The Rural Voice, 1980-12, Page 35Grey County
Federation of Agriculture
Newsletter
The Grey County Federation of Agriculture welcomes the
opportunity to report to our membership in the County through
the Rural Voice. We share an office, in Hanover, with Bruce
County and anyone wishing to contact our office may on
Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 and 5.
The Grey Federation holds monthly meetings on the same
schedules as OFA with the date being the Fourth Wednesday of
each month at the OMAF office in Markdale.
The September 24th meeting was held in the evening. Bob
Leslie, our fieldman, reported that our membership in Grey has
increased over a year ago by about 5% which gives Grey County
approximately 1050 Individual Service Memberships in OFA.
Bessie Saunders, East Grey Regional Director, reported on the
Sept. 17th OFA directors meeting stating that the OFA media
award was presented to Mr. John Storm of the St. Catherines
Standard.
The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters requested
OFA's support for the recommendation that all first-time
hunters, regardless of age and regardless of whether a license in
another jurisdiction was held, be required to take the Hunter
Safety Course before obtaining a resident license . OFA feels
that this could prevent problems and would be beneficial to
i mmigrant hunters who may be unaware of our hunting laws and
a working knowledge of the English language especially with
respect to No trespassing Signs!
OFA has a proposed dental plan and requests input.
Grey Federation and especially many residents of South-West
Grey are concerned about the intentions of the aggregate
companies. This topic has caused us concern and a resolution to
OFA for their input was carried at the Sept. 17th meeting. We
plan to become involved with this concern because we do not
believe that good agricultural land should be taken out of
production for all time .
We plan to have public meetings during the winter on this
topic and we invite the input of the area property owners,
The Grey Federation has felt that our Constitution and By-laws
required an updating. On Sept. 24th we approved the
amendments to our by-laws and the Constitutional proposed
amendments were discussed at our annual meeting on Oct. 24th.
Robert Taylor
Past President
Saunders elected president
Bessie Saunders of Meaford was
elected 1981 president of the Grey County
Federation of Agriculture at their annual
meeting recently.
The orga nization's 40th annual meet-
ing and banquet was held in Markdale on
Oct. 24, and 240 people attended.
The new executive elected at the
meeting are:Mrs. Saunders, president;
first vice-president Don Hill of R.R. 6,
Owen Sound; and second vice-president,
Ken McIntyre of R.R. 1, Priceville. The
regional directors are: North - Ruth
Hamill, R.R. 4, Chatsworth; East - Albert
Langer, R.R. 3, Proton and in the south -
Bill Hodges, R.R. 2, Mount Forest.
Among the guests at the annual
meeting were Frank Wall, OFA vice-pre-
sident from the Niagara Region, Don and
Evelyn McQuarrie from Grey County
council, Jack Hale, general manager of
the OFA, Mr. and Mrs. Bordon Fenton,
representing the Bruce County Federa-
tion1Ron Jones from Simcoe, Ivan Suggitt
from Wellington County, Barry Tolton of
OMAF and Vernon Fawcett, deputy -
reeve of Artemesia Township.
Mr. Taylor told the meeting there's
been a 64 per cent increases in member-
ship over the previous year. He reviewed
some of the problems faced by farmers in
the past year including high interest
rates, increased cost of machinery, and
the inflationary impact on input items,
which meant some produce went for a
lower price than the previous year.
Mr. Taylor also told guests the Grey
Federation has decided to provide the
Rural Voice farm magazine to all ISM
members of the OFA. The magazine will
cary the Grey Federation newsletter,
along with newsletters from farm groups
in Bruce, Huron and Perth counties.
An issue raised at the meeting was the
future use and control of aggregates
(gravel) in Grey County. It was pointed
out plans being laid are for an area 20
times larger than anywhere else in North
America.
Frank Wall, representing the OFA,
praised the vitality of the Grey County
Federation and the initiative of its
executive members. He said items which
will be discussed at the upcoming OFA
convention in Toronto include the politics
of agriculture and how to lobby with the
government, food strategy and energy-
related issues.
The resolutions Grey County approved
were: that the Ontario government
should be approached to provide money
for tiling and drainage which is needed to
get the best from the land; that the
Proton township grade all road shoulders,
remove stones and seed the land to make
mowing easier and to keep down weeds;
that the increase in the proliferation of
weeds, which seems to be coming from
poor grass seed be investigated and a
recommendation protesting the increase
in the rural hydro rates.
Mrs. Saunders thanked Robert Taylor,
retiring president, for the time and effort
he and his wife had put into federation
activities. She also told farmers in the
audience who had supplied hay to
Western Canada and haven't yet been
paid, that it will be some time before they
receive payment due to a procedural
foul-up.
THE RURAL VOICE/DECEMBER 1980 PG. 33