The Rural Voice, 1983-03, Page 59YOUNG FARMER
Junior Farmers: Alive and well at UWO
by Alice Gibb
"Excuse me," said the caller, "I was
wondering if you could tell me how to
contact the Junior Farmers' club on
campus."
There was a long pause, someone
stifled a laugh, and the voice said dis-
believingly, "A Junior Farmers' club at
Western? Sorry, we don't have anything
like that listed here."
Several calls later, the writer dis-
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PG. 60 THE RURAL VOICE, MARCH 1983
covered the University of Western Onta-
rio (UWO) does indeed boast an admit-
tedly young, but otherwise very healthy
Junior Farmers' group, one of only
three university -based clubs in Ontario.
Eileen Connolly, a home economics
student at UWO's Brescia College,
returned from a Junior Farmer's leader-
ship training camp last summer full of
enthusiasm about club activities. What
Western needed, she decided, was a
Junior Farmers' club on campus.
Eileen had belonged to the Seaforth
Junior Farmers' club since she was 16,
and the club's social activities were one
of the things she missed most in
moving to London.
When she approached the UWO Stu-
dent's Council, who must ratify clubs
that want an official status on campus,
the initial reaction was "an agricultural
club here?"
Or as another council member said,
"You're not here to learn about agri-
culture, so why do you need a club like
that?"
But initial reactions aside, Eileen
wasn't about to be daunted—after being
turned down the first time over an age
limitation in the club's charter, she tried
again.
This time the fates were smiling more
kindly, and the UWO Junior Farmers'
Club was officially born.
Now if Eileen and her fellow UWO
students had attended the agricultur-
ally -oriented University of Guelph, they
could have joined the 11 -year old Junior
Farmers' club there. It's so well-estab-
lished, it has its own provincial direc-
tor, completely independent of other
Wellington County clubs.
The University of Waterloo also has a
Junior Farmers' club on campus.
- The new UWO club, which meets
twice monthly on Sunday nights, now
has 31 members. a mix of students
from both rural and urban backgrounds.
The UWO club's rural -urban split isn't
surprising—of Ontario's 7,000 Junior
Farmer members, only 1,500 are active
farmers. Many of Middlesex County's
700 Junior Farmers come either from
the county's small towns or the Forest
City itself.
Frank Vanhie, president of the county
Junior Farmers, admits the club's name
still conjures up an image of the horse
and plow" in many peoples' minds.
That confusion, plus the growing urban
membership has even led to discus-
sions of someday changing the organ-
ization's name to something like Rural -
Urban Youth.
The club attracted new members, like
UWO business student Dave Lamont.
Dave, grew up on a beef and horse farm
in Bruce County, where he'd belonged
to the Port Elgin Junior Farmers' Club.
He'd considered joining other UWO
clubs, but when he saw the Junior
Farmers' exhibit at Clubs' week, "I knew
what was involved. the club offers such
a variety of things to do." Besides, as
he points out, unlike sports -centered
clubs, "you don't have to be an expert
in anything" to join.
He has found, however, that his
fellow business students don't always
understand his interest in Junior Far -
Three of the Huron County students who were charter members of the
UWO Junior Farmers Club are [left to right) Eileen Connolly, club president,
of R.R. 3. Kipper, Sherry Robertson of Blueva/e and Kay Morrison of
Wingham area. [photo by Gibb]