The Rural Voice, 2003-06, Page 3About this issue
Experience brings perspective
When Jim Powers is inducted into the Ontario
Agriculture Hall of Fame later this month, he'll be a living
example of the kind of person you expect to find in such a
place of honour. Over the important formative years of so
many farm organizations from the Federation of
Agriculture to the Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board
and the milk board, Powers played an essential role as a
fieldman for the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture.
Later he was a key organizer for The Co-operators and for
co-operative health insurance companies, before the days
of universal health insurance.
Talking to Powers about his life is like a walk through
the history books of agriculture in Ontario. His story this
month gives some important perspective on how we arrived
at the institutions that are the backbone of farming in the
province today.
Also providing some perspective this month is a
recollection by Barbara Weiler of the days before
refrigeration made fresh meat a part of the daily farm diet.
It's hard for us to imagine with our home freezers and
refrigerators that farmers were once like the proverbial
shipwrecked sailor who was surrounded by water but
couldn't drink it. Farmers had fresh meat on the hoof with
their cattle and hogs but in the summer months, couldn't
eat the meat from these large animals before it spoiled. The
answer was the "beef ring", a neighbourhood co-operative
effort in which one animal was killed each week and split
up between members of the ring.
To modern times, few of the commodities work as hard
at promotion as Ontario Pork. This month we spoke with
Deb Campbell, regional co-ordinator for Huron and Perth
Counties about the work of making people eat more pork
and helping them understand the complexities of the pork
industry.
Summer is a carefree time for kids on the farm, but
sometimes it can also be a dangerous place to be young.
Recently students from several schools were brought
together to learn more about safety and Sarah Mann was on
hand to learn the lessons too.
It's strawberry season and Bonnie Gropp's recipes will
have you drooling for the beginning of picking season.
Meanwhile in her decorating column, Patti Robertson gives
tips on safe home cleaning products that might already be
in your kitchen cupboard.0
Update
Deer continue to be danger
They may seem cute, even cuddly, but deer continue to
be a major cause of vehicle accidents in Huron County, just
as they were back in October 2000 when we published
Pretty ... Dangerous, about the growing number of car -
deer collisions. Back then Huron County seemed to be the
most dangerous place to drive a car when it came to deer
collisions and it remains the runaway leader. In 2000, the
county's OPP detachment expected to investigate 300
collisions. By 2002, the number had grown to 345 and this
year is on a pace to at least equal that dangerous total.
To the end of April, the county's police had reported 85
collisions, almost matching the 87 for the same period last
year. But in one way, this year has already topped last. In
2002 there were several reports of vehicles colliding with
two deer at one time. In 2003 there have already been two
reports of collisions involving three deer. Police warn that
if you see one deer cross a road you should be on the
lookout for others to follow.
Police advise you to look for deer movement near bush,
and low areas like rivers and swamp. Sixty-five of the
collisions were in evening, the rest in early morning.0
'Rural Voice
Published monthly by:
The Rural Voice,
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NOM 1H0
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A division of North Huron Publishing Company Inc.
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, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Janice Becker, Mark Nonkes, Larry
Drew
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Gerry Fortune
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Merle Gunby
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Joan Caldwell
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