same design. Litter -carriers have disappeared but this stable design was easily converted to a gutter cleaner. Since that time "free -stall" has become popular as it works better for a milking parlour set up but "tie-ups" are still good for a pipeline milker and are still practical, especially for the smaller herds. I guess that it is the fact that it is the end of the year that makes me think so much in the past but I find it rewarding to look back once in a while to evaluate what has happened. While I have always filed by income tax on a cash basis I like to sum up the net assets each year to see whether I went forward or backward. Today I listened for about half an hour to Provincial Premiers Conference on the television. They were discussing their Agricultural programs. It was all very encouraging. Everybody was very much concerned about the low income of farmers and the difficulties they are facing. They all wanted to help by means of grants, floor prices etc. etc. etc. They were all very much interested in finding markets for our agricultural products. However, the discussion ended rather abruptly when the Saskatchewan Premier pointed out that 350 million dollars worth of western grain from the 1977 crop was still around at the crop year end because we lacked transportation for it to the seas ports and the sales were lost. The premiers were also very reluctant to recommend higher prices since it would easily decrease consumption, particularly in milk, butter, beef and pork. 1 think they missed the point! Farmers aren't really PG. 10 THE RUKAL VOICE/JANUARY 1979 dissatisfied with the prices they receive. It is the increased costs of the things they have to buy. I ran across a couple of examples. A neighbour of mine had a break with his tractor which was about 3 or four years old but only used on about 200 acres. The timing gears were broken, etc. but the motor certainly wasn't destroyed. It cost him $1700 to have it repaired. It pulls four 16" plows which means it isn't a large tractor. A trucker took his "semi" tractor to a garage and had a brand new motor installed, at least double the power of the tractor motor, also diesel at a cost of $1000. plus not more than $200. for installation. Why should it cost the farmer $500. more to get a tractor motor repaired? I understand that a top Mercedes-Benz diesel lists for about $20,000. Why should a moderately sized tractor cost $25,000? As far as I can see there is a great deal more expensive labour and workmanship in the manuafacture of a car than a farm tractor. Why should the government expect the farmer to pay almost 10% interest for a Farm Credit Mortgage Loan when they know perfectly well that the return on farm investment is probably about 4%? There are lots of complaints about food costs in Canada but as soon as the farmer's cost of production are so far out of line with what he gets for his products at the farm gate he must get even higher prices for his products or go broke. Presently the farmer is getting by but he can only survive on the deflated dollar because he now gets a bonus of about 15%. If the Canadian dollar should go to par, the price of his products for export would drop by about 30%. Thfis would be a disaster. Inflation seems to be increasing continually and we are being threatened with further wage and price controls. It still seems to me that the only way to bring prices down is to increase production. Certainly when we farmers were producing surplus beef the price of cattle dropped to the point that farmers were forced to reduce their herds or go broke. The result now is reduced marketing of cattle and higher prices. Hopefully this will at least enable those still in the business to continue or prices will have to go higher. The increasing of interest rates is one of the biggest problems in the farmer's costs since farmers probably require the highest investment of capital per man of any industry. It is admitted that this policy will increase unemployment and reduce production which in turn means higher prices. dollar and this is true but what happens when the diviuends or interest payments on this foreign capital have to be paid to How can it possibly reduce "inflation' . It is argued that higher interest will attract foreign capitals and strengthen our these foreign investors. At that time we have lost all the advantage of the foreign capital plus all the costs of handling the work. I'm sure by this time you must be tired of all this complaining even though I'm sure I've missed many items such as the increase in postage rates and decreased service. I hope you had a good Christmas. I hope that you have received new inspiration to face the New Year that seems will be filled with many problems. Remember that starting in on 1978 things looked just as difficult and it has turned out much better than we expected. Even as farmers, though we have probably slipped a little farther down the "totem -pole" we are better off than we have ever been. It is true that our income doesn't compare favourably with that of others in other occupations but it is a lot better than being unemployed. We do have, as far as I'm concerned, the best "way of life." Perhaps most of all we like our work from day to day which I'm sure can't be said by a great many in other lines of work. Best wishes for a happy and satisfying 1979!