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The Rural Voice, 1990-01, Page 14(AL-mAR) AGRICULTURAL EMPLOYMENT SERVICES Provide employment planning assistance to the agricultural industry Recruit workers for agricultural employment Assist worker orientation and transportation Promote good employment standards Provide information about government employment programs OWEN SOUND WALKERTON 371-9522 881-3671 • 7111 Canac d FEED BINS • ALL GALVANIZED CONSTRUCTION • WEATHERTIGHT • ECONOMICAL FLEX-FLO AUGERS • 5 SIZES: 2" - 5" • BELT OR DIRECT DRIVE • COMPLETE LINE OF ACCESSORIES GRAIf SYSTEMS LTD. 244 Wellington St. W., Exeter 519-235-1919 After Hours: 519-235-2018 12 THE RURAL VOICE THE 1990s: HANG ON TO YOUR HATS! Hang on to your hats, folks, this column just may incur the wrath of the "always fair" guardian of public trust — MP Harry Brightwell. Harry's the one who scolded me (November Rural Voice) for giving hell to Canada's hog farmers for first promoting free trade, then whining it's not fair when the U.S. imposes a legal import duty on our pork. He said the free trade deal hasn't yet, but "may" correct the problem, and so too "may" the international GATT negotiations. Yes Harry, they "may" solve the problem, but that also leaves a strong possibility they "may not." So that logic smacks of being a "half truth," which a farmer reminded me recently can arguably also be a "half lie." I'm going to deal not in Harry's "mays" but rather in "facts," plus some predictions by observers more knowledgeable than either Harry or I. Fact: Agriculture Canada predicts Canadian farm incomes will drop to $4.33 billion in 1989 and to $2.63 billion in 1990, the lowest in years — that's a 39 per cent drop in one year. As I said, folks, hang on to your hats! Fact: government spending on agriculture will fall to $1.7 billion next year, from 4.8 billion this year and $6 billion in '88, according to one federal spokesman — that's more than a 300 per cent plunge in two years. Keep a grip on those chapeaux, mes amis. Fact: an Ontario agriculture ministry survey from 1984 through 1988 indicates that net income for beef cow farmers was $1,925 in 1985 — you rcad it right — and on average over the five-year span a whopping S6,967 — way below this country's poverty line. Watch that hat. Fact: Campbell Soup is closing its vegetable processing plant in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba; Gerber (Canada) Inc. is closing its baby -food operation in Niagara Falls; St. Lawrence Starch will close its Mississauga operation. Watch those hard hats! Prediction: Ontario's cattle indus- try is moving west, says Broadwater Market Letter editor Robert Mercer. Grab those Stetsons! Prediction: Royal Bank agriculture manager George Arnold says Canadi- an supply -management boards are under increased pressure from the free trade pact and GATT talks. Milk- maids, hold on to your tams. But the free trade frenzy of the federal government and its Uncle Sam also threatens food producers and their workers beyond the farm gate. Ontario's $15 billion food industry cannot compete with the U.S., indus- try executives said recently. "Our costs are 15 to 20 per cent higher than our best U.S. plants," said Gary Freed, a Campbell vice-president in Toronto. Multinationals are building new, efficient plants in the southern U.S. where labour costs are low. Parent firms could gear up production to sup- ply the entire Canadian market from Florida, Mexico, or California. Despite his assurances last month at the Ottawa policy conference that marketing boards won't be disman- tled, federal agriculture minister Don Mazankowski's message was anything but encouraging. He said marketing boards should be more flexible and less concerned with controlling supply. Controlling supply, of course, is the foundation of supply management. I've been accused through the 1980s of being a "gloom and doomer." So far in this column I've let others do the gloom and dooming. But I do offer this warning, taking no glee in doing so. Farmers, hang on to your hats and hang together ... or be hanged separately.0 Gord Wainman has been an urban - based agriculture reporter for 13 years.