HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1994-03-16, Page 33Farmers must utilize technological changes
by Debbie Davidson
CHESLEY--A hog producer
from Waterloo shared his ideas
on management techniques for.
dealing with changes in the
industry.
Bob Hunsporger, who has
been in.the swine industry since
1968, told farmers attending
Grey -Bruce Farmers Week that
advancing technology usually
takes more than one generation
to get assimilated.
He said the industry is in the
Middle of two technological
changes right now; computeriza-
tion and biotechnology. Comput-
ers are being used on everything\
from record keeping to monitor-
ing combines. In the field of
biotechnology, advancements
have made it possible to predict
which animals will bethe ones
to get sick, even as far as which
of these animals will survive or
die.
Hunsperger commended the.
Ontario Pork Producers' Market -
Bob Hunsperger
ing Board for its process of
discussion and feeling its way in
areas like NAFTA and GATT.
He feels supply management
won't be lost under GATT as
"Canadian commodities can t‘e
internationally competitive, espe-
cially if human aspects get added
to our products.
"It's a fact that people are
always going to have to eat, but
they don't have to eat what we
produce."
Hunsperger also spoke about
the dramatic results of split -sex
feeding and batching. He started
using these methods in 1992 and
has seen an increase in mortality
rates.
"The pressure is on you and I,
ordinary hog farmers in rural
Ontario, to find was to use this
technology. However, few farms
in Ontario will be able to incor-
porate these technologies' on
their own."
As hog producers change to
meet new challenges, so must
the boards and governments
change to meet new needs, he
said. Open communication be-
tween all segments of the indus-
try is necessary.
Many conditional ideas are
now proving to be wrong, so
farmers much also change the
way they think, he said.
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