The Rural Voice, 1992-06, Page 61PERTH
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
During the late winter and early
spring, most farmers and all farm
organizations were preoccupied by the
very real threat of a "new dcal" being
signed at the GATT negotiations
which could destroy the orderly
marketing of supply managed
commodities. Concern over the
Canadian government's position at the
GATT culminated with the huge
Ottawa Farm Rally.
Meanwhile, another sector of the
farm economy was under attack right
here at home by its own Ontario
government. In this case, farm leaders
OPERATION TREE PLANT
and the farm press remained strangely
silent. According to recent OMAF
statistics, nursery stock constitutes the
fourth largest farm gate crop receipts
in Ontario, behind only wheat, corn
and soybeans.
On February 12, Minister of
Natural Resources Bud Wildman
announced that the government was
giving away 23 million tree seedlings
free of charge because the Ministry
was out of money to plant them on
crown land. The giveaway was code-
named "Operation Tree Plant".
(Currently, only about 17 per cent of
QUOTABLE
"Rural Communities will continue to face challenging issues in the future.
Strong leadership skills will enable individuals to respond and resolve these
issues effectively."
— Alan Scott, agricultural representative, Perth County
"Our biggest barrier in life is our freedom to remain ignorant."
— Pat Marshal
"It's a real shame, when garbage is worth $300 per tonne, and corn is only
worth $100 per tonne."
— Murray Brodhagen (recently various municipalities across Ontario were
offering $300 per tonne to receive Toronto's garbage)
RURAL COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Perth County Training Committee should
be congratulated for presenting a very worthwhile 10 week program, "Rural
Community Leadership". Over 20 participants from all corners of Perth County
were given a crash course on various elements of leadership.
The program was patterned after the "Advanced Agricultural Leadership
Program", and dealt with community and provincial issues. (The Advanced
Program is considerably more involved, and deals with provincial, national and
international issues in depth.)
All participants indicated during the wrap-up session, that the course was
very informative and worthy of repeating in other counties across Ontario. An
investment in training is, quite simply, smart planning for the future.
crown land is reforested after
logging.) Despite years of subsidized
prices on trees which compete against
private growers, this giveaway was a
very damaging blow to an important
part of the farm economy. Any
landowner with 2.5 ha or more was
eligible for the giveaway (lumber
companies, estate owners, farmers and
others ...).
By March 11, all the trees had
been squandered and the government
began sending out rejection letters to
thousands of farmers who qualified
for trees too late. Many of the trees
have been wasted by this short-sighted
government, and the fact that a senior
MNR employee signed his own order
for 18,000 free trees is little short of a
tax scandal. Tree farmers have been
hurt badly this year by the Ontario
government's crisis -to -crisis
mismanagement of the economy. We
can only hope that they don't enter the
grain, livestock or dairy industry.0
John Drummond
1st vice president, PCFA
TIP OF THE HAT to all the farm
supply dealers who provided
efficient courteous service during an
incredibly compressed spring
planting period. A job well done.
PERTH COUNTY
FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE
JUNE MEETING
Thursday June 25, 1992
Downie Mutual Insurance Office
Sebringville — 8:30 p.m.
Everyone welcome
JUNE 1992 57