The Rural Voice, 1979-04, Page 571
NEWSLETTER
Huron County Federation
of Agriculture
Area Office: Vanastra, Box 429, Clinton
Only one farmer at IJC workshop
BY JIM McINTOSH
I was privileged to attend, on behalf of
the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, the
Anticipatory Planning Workshop, sponsor-
ed by the Science Advisory Board; under
the International Joint Commission (I.J.C.)
in Windsor on March 5, 6, and 7.
The anticipatory planning workshop in
Windsor brought together approximately
12'people in each of seven topic areas, with
relatively equal representation from Can-
ada and the U.S. Each work group, and the
workshop itself had two co-chairmen,
completing the binational structuring of
the workshop. The seven work groups were
discussing: 1) urban growth; 2) Land Use;
3) Urban and Regional Planning; 4)
Transportation; 5) Energy; 6) Great Lakes
Region Comparison & Finance; 7) Future
Technology and Social Change.
Participants included government per-
sonnel (civil service, as opposed to
elected), university professors, researchers
industry (such as hydro, mining) planners;
and one lone representative from agricul-
ture. No one was at the workshop to
represent agriculture in the U.S. A
Professor of Ag. Economics from Cornell
had been invited, but was unable to attend.
LAND USE
I was a members of the Land Use(natural
resources) work group which considered
matters concerning agriculture, forestry,
recreation, enviromentally sensitive lands
(e.g. wetlands) and mining. The group
considered the conflicts and interactions
between various land uses, and the future
problems they may bring to the waters of
the Great Lakes.
The Land Use work group members each
gave a briefing to the group of their
concerns as to the major problem area.
This resulted in a list of 30 problem areas
to be considerd. Our work group combined
the 30 in seven major areas: 1) Conserva-
tion of Agricultural Land; 2) Waste
Management; 3) Lack of Comprehensive
Land and Water Resource Planning Pro-
grams; 4) ❑ Management Problems re.
Critical Shore Areas 5) Development on
Hazard Lands; 6) Information and Educa-
tion -the Gap; 7) Water diversions and
Consumptive Uses -Water Transportation
Impacts.
Each of our seven topic areas came to
one common conclusion, and that was the
institutional problem. The I.J.C. and its
many Boards have prepared many detailed
reports and have shown the beneficial
effects of new programs if established.
However, the I.J.C. appears powerless to
persuade the legislators to act.
A FAILING
The I.J.C. has kept out of the political
arena in the past which has been one of its
major failings. Our Huron County Feder-
ation of Agriculture has developed a very
effective program for communication
with the elected officials -the annual Mem-
bers of Parliament dinner.
Agriculture as an industry is in a very
respected position, and now has a unique
opportunity to show leadership in develop-
ing a program to inprove the water quality
of the Great Lakes.
Admittedly, agriculture has some pro
blems which it should address. Individual
al farm owners must develop management
systems to reduce soil erosion, which
creates two problems. One is the loss of
valuable top soil, and the second is that the
phosphorous attached to the clay particles
eventually reaches the streams and
lakes. Two other areas that agriculture will
have to work at are 1) a control for the
indiscriminate removal of vegetation such
as fence rows and stream bank buffer strip
and woodlots and 2) improved design
standards for the outflow structure from
tile drainage.
MINIMAL
In the overall view of the total problem
areas in the Great Lakes Basin agricul-
ture's problems are small, and should
become smaller if all farm operators
become concerned citizens and adopt
improved management programs.
If the representative attendance at the
Science Advisory Board's Anticipatory
Planning Workshop is a guideline to the
relative contribution of agriculture to the
degradation of the Great Lakes Basin -that
is one out of 80 — agriculture should be
prepared to show the rest of society how it
can "clean up its act" and be a leading
"citizen" in the Great Lakes' ecosystem.
HURON COUNTY
FEDERATION
OF AGRICULTURE
MONTHLY
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Thursday,
April 5, 1979
8:30 p.m. sharp
Grey Central School
Ethel
Speaker Albin Kormos,
O.F.A. director
Mr. Kormos will present information
on the proposed changes in the
Federal stabilization act and give
insights into the Quebec and B.C.
provincial plans.
INVENTORY
REDUCTION
20" 9 ga. $ 9
disc blades
22" 1/4" $ 20
disc blades
Other sizes also available
Cultivator
S Tines 6.25
ea.
ONTARIO FARM
MACHINERY
AGENCY LTD.
363 - 10th St.,
Hanover, Ontario
THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL 1979 PG. 55