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The Rural Voice, 1990-04, Page 46S G©STOCX Proven Today Better Tomorrow INCREASE YOUR PIGS' PROFITABILITY TOMORROW BY USING BODMIN BOARS & GILTS TODAY York Landrace Hamp Duroc Hamp X Duroc Boars York X Landrace Gilts Always a good selection of Top Quality Boars Delivery Available Boar Store 519-887-9206 Phil Smith 519-764-2898 (res.) Gerry Campschroer 519-523-4284 (res.) Your Complete Drainage Company FARMERS! WE WANT YOUR BUSINESS Let us quote on your next tiling project You owe it to yourself to install the best! Hensel) Exeter Plant Office 1-800-265-1714 1-800-265-7622 Zurich Grand Valley Hubert Schilbe Larry Campbell 519-236-4792 519-928-2855 42 THE RURAL VOICE But other options will be looked at. The Congress went on to discuss other projects that would strengthen the alliance between farmers and chefs and might offer Knives & Forks a more public presence. A cookbook was one suggestion. Michael Stadtlander suggested a "progressive supper" tour through a series of downtown restaurants, featuring in each the offerings of a Knives & Forks farmer. Plans were made to repeat one of the initial projects of Knives & Forks, Last summer's Feast of Fields, a picnic celebrating food and food people. John Gardner, the final speaker of the day, commended all the partici- pants for what he referred to as their "vision." Gardner, the inevitable OMAF man — as one farmer was overheard to say, "The only guy in the room being paid to be here." Gardner was slated to speak to the congress under the title "Sustainable Agriculture: An Assessment." In- stead, he was taken to task by the farmers, who questioned vehemently the vision of the agriculture ministry. One grower's statement — "The best information I've been able to get from the govemment is from material printed in the 1920s" — brought forth a smattering of applause. Clearly, the presence of a govem- ment representative among these self - promoting farmers was met with some resentment. Any eagerness to listen and learn from the hosts, the buyers, was not extended to the ministry man. Tomas Nimmo, an agricultural journalist and the day's moderator, appealed to the farmers to be polite. Perhaps the reaction to the representative of officialdom and bureaucracy most accentuated the grassroots nature of Knives & Forks. Through Knives & Forks, urban con- sumers are reaching out to growers. They want to talk about the quality and the accessibility of food. They want to talk about environmental responsibility and personal health concerns. But they also want to talk about money, about marketing, and about management. The first annual Knives & Forks Winter Congress may have been about a movement. It was definitely about business.0