The Rural Voice, 2003-11, Page 48GREY
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: www.ofa.on.ca/grey 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551
The Rural Voice is provided to all
OFA members by the GCFA.
Surely next year will be better
As the year 2003 sputters along.
nearing its end, it will certainly be a
year that we won't soon forget.
Several events have combined to
make this one of the most memorable
years in some time. Our problems
seemed to start when the United
States declared war on Iraq and we
stuck to our passive roots and chose
not to participate. Our relationship
with our southern neighbour cooled
immediately and hasn't improved
much yet.
The next problem we encountered
was the SARS outbreak in Toronto.
The imposing of travel restrictions
combined with cool, damp spring
weather has caused no end of
problems for the tourism. The
backward spring delayed planting in
some areas and this has resulted in a
late fall harvest particularly for beans
and corn.
The finding of one cow in Alberta
with Mad Cow disease has no doubt
been the top story for this year. That
single incident caused the worst drop
Grey County Federation
2003/2004 GCFA Presidents
acclaimed at the Annual meeting on
Friday, October 3, 2003:
President: Paul De Jong
1st Vice President: Allen Hughes
2nd Vice President: Anne Marie
Watson
The following Regional Directors
and Delegates to OFA Convention
were acclaimed at the GCFA Annual
meeting.
Grey North (Former townships of
Derby, Keppel, Sarawak, Sullivan,
Sydenham, and Holland)
Regional Director: Paul Wettlaufer
Delegates to OFA Convention: Don
Hill, Roger Lamont, Paul Sachs
(Retiring Regional Director), Richard
Unruh. Alternate: Darren Hachey.
Grey South: (Former townships of
Bentinck, Normanby, Glenelg,
Egremont, Proton)
Regional Director: Karl Chittka
Delegates to OFA Convention: Paul
De Jong, Jeff Green, Paul Wettlaufer.
44 THE RURAL VOICE
in red meat prices in recent memory.
Not only were prices bad but in many
cases there was nowhere to market
animals. This affected not only beef
producers. Sheep and lamb prices
followed the downward trend and
dairy farms had nowhere to sell dairy
heifers. Renderers, truckers and other
agri-businesses all experienced
financial problems because of that
cow. The disease problem has now
turned into a trade problem with the
U.S. Remember that war with Iraq.
One good thing about this event is
that consumers have heard about it
and are asking where their meat
comes from.
The problems with Ontario meat
inspection has been another thorn in
the side for beef producers.
Consumers have heard about that too.
Now we have a new government to
deal with. (Not sure if that is good or
not. Time will tell.) The new
governor of California wants to shut
down Hollywood North (Toronto and
Vancouver). More problems for
officers named
Alternate: Audrey Rayfield
Grey East: (Former townships of
Artemesia, Collingwood, Euphrasia,
Osprey, St. Vincent)
Regional Director: Jacquie Hendry
Delegates to OFA Convention: Bob
Brassington (Retiring Regional
Director), Edith Tyson
Alternate: Vacant.0
GREY COUNTY FEDERATION
OF AGRICULTURE
DIRECTORS'
MEETING
Thursday, November 20
8:00 p.m.
Grey County Agricultural Services Centre
meeting room (Grey Gables)
206 Toronto Street South, Markdale
Members are welcome to attend
Toronto!
In spite of all these setbacks, I am
sure that most of us are looking
forward to 2004. Surely next year
will be better.0
— Submitted by Allen Hughes,
Vice -President, Grey County
Federation of Agriculture
Thank You!
Thank you to North Wellington
Co-operative Services Inc.,
Durham for their donation to the
Ottawa Rally Cattle Drive.
Grey County Soil 6 Crop
Improvement Annual Seed
and feed Show
November 20
Chatsworth Community Centre
Call 519-986-3756 for tickets or
more information
(pre -registration is mandatory)
Normanby Township
Federation of Agriculture
ANNUAL MEETING
Tuesday, November 18
Normanby-Ayton Complex
Social: 6:30 p.m.
Dinner: 7:00 p.m.
Guest Speaker: Isabel Dopta,
Assistant to Mike McMorris,
Vice President, Ontario
Cattlemen's Association
For tickets call:
Paul Wettlaufer 655-7646
or Clark Weppler 327-8919