The Rural Voice, 2004-11, Page 38Ag 101 a
'special event'
Continued from page 33
still only in the beginning stage, he
said.
He called Ag 101 "a special event
I will always remember".
"Having a strong voice for
agriculture these days is so
important," Shute said. He praised
the Ontario Federation of Agriculture
as an organization that starts at the
bottom with members and builds to
the top through regional directors
and the executive. "It has never been
so important to be so strong and so
united as now."
In his remarks Martin also
touched on the need for unity saying
he wanted to work with other
organizations to try to find common
ground.
There are so many issues where
government is trying to impose
expensive new regulations such as
nutrient management planning and
ground water source protection but
farmers don't have the ability to pass
these costs on because they don't
control the price they can charge.
"We have to work with
government and other organizations
to keep costs down," Martin said.
"We have to be strong and forceful
with government to make them
aware we can't bear the whole
burden."
Elected OFA regional directors
were Bert Vorstenbosch from Perth
Southwest; Burnell Kipfer from
Perth East and Andy DeVries from
Perth Northwest.
Two resolutions were passed, the
first calling on OFA to be proactive
in lobbying various government
ministries to support research for
farm -generated power from wind,
biodiesel and methane.
The second resolution called on
OFA to develop and promote a set of
guidelines for wind easement
agreements with companies trying to
set up wind farms.
Martin explained these
agreements will be long term so its
important that farmers make sure
they are right and they can use the
help of OFA in drafting consistent
rules.0
34 THE RURAL VOICE
News in Agriculture
Plan needed for agriculture
With four different agriculture
ministers in Ontario in four years,
and three at the federal level, the
country needs an
ongoing plan for
agriculture, the
Paul DeJong,
president of the
Grey County Fed-
eration of Agricul-
ture at their
annual meeting in
M a r k d a l e,
October 15.
DeJong Paul DeJong
recounted how his
father came to Canada with a vision
of a better place to farm. He, himself,
had started farming with a dream and
that dream has seen him and his wife
Dorien chosen as Ontario's
Outstanding Young Farmers in 2004.
"I believe strongly that we must
create a vision or a plan for the future
of agriculture in Canada," he said.
Such a plan for the long -run vision of
agriculture would provide guidelines
for new ministers. With so many
changes at the top of ministries "no
wonder they don't understand what is
needed in agriculture," DeJong said.
To accomplish creation of such a
plan agriculture needs a strong voice
and he questioned whether that could
be accomplished without farmers
being more united.
"If a company wants to become
more powerful it buys or merges
with its competitors," he said.
"Farmers go out and start another
organization."
Farmers must also accept that
"We own the farm but we must share
the environment," he said.
It has been too easy for society to
push the costs of protecting the
environment down onto the farmers
who have no way of passing on the
costs, he said.
Farmers must find new ways of
cutting costs such as group buying,
he said.
"On our farm at home I came with
a dream," he said. "This dream
became a reality. I'm living my
dream."
DeJong was returned as president
for another term with Allen Hughes
named first vice-president and Anne
Marie Watson named second vice-
president, all acclaimed to their
positions.
Regional directors acclaimed were
Paul Wettlaufer for Grey North, Karl
Chittka for Grey South, and Jacquie
Hendry for Grey East.
Guest speaker was former Rural
Voice columnist Gisele Ireland who
noted the similarity of the current
BSE hardship and the high -interest
crisis of the 1980s that hit her and
her husband Brian's farming
operation. "It feels like a blast from
the past when I look at you," she
said.
The struggle for survival never
seems to end, Ireland said. "When
you get BSE solved there will be
some new crisis."
Television reality show producers
should do a real survivor show and
set it on the farm, she joked. A
challenge could be who can go to a
bank and come out with a loan.
Still, despite have a barn burn on
their farm and having to live with 20
per cent interest rates after financing
the new barn and finally giving up
farming to run a used parts business,
life goes on, she said. "There have
been no mornings when we had to
get up and get a rifle to defend
ourselves," such as people in some
parts of the world do, she said. "The
major job of some people each day is
getting something to eat."
She leavened her speech with
humorous stories about the clash of
personalities and priorities between
her husband, her son and herself: the
men being machinery oriented while
she is plants, trees and flower
oriented.
OFA executive liaison Paul
Mistele told the audience it had been
a busy year with the ongoing BSE
crisis and 13 different consultation
processes on everything from animal
welfare standards to source water
protection. The most recent crisis
was the announcement earlier that
day of U.S. anti-dumping action
against Canadian hogs which he
Continued on page 35