The Rural Voice, 2003-01, Page 3About this issue
Looking ahead, and back
If we could just see the future it would be so much
easier to make money in farming, or any other enterprise.
But ironically, although the market is just the sum total of a
whole lot of decisions by individual people, few of us are
able to figure out what others will do.
At recent meetings representatives of various sectors of
the agricultural community gave their best guesstimates on
everything from land prices to the effect of the U.S.
country of origin labeling. We put those crystal ball
musings together into one article which we bring to you
this month.
The financial world is changing just as quickly as
farming. Insurance companies have changed their
structures and in some cases merged. The big five banks
keep trying to merge, only to be blocked by the federal
government. Even the most local financial institutions,
credit unions which grew out of local initiatives, are
undergoing change, in some cases expanding, in some
cases merging, in order to offer a greater range of services.
David Blaney takes a look at the state of these grassroots
institutions, where they came from and where they're
going.
A cemetery can be a place where you go to remember a
loved one but you can also experience history and culture,
nature and even art lessons says Larry Drew who takes a
look at some of the fascinating stories that can be found in
various cemeteries around Ontario, like the tombstone for a
dog that died while faithfully guarding his young master's
grave.
In our news and advice section there is information from
the 2002 beef symposium held at Brussels.
Bonnie Gropp's recipe column provides recipes for
hearty and delicious muffins to warm body and soul for
winter.
In the "Leading Edge" section, researchers at the
Windsor Regional Cancer Centre have discovered a
disturbing connection between the rate of breast cancer and
women whose occupation is farming. Could it be linked to
farm chemicals? Opinion is divided but it seems likely
more research will be done to find out.0
Update
Ted Johns, and Aglmer, return
Ted Johns's cantankerous farmer Aylmer Clark proved
as popular as ever last summer, even after he came out of
the barn for Barnboozled.
The production was so popular that Johns, Aylmer and
the prize "golden calf' will be back on stage this coming
summer at the Blyth Festival. For those who have missed
the plays over the years, Aylmer Clark is a farmer who, as
Johns said in our August 2002 issue, represents a previous
generation of farmers. In He Won't Come In From the
Barn, Aylmer, bewildered and frustrated by the modern
world of agriculture, took to his barn in protest, finding it
the one place where he still felt comtortable, surrounded by
his cows, pigs and chickens (who were the hit of the show).
In Barnboozled, Aylmer is sent on a quest to bestow the
prize calf on the farmer who personifies the future of
agriculture. Along the way he is again bewildered by the
world of computers, new farming technology, new
corporate structures and genetic engineering, all with
hilarious results.
Barnboozled will again be directed by the legendary Paul
Thompson who will also direct Hippie, by Kelly McIntosh
and Jonathan Garfinkle about the cultural clash that took
place when flower -children of the "Perth County
Conspiracy" moved into farm homes beside the more
conservative local population in the 1960s and 1970s.0
Rural Voice
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NEI
1warnI A AALGrinGcorww,.c
Editor & Publisher: Keith Roulston
Editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron Cty;
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.;
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
Contributing writers:
Bonnie Gropp, Carol Riemer, Ralph
Pearce, Bob Reid, David Blaney, Sandra
Orr, Janice Becker, Larry Drew
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Gerry Fortune
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Joan Caldwell
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