The Rural Voice, 2004-08, Page 1660 years of leadership
Mang of Ontario's agricultural leaders todag learned leadership skills
through the Junior Farmers movement. But with the proud organization a
mere shadow of its former glorg, who will train the leaders of tomorrow?
By Keith Roulston
Colwanash Junior Farmers
To Compete Against Clinton
Last Thursday night in the Memorial
Hall, two of the three North Huron
Junior Farmer and Junior Institute
groups competed for the right to me ?t..
the winners of the south groups in
drama finals.
The Colwanash group, with their. _G. Commencing this week, Nov. 19th.
play entitled "Come Out Of It," won V •Farrne:s
the Huron County Junior
the nod of the adjudicator Atrs. Mar- ���' �0 • stirt a "Wage War on Rats'' campaign,
ionne Johnston. The cast of the win- Ve r t¢" ,.which will run through to January 19.
ning play included, Helen Litt' C,O �P o p oar. I TIhc• purpose of the campaign istoLorne Hackett. George Ribey, . ' Ce , n, SQ•�aw toS°o'• 'stimulate a community -wide drive to
Little, Lois g Hackett, Frank��t� fc • ���••>o�9y a� n �t4' ! erradicate these filthy, costly pest:.
Sheilia Feagan. Robert 1 '1►
Kenneth McA!listcr as i Sc' ¢<S e� `S ¢ a.9- The Junior Fermers•agree that rats ar't
�O c p. Jna �'1' at Nt<` <C`•� far mire common than most of us like
• The cast will got G .f`1 4a G+ 4' e Q t;
S c 4'S s Q Ito believe. Prof. R. H. Oxburn, of the
ening, Thursday. Fet. ti�t�o'ot �'� oto�ta�fi �, a^`o<s art •`� ' OAC, found rats on everyone OE 5:
for the Huron County �o¢ ¢�o�(oa`�oo Qt <¢nv5°SS o �o c< st farms visited during a recent test. It
Ginner earning the rigt. NN,.,o,oQet�ctS cx3 ¢yoq�c`40xS t 'was etttmted that each of these farnts
Guelph to compete in the 'd 1-9 0• c II
als. O<` .e 4a on' C,�i G oc ?P`'.2:,01;5‘i�.¢ a� l�•st as much as 51.000.00 a year t >
`p¢ apt `¢a P4 G<¢ , S J< ,S •p th Esc pests.
Clinton Junior Farmers �<' si• o �0 1� ¢a
a similar group from Seaforth �4te oaf a't �sr.�e�y 5¢¢��aytcv���ivel, Rats don't restrict their activity to
in the other semi final round. Qt' t` t't` o, ti't` �¢ �c 4,,¢ �, �E. r ns. They're extremely common 1-
Chairman
r the
stival
9.
res.
Mss Lois Jones. president ofyth ethe Cou ¢¢ e¢1' Q es 4' 'tothtt`0t �,c r� ¢ e C.,2' ��•t•'olj est many f ct homes. processing Dumps
a
ty Junior Institute. Other talent ot. .4t'v 2). �S- c. " e 1¢ .. ` , on¢5��¢9• Jc¢a ara a real source of infestation n
the program
1 0
Ruth Proctor:ncluded a monologueSJ an Smith, olo by Miss 'Lti �Jc 4tio� 4, 4\0, �oy1P�`� xs Q<oc`c � e°<��'es
s:.xonhnno colo. Russel Fear• cede, A I- ioQ...„ •. Q ,.OQ'' ..<<9_ c9 _c� S.°t5' °¢� d'.,t'n'11d not tolerate rats around
"War On Rats" To Be
Waged By Jr. Farmers
Headlines from 1956 and 1957 show some of the many activities in which Junior Farmers groups took part.
Jn
his position as a field
representative for the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture, Paul
Nairn gets to see a lot of farm
leaders, both those in his
organization and in commodity
groups and he can see the benefits
being part of the Junior Farmer
movement provide.
"I can see people coming through
the farm organizations, ones I know
who had Junior Farmer training," he
says, "and you can see the benefits in
the way they conduct business."
A former president of the Junior
Farmers Association of Ontario
himself, Nairn is one of the planners
for the reunion to celebrate the 60th
anniversary of the forming of the
12 THE RURAL VOICE
organization. Junior Farmer alumni
and current members will be
gathering in Orangeville, August 14
(see box on page 13) to mark the
event and recapture some of the past
glory of the event.
Daryl Ball, Regional Information
Co-ordinator with Ontario Ministry
of Agriculture and Food's Stratford
office and chair of the reunion
committee, who was involved as a
member from 1968 to 1971 says
there were 10,000 Junior Farmers
across Ontario at the height of the
movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
The reunion marks the
anniversary of the forming of the
provincial organization at a meeting
on April 4, 1944 at Queen's Park in
Toronto when 48 young men and
women representing Junior Farmers
clubs and Junior Institutes in 24
counties came together in the seat of
the province's government.
That the government of the day
was soundly behind the movement
can be seen from some of the
speakers: the minister of agriculture,
Thomas Kennedy; the director of the
agricultural representatives branch
Dr. C. D. Graham; the president of
the Ontario Agricultural College Dr.
G. I. Christie and the assistant deputy
minister of agriculture R. S. Duncan
who issued a challenge: "Let us press
forward to make even greater
progress in advancing the interests
and education of rural young