The Rural Voice, 2000-04, Page 78People
Farm legends named to Hall
Samuel Nelson Monteith: Ag
minister appointed first Ag Reps.
Four western Ontario farm legends
are among six people who will be
named to the Ontario Agricultural Hall
of Fame June 11.
To qualify for the Hall, located at
the Farm Museum in Milton, inductees
must have contributed significantly to
the advancement of agriculture in
Ontario.
Russell T. Bolton, a pedigree seed
grower from Seaforth (1901-1986) was
a 10 -time winner of the World Hay
Championship at the Royal Winter
Fair.
Gerald (Gerry) James Long of
Delaware (1933-1998) spanned many
agricultural organizations and
commodities, including swine, eggs
and apples. For over 20 years, many of
them as chairman, he represented the
interests of apple growers on the
Ontario Apple Commission. He was
the driving force in the development of
the Tri -Partite Stabilization Plan for
the Canadian apple industry.
Samuel Nelson Monteith of
Sebringville (1862-1949), was
Minister of Agriculture when the first
Agricultural Representatives were
appointed in 1907. He was instrumen-
tal in establishing the St. Williams
Tree Nursery and the Monteith
Industrial Farm in northern Ontario.
He is credited with the "greening of
Ontario" because each September he
would arrange for 1,000 tree seedlings
to be sent to rural schools. Students
were then encouraged to plant them on
their family farms.
John A. Stewart of Ailsa Craig
(1919-1991) turned a few bushels of
superior oats into millions of bushels
by contracting with farmers and
increasing seed in winter nurseries,
then multiplying them again before
release to the public. He also promoted
"Plant Breeders' Rights".
Also named to the Hall were
Graydon Thomas Bowman of
Temiskaming, a producer, marketer
and innovator in pedigreed seed and
Robert (Bob) Serson Sparling of
Kinburn in eastern Ontario who
contributed 35 years of service to the
seed industry.°
Jim Fischer returned at AGCare
Jim Fischer of Walkerton, was re-
elected chair of AGCare when the group
held its annual meeting in Guelph in
February.
Fischer, who with his wife Donna
operate a dairy farm near Walkerton, is a
representative of the Ontario Soil and Crop
Improvement Association on AGCare, a
coalition of 16 farm groups. He has been
on the AGCare board since 1992.
Mary Lou Garr, a Grimsby -area field Jim Fischer: AGCare chair
crop, grape and pork producer was returned as vice -chair of the group. She
represents the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Also on the executive are Fred
Wagner, a Waterloo county corn farmer who represents the Ontario Corn
Producers; Bill Allison, representing the Ontario Soybean Growers and Jeff
Wilson, representing the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association.°
to on IbtS004.
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- -4 I
Bruce County's
Stan Eby heads
Ontario
Cattlemen's
Association
Kincardine -area cattleman Stan
Eby was elected president of the
Ontario Cattlemen's Association at
its 38th annual meeting in Toronto
in February.
Eby and his wife Islay operate a
pasture and backgrounding
operation on 400 acres. They also
work in co-operation with their son
Steve who purchased the feeding
portion of their business several
years ago. Eby was first elected a
director for Bruce County in 1994.
In 1995 he was elected as an
executive director of OCA and
worked his way up. He served as
first vice-president in 1999-2000.
Through OCA he also served on
the board of the Canadian
Cattlemen's Association since 1996
and is currently chair of the Beef
Cattle Research Council.
In his acceptance speech, Eby
said he believes the greatest
challenge facing the beef industry
is "to work effectively with all
sectors of the industry — from
primary production to retail sales
and consumer information — to
enhance the demand for our
product in a profitable manner."
In the coming year Eby said,
OCA will be focused on a number
of issues including environmental
concerns, intensive livestock
operations and municipal
restructuring. "The restructuring of
rural and urban municipalities
poses a special concern," he said.
"We must learn to communicate
effectively with these new councils
and also our non-farm rural
residents."
Also among those named to the
OCA executive was Ron
Wooddisse of Wellington County.°