The Rural Voice, 1992-01, Page 16SOUTHWESTERN
ONTARIO'S
54th ANNUAL
FARMERS'
"Keeping Agriculture
January 8
Ridgetown College
WEEK
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- 11, 1992
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PROGRAM
Feature Speaker - Wed , Thurs., Fn., — 1:30 - 2:15 p.m
OMAF Information Booth - Wilson Hall - OMAF personnel
available daily to discuss programs and problems in Farm
and Soil Mgmt
Jan 8— Com and Soybeans
Speaker - Impact of GATT, Subsidy Wars. Economic
Policies, Fed iProv Support Programs on com and
soybean producers in S W Ontario - Robert Mercer,
Editor Broadwater Market Letter Com Management -
Livestock Bldg - a m only Topics - Pest Management,
Cropping Practices, Improved Com Performance.
Conservation Tillage Practices Soybean Management -
Audeonum - a m 8 p m Topics - What's New For 52,
AGCARE, Crop Rotation, Modified Tillage and Effects on
Soybean Production, Market Forces & Forecasts
Jan. 9 — Agribusiness Management
— Stewards of our Resources
Speakers . To Be Announced
Farm Financial Management - Audeonum - a m only
Topics Dealing WO Your Creditors. Stress, NISA,
GRIP, and GST Market Situation and Outlook - Agri-
Theatre - am only Topics - Hogs, Cattle. Wheat
Soybeans, Com, Tomatoes, & Horticultural Crops
Business Environment - Agn-Theatre - p m only
Topics - Companson of Ont/U S Labour Costs, Cost of
Hog Production - Michigan vs. Ont., Rationalization,
Concentration Beyond the Farm Gate Cover Crops -
Livestodr Bldg - a m only The Transition to Reduced
Tillage - Livestock Bldg - p m. only
Jan. 10 —Horticulture Crops
Speaker - Outlook For Processing Tomato Production,
Dr Glen H Sullivan, Prof Marketing and Economics,
Purdue University, Indiana Processing Tomatoes I •
Agn-Theatre - a.m only, Processing Tomatoes II - Agn-
Theatre p m only, Fresh Market - Cherries 8 Plums -
Auditorrum - a m only. Fresh Market - Strawberries 8
Raspberries - Auditorium - p m only
Jan. 11 — Organic Agriculture • Computers in
Agriculture
— Goat & Sheep Production 8 Mgmt.
Organic Production Practice - Agn-Theatre - a.m only.
Future of Organic Farming Research - Agri-Theatre -
p m only, Goat Mgmt. I - Agronomy Bldg , Rm B29 -
a m only, Goat Mgmt. Il - Agronomy Bldg , Rm. B29 -
p m only, Sheep Demonstrations and Exhibits -
Liveslock Bldg. - a m only. Sheep Mgmt Agronomy
Bldg , Rm 35 - p m only, User Friendly Computer
Software - Agronomy Bldg . Rm 127 - p m only.
12th Annual Computer Show and Software for
Agricultural Purposes - Agronomy Building, Rm. 126
BABYSITTING AVAILABLE — SAT. ONLY
Bring own supplies 9 30 a m - 330 p.m.
Alumni Room, Agronomy Building
Registration cost $5 00 including admission to the day's
program and Farmers' Week information.
Noon meal available each day at dining hall.
COME EARLY — BROWSE AND SOCIAUZE
' Special Exhbits on Alternate Crops
' Commercial Exhibits ' Poster Information
' RCAT Lbrary - Largest source of ag. infonnaton in
the South West — Over 200 Farm Periodicals
12 THE RURAL VOICE
NEWS THAT DOESN'T MAKE
HEADLINES IS INTERESTING
Robert Mercer is editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter, a weekly
commodity and policy advisory letter
from Goodwood, Ontario LOC MAO.
Over the last little while I have come
across news items and stories that by
themselves are great tidbits of information,
but they don't quite lend themselves to a
full article. This month's column is a
review of this useful and sometimes
useless information which all makes good
reading and good coffee shop quotes.
What it has cost in terms of wheat —
now and then
In 1972, westem farmers got $2.15 for
a bushel of No. 1 HRSW (final price, basis
Thunder Bay or Vancouver). Today, they
get $2.59 a bushel, based on 1991/92
Canadian Wheat Board initial prices.
In 1972, it took 3,100 bushels of wheat
to buy a 120 HP farm tractor. In 1991, it
would take 23,000 bushels of wheat to buy
the same tractor. In 1972, a bushel of
wheat bought 25 litres of farm fuel.
Today, it buys only five litres. In 1972,
the average farm could pay its monthly
power bill with 10 bushels of wheat.
Today, the power bill costs 75 bushels.
Along a similar line, there was an
item published by the Canadian Wheat
Board that gave the value of farmers' grain
in the retail price of some common
purchases. This survey was done about a
year ago, but still makes interesting
reading.
Farmers' share of your
food and liquor purchases
How much does the farmer receive out
of the retail price of a one -litre bottle of
canola oil selling at $1.99? Answer: 61
cents. From a loaf of bread at $1.39, the
farmer gets six cents. The farmer's share
of a 40 -ounce, $27.50 bottle of rye
whiskey is one cent. The same applies to
a bottle of beer that might cost $1.10 —
the barley value is one cent. If you eat a
sugar cookie, the packet might have cost
$2.91, in which there is two cents of
wheat.
With Christmas not long past, you
might be able to recall how much your
family paid for the turkey. Did you get a
good deal from your friendly supermarket?
Well, in the U.S., the retailers were sure
out to get consumers' business for their
Thanksgiving last November.
Discount turkey priced at
25 cents/lb. in the U.S.
A report from the U.S. showed that
competition in the food retailing business
was brutal. Retail prices for turkey were
52 to 55 cents/lb. in the mid -west, and 60
cents in the eastern states. In Chicago,
prices were as low as 44 cents. In some
A&P stores, you got your 10- to 12-1b.
turkey free with $60 worth of groceries,
and a 20-1b. turkey free with $100 of
purchases. Just before the U.S. holiday
week, turkeys in the discount stores were
priced at 25 cents/lb. Now that's
discounting!
For those of your friends who feel '
fanning is always on the take for more
government money, tell them that it
generates jobs as much as any other sector
— such as railroads, health, and education
— that seeks support.
Hogs help the "help wanted" ads
According to research at the University
of Saskatchewan, for every 3,000 hogs
produced, 3.5 farm jobs are created. In
addition, as these hogs move through the
trucking, processing, retailing and research
activities, they create the equivalent of 13
off -farm jobs.
And finally, with all the talk about the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,
and the battle between the U.S. and the
EEC over farm subsidies, it is interesting
to realize how much the community is
dominated by big farms, when all we hear
about is the massive numbers of small
holdings.
EEC farms are large
as well as small
Most people think of farms in the EEC
as family -held, small acreage subsistence
enterprises. That may be true in numbers,
but on the other side of the picture there is
a predominance of large farms.
In the 12 -nation community, six per
cent of the cereal producers account for 50
per cent of the land base in crops, and this
six per cent produces about 60 per cent of
the cereals output. Fully half of the EEC's
milk supply is produced by 15 per cent of
its dairy farmers; half its beef comes from
the top 10 per cent of the beef farms.0