The Rural Voice, 1979-09, Page 25RuraiNews in Brief
"Public policy
needed to save
farmland."
Private concern is not enough to "save
the agricultural land we so desperately
need," said Dr. Robert Hoover, president
of the Preservation of Agricultural Lands
Society (PALS).
Public policy is needed, said the profes-
sor of urban studies at Brock University in
St. Catharines.
The province has left the protection of
agricultural land in the hands of local
municipalities, he said, but those munic-
palities are interested in expanding their
tax base - and that means urban and
industrial expansion.
PALS was developed in the Niagara area
when the regional government threatened
to take 23,000 acres of prime farmland and
turn it into residential and industrial
development within urban municipalities,
he told the annual convention of the
National Farmer's Union in July.
Both urban and rural people in the
Niagara area joined together to fight this
proposal, he said, and it was the effort of
both these groups that impressed the
provincial politicians.
"In a society where votes count, we need
the efforts of city and country people
together to save the needed farmland,"
said Dr. Hoover.
Members of PALS have raised $40,000 in
order to take their case to court via a
lawyer. Another $15,000 is needed, he
said. The group is opposing a new network
of highways that would travel through land
that the society wants to save.
Blue mould hits half
of tobacco crop
About one-half of Ontario's tobacco crop
has been affected by blue mould, a fungus
which spreads by spores and is increased
under humid or wet conditions at temper-
atures below 16 degrees Celcius.
The hardest hit areas are from Tillson-
burg to Simcoe, in Oxford, Norfolk and
Brant counties.
Insurance pay -outs are expected to run
between $50-$100 million, depending on
whether the spread of the disease exceeds
the present damages of half the 230 -million
pound tobacco crop in the province.
The infection first appears as yellowish
spots on the upper surface of the leaves of
the plant, and later, a bluish -grey growth
appears on the underside of the leaf and
spores are produced.
This particular strain of fungus is not
likely to affect possible host vegetables
such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Other vegetables are not susceptible to the
tobacco blue mould fungus.
Powers of corn marketing
agency debated between
OFA and NFU
Getting the Ontario Federation of Agri-
culture and The National Farmers Union to
agree on a corn marketing agency in
Ontario is like "breeding a horse to a
cow," said Robert King of R.R.2 Rodney.
There appears to be little or no chance
that the two groups will concur about the
powers of a corn marketing agency, Mr.
King said after his presentation to the
annual convention of the Ontario region of
the NFU.
The NFU wants an agency that controls
the sale of corn produced in the province;
the OFA is opposed to any controls over
marketing. Both do agree, however, that
any agency should do some work finding
markets and recommending prices for
corn.
A meeting between the corn committees
of the two organizations failed, he said,
and a future meeting seems doubtful.
The Minister of Agriculture has the
power to appoint a corn commission for the
province, but has not done so, even though
the NFU requested one, said Mr. King.
Chairman of the the NFU committee,
Mr. King wants a vote by corn producers
with three options: elect a Board, appoint a
board, or leave things as they are.
Unanimous approval was given to this
suggestion by NFU members during
annual district meetings,he said.
During the collection of signatures, said
Mr. King, corn producers expressed the
following: they are quite wary of establish-
ing another marketing board, they like the
idea of having a corn board with the power
to price corn and impose import controls,
they are violently opposed to market value
quotas for corn, and Canadian corn should
be Canadian priced and reflect Canadian
production costs.
THE RURAL VOICE/SEPTEMBER 197B PG. SS