The Rural Voice, 1985-11, Page 36FARM NEWS
Debt moratorium declared in Huron
A moratorium on all farm Ken Kelly, vice-president of the
foreclosures in Huron County was Bruce County Federation of
declared at the Huron Federation of Agriculture, addressed the group of
Agriculture's annual meeting. more than 300 people. In the first six
Doug Garniss, Huron County weeks after Bruce proclaimed a
federation president, said the vote moratorium, he said, several groups
obliged him to impose the followed suit: Lennox -Addington,
moratorium. He asked members to the Lambton Federation of
offer their names and phone numbers Agriculture, Kent County Council,
if they were willing to help him en- Essex Council, the municipality of
force the measure if the need arose. Dufferin, the region of Durham, and
"Mr. Chairman, will you put my the towns of Hanover and Chesley.
name on that list?" said Gordon Hill, John Wise, federal Minister of
standing up immediately. Agriculture, imposed a moratorium
"Mine too," said Paul Klopp, first on farm foreclosures by the Farm
vice-president. Credit Corporation, he added.
The first two signatures came easy, A moratorium, Kelly said, "is not
but others were slower in coming. a radical action" but an interim
Walter Elliott, a dairy producer, measure until farmers get help.
encouraged members to show their By the end of the evening, about 70
support for the moratorium. On July signatures had been collected, accor-
2, he noted, there were only two bus ding to Doug Garniss.
loads of Huron County farmers at the While only one hand was raised in
Queen's Park rally organized by the opposition to the resolution passed at
OFA. The vote showed some support the meeting, many did not vote.
for action, he said, but "let's not just There was little discussion, and some
use our hands but our whole bodies." members were concerned that the
Dwarf corn yields tallied
Few farmers grow more corn
varieties than Gerald Wilhelm of
R.R. 4, Walkerton. This year, in co-
operation with the Bruce County Soil
and Crop Improvement Association,
Wilhelm planted 43 varieties of corn
on 15 acres of variety trials. Receiving
the most attention this year is PAG's
dwarf corn.
Dozens of local farmers came out
to the test plot on a dreary, rainy day
to see the new crop. Its characteristics
were especially obvious because the
five-foot high corn was towered over
by traditional varieties in nearby
plots. The quick maturity of dwarf
corn was also dramatically obvious as
the 72 -day crop stood ready for
harvest on September 26 while other
corn varieties were still far from
maturity.
The new crop is planted with a
population of 6,000 plants per acre
and has a final population of 5,100
compared to taller varieties with a
population of close to 2,300 plants
per acre.
Through to harvest countdown, ex-
pectations of yield for this dwarf
variety were reduced. Wilhelm said he
was expecting between 150 and 175
bushels per acre in the spring. Dry
weather hampered cob development
34 THF RURAL VOICE
to some degree and some plants net-
ted only one cob where two were ex-
pected. On the morning of harvest,
Wilhelm had lowered his expectations
to 120 bushels per acre.
When the New Holland combine,
donated for the demonstration by a
local dealer, rolled off the field,
yields were even lower than the ad-
justed expectations.
Joan McDonald, Grey -Bruce soil
and crop specialist, estimates that one
bushel per acre was lost during
harvest. Because dwarf corn is a new
crop, it took the operators a little
while to make the right adjustments
to the flex head. This is the same head
commonly used for combining grain
and beans. An advantage of growing
dwarf corn is that much of the same
equipment used for cereals and
beans, including the grain drill, can
be used for this crop.
When harvest results were tallied,
the dwarf corn yielded an average of
85 bushels per acre on the Wilhelm
Brothers farm.
Gerald Wilhelm stands in his test plot
of dwarf corn before harvest on
September 26. Yields were lower than
he expected, but he still thinks that
dwarf corn has a future in Ontario.
vote did not reflect general opinion in
Huron County.
Merle Gunby, a Dungannon
farmer, noted that the uncertainty
over whether the vote is represen-
tative has placed the executive in a
difficult position. Gunby suggested
that a special meeting be called to
deal with the two controversial
resolutions passed at the annual
meeting.
The second resolution, which also
sparked little discussion and passed
easily, asked that the Ontario Federa-
tion of Agriculture request that all
commodities receive cost of produc-
tion plus a reasonable profit for pro-
duction to the Canadian market.
A well -advertised meeting to
discuss these issues would make all
farmers in Huron aware that these
resolutions have been passed. "As it
is now, other farmers are unaware
that this action has taken place."
There was no further discussion
about such an information
meeting. E