The Rural Voice, 1998-05, Page 3R.V.
Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
John Heard, soils and crop extension
and research, northwestern Ontario
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Gisele Ireland, Cathy Laird, Wayne
Kelly, Sarah Borowski,
Mary Lou Weiser -Hamilton, Ralph
Pearce, Susan Glover,
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Darene
Yavorsky, Peter Baltensperger, Sandra
Orr, Carl L. Bedal, Kevin Shillinglaw
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
advertising representative:
Merle Gunby
production co-ordinator:
Joan Caldwell
advertising & editorial production:
Dianne Josling
Anne Harrison
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Behind the Scenes
Systems designed to f t the people
While we've been going through
another round of the bigger -is -better
philosophy in agriculture, there's still
a need to tie a farm organization to
the skills and needs of the farm
family. We have a number of stories
this month that, taken together,
illustrate the point.
In our Profit$ section, stories on
two dairy operations illustrate how
systems can be tailored to the
requirements of the people, not
people tailored to the needs of the
system.
Ken and Jocelyn deBoer of
Lucknow wanted to moved to such
conveniences as Total Mix Rations
but they didn't want to jump all the
way to a large free -stall operation.
They chose to build an addition to
their old barn with a large tie -stall
operation, keeping a system they
were familiar with but adding the
convenience of TMR and a bright,
naturally -ventilated environment.
The change for Owen Sound's
Alan Fisher and his family was to
jump all the way from an old bank
barn, tie -stall operation to a free -stall
barn. They designed a unique,
economical, intermediate step but it
required a lot of help from advisors to
adjust, particularly when fire
damaged part of the barn just a week
after they moved in.
Meanwhile, in our regular section,
Mike and Cynthia Beretta of
Wingham have adopted a plan to suit
their own family's values. On one
hand, they're taking products beyond
the farm gate by personally serving
customers in Toronto and operating
their own butcher store in Brussels.
On the other, they've chosen a
chemical -free form of farming, even
replacing their tractor with horses.
It's hard to imagine a hardwood
tree that grows to five feet tall in one
year of growth, but that's happening
for some landowners in western
Ontario. It's not a result of some
complicated gene -splicing technique.
They're making use of plastic tubes
to protect their trees and promote
rapid growth. We have a story on this
remarkable innovation.
Also in our news coverage this
month we have reports from the
meetings of the Huron and Grey
County Federations of Agriculture
with their local members of parl-
iament. It's always fascinating to hear
what issues the different commodity
groups feel top the agenda.0
Update
Environmental Coalition gets grant
In our story Bridging the Gap in the March 1998 issue, we said the Huron
Environmental Farm Coalition had applied for funding from the National Soil
and Water Conservation Program to undertake a study into the problem of water
pollution in the county. On March 16, it was announced the coalition had been
granted $15,000 for the study.
Huron County is one of the hot spots in the controversy over the effect of Targe
livestock operations but getting accurate, locally -based information has been
difficult, according to Evert Ridder who convinced the Huron County Federation
of Agriculture to spearhead the forming of the coalition of all commodity groups
to study the situation. Members of the coalition will provide $5,000 of "in kind"
contributions to the $25,000 cost of the study. Other partners include the
Maitland Valley and Ausable-Bayficld Conservation Authorities, the Huron
County Planning and Development Department and the Huron County Health
Unit.
The study will be led by Dr. Douglas Joy of the University of Guelph's School
of Engineering and will pull together years worth of records from the Health
Unit, water in -take plants and the conservation authorities so that an accurate
picture of the water quality history of the arca can be found.
Ridder hopes that the study can create a model into which other regions can
plug their own figures to assess thcir own situation.0