The Rural Voice, 1992-03, Page 45PERTH
Matt Crowley, President, R. R. 1, Gadshill NOK 1J0 393-5716
PCFA Office 229-6430
* The Rural Voice is provided to farmers
in Perth County by the PCFA
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
COMBINING DEFINITIONS SORTS THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF
Elmer Buchanan, Ontario's Minis-
ter of Agriculture, has been working
hard to find money for this province's
second largest industry. It is important
to note that the food chain, from pen to
plate, employs about 20 per cent of
Ontario's work force. It must be hard to
satisfy the needs of the primary produc-
ers without breaking his ministry's
budget.
A couple of seminars I have at-
tended in recent years have dealt with
problem -solving. The first step toward
any solution is to identify the problem.
In the case of the farmer's low returns,
we must be prepared to identify the
characters involved. I feel that it is
prudent to identify farmers — so that
farm programs actually get to farmers.
I also firmly believe that this definition
should come from farmers themselves.
My definition of a farmer is: a
person who engages in the production
of primary feed/food (eg. grains, meats,
milk, vegetables, etc.) with an expecta-
tion of making a living from this activ-
ity. This person must also be able to
identify him/herself as a member of a
general farm organization.
The idea is that people who consider
COMPARE THE SHARE
On a cold Saturday in January (the
25th) in the parking lots of 13 grocery
stores in Perth county, approximately
50 farmers handed out 7,000 "Compare
the Share" pamphlets to consumers as
they did their weekly grocery shop-
ping. The pamphlets are a condensed
version of Lambton-Middlesex MP
Ralph Ferguson's report on the com-
parison of how much of the consumer's
food dollar is received by the farmer.
The organizing group for this ven-
ture was a coalition of several com-
modity organizations and the Perth
Federation of Agriculture.
We would like to thank all the farm-
ers who braved the cold to hand out
these pamphlets. We hope that this will
help inform the consumers that the
farmer is not getting his fair share of the
Canadian food dollar. We have already
had several favourable comments from
consumers. Most people graciously
accepted the pamphlet; some were sur-
prised at the statistics. Only a few
PERTH COUNTY
FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE
MARCH MEETING
Thursday, March 26, 1992
Contact a Director or the Office
for time and place.
consumers refused the pamphlet, stat-
ing they did not want the information.
If anyone would like copies of this
pamphlet call the Perth Federation of
Agriculture office.°
March 2, 1992
St. Columban Church
8:00 p.m.
Speakers will be
Roger George, OFA president,
and Carl Sulliman, OFA
executive director.
Everyone Is welcome!
All members should try to attend.
IEMBERSHIP BLITZ
WRAP-UP PARTY
March 13, 1992
St. Columban Church
8:00 p.m.
All new memberships will qualify
for a draw to be made at
10:00 p.m.
EVERYONE WELCOME!
themselves farmers should be respon-
sible enough to be members of a gen-
eral farm organization. This begs an-
other definition.
General Farm Organization: a farm
organization should be a cross-section
of this diverse industry and also have a
provincial charter. This group should
be grassroots -oriented, with represen-
tatives of farmers from each county,
cross -sectioning commodities and
church affiliations.
I have chosen these definitions to
ensure that general farm organizations
will adequately reflect the farmers of
Ontario. This is what will sort out the
wheat from the chaff — agriculturally
speaking.°
Matt Crowley
president, Perth County
Federation of Agriculture
"farmers working
for farmers"
NEEDS
YOU!
AS A MEMBER
MARCH 2 — 13
SPRING
MEMBERSHIP
DRIVE
Huron --- 482-9642
Perth --- 229-6430
MARCH 1992 41