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The Rural Voice, 1993-12, Page 14...,,„. Best Wishes for the Holiday Season ltr ���td Fau>ti and "FIRST CHOICE GENETICS" - A.I. DIVISION ELITE BOAR SALE 83rd PRODUCTION SALE Wednesday, December 8, 1993 at 1:00 p.m. Offering 35 Exceptional Boars Averaging 10.6 B.F., 145 Days 17 Pure Landrace Gilts Plus 75 York x Land F1 Gilts CI.1i ^ boars and gilts and fresh semen available at all times. Richard Stein Warren Stein R.R. 6, Woodstock, Ont. N4S 7W1 519-655-2942 Fax (519) 655-3404 "Our experience assures lower cost water wells" 93 YEARS' EXPERIENCE Member of Canadian and Ontario Water Well Associations • Farm • Industrial • Suburban • Municipal Afof us here wish you and yours a wonderful holiday •i season. Licensed by the Ministry of the Environment II11111I► DAVIDSON WELL DRILLING LTD. WINGHAM Serving Ontario Since 1900 519-357-1960 WINGHAM 519-664-1424 WATERLOO 10 THE RURAL VOICE Adrian Vos Potpourri In my September column I doubted that the world would run out of food - land, and hence out of food. My view is supported by an article in "Reports", a publication of the International Deve- lopment Corporation (IDRC). The article summarizes urban farming in African countries. Back- yards in African cities teem with small gardens that supply a great deal of food for their owners. Some of this we even see in Onta- rio where close to Toronto one can see people in their spare time tending small rented plots of land where they grow vegetables. Anyone who ever rode the train in Holland during summers will have seen small gardens, often with a small tool shed, along the tracks where a person could be seen tending the veggies. There is a huge potential here for other countries. * * * Barbarism, once thought to be de- feated with the end of "The War to End All Wars" (WWI) came back to Europe with the emergence of the Hitler/Stalin era. After the last world war there was renewed hope that, with the threat of nuclear bombs, barbarism would be impossible. But it has crept back into the world on a grand scale. The most glaring examples are the genocides in the former Yugoslavia and Burundi. But the disregard for lives in Somalia, Angola, Northern Ireland, the South African townships, Indonesian Timor and the streets of North America points to more barbarism everywhere. It is incomprehensible that armed men roam the streets of Rio de Janiero hunting and shooting children, paid by merchants who see street urchins as detrimental to business. It is evident in Germany where louts with muscles in head and body, burn men, women and children alive because they weren't born in Germany or because their skin has more melanin pigment than their own. But we don't have to look across our borders. It also manifests itself in our own farming community. While murders are still rare, there is increased evidence that wife beating on our farms is widespread. Instead of "kicking the traditional dog" when something goes wrong, it is now more likely that a frustrated husband will kick or beat his spouse. On the farm these facts are often hidden because, according to a Huron County bulletin, the man sometimes takes the car or hides it away from the farm, leaving the abused wife stranded and unable to go for help. The barbarism inflicted upon school children by other school children does- n't surprise me. One has only to watch the professional wrestling matches on CKNX/CFPL to anticipate children try- ing out some of the holds and the appa- rent viciousness after an opponent has already been defeated. Children at ringside with their parents cheer the bullies and it shouldn't surprise anyone that kids try it out on their fellows and later, when they get bigger, on strang- ers. Recently there was a news item in the Kitchener/Waterloo Record about kids, both girls and boys, choking each other temporarily unconscious as a game. Did they learn this from the wrestlers who use strangle holds to cut off the blood flow to the brain to render their opponents helpless? * * * Now a more upbeat note. In a publi- cation by External Affairs and Interna- tional Trade Canada (EAITC) is a re- port that Mexico is hungry for boneless fish. There is a huge potential for exports, even without NAFTA. When I read this it made me think of the many fish (trout) farmers in Ontario. Will it be possible that they could organize and assemble lots of substantial trout fillets on a regular and reliable schedule to sell in that lucrative market? EAITC writes: "... about 20 million (people live) in Mexico city. What a lot of people don't realize is that six to eight million of those people shop in North American style supermarkets, and have a high demand for processed products." Can trout fillets be canned? Or is our Ontario market big enough to absorb all they can produce? Answers anyone?0 Adrian Vos, from Huron County has contribu- ted to The Rural Voice since its inception in 1975. He is a writer and raises exotic birds on the farm where he raised pigs for many years.