The Rural Voice, 1998-05, Page 55Fran Farrell — education work wins Tommy
Cooper Award.
Fran Farrell wins
Tommy Cooper
Award
By Mary -Lou Weiser -Hamilton
One of Bruce County's most
active and dedicated citizens has
been named recipient of the Tommy
Cooper Award for 1997.
The award is presented each year
to the person making the greatest
contribution to agriculture and rural
living in Grey and Bruce Counties
and this year's winner, Fran Farrell,
certainly lives up to those
expectations. She has been chairman
of Roots of Bruce since 1996. Her
work with Roots of Bruce involves
the education and promotion of
agriculture and the agri-food industry
through the schools to Grade 6
students and with the general public.
"It is important for consumers to
understand where and how their food
is produced," she says. "The
education of young people in rural
and urban areas is critical to the
survival of the agriculture industry."
She has been president of the
Bruce South District Women's
News
Institute since 1996, has
been a 4-H leader for 18
years, and is active in
church and school
activities. She works on
the family dairy and cash
crop farm near Ripley
with her husband, Jim and
is the mother of four
children. She is also a
song writer, amateur
actress, and quitter.
She was nominated by
the Bruce County
Federation of Agriculture.
The Tommy Cooper
award is sponsored (by
CFOS Radio and Owen
Sound The Sun Times.
Other nominees included
Brian and Doris Aitken,
dairy farmers near Mount
Forest who were
nominated by the
Egremont Township
Federation of Agriculture;
Gary and Ron Kuhl,
owners of Keady
Livestock who were nominated by
Holland Township Federation of
Agriculture; Tony Morris, past
president of the OFA from Mildmay
who was nominated by the Bruce
Federation of Agriculture; Shirley
Veen who farms near Elmwood and
was nominated by the Grey South
Women's Institute; and Claire Marie
Willard from Mildmay who is active
in the Nutrient Management Plan and
was nominated by the Grey -Bruce
Pork Producers.0
Grey MPs hear
concerns of farm
groups
The Grey County Federation of
Agriculture won't be getting the
funding they would like for some
important agricultural programs.
MPP Bill Murdock made that clear at
the recent Meet The Members
meeting in Durham April 4. And that
doesn't go over well with GCFA
president, Bob Rodger.
Increased funding for the
Environmental Farm Plan, the
provincial agricultural budget, roads,
and farm safety were turned down by
Murdock. Skimming through the list
of briefs he said that the S5 billion
provincial debt will have to be
cleared up before any agricultural
spending can take place, "so it's
pretty hard to promise any money
right now, but it will come."
Rodger, however believes that the
provincial government would
generate more money if they invested
in agriculture,'and more jobs would
be .created. "You need money to
make money." He believes that
farmers and the spinoff industry they
create contribute too much to the
economy to be put on the back
burner and have suffered cutbacks
that need to be reversed.
The GCFA would like to see
increased funding to OMAFRA for
rural development and to the
University of Guelph for agri-food
research so that Ontario farmers can
be competitive in both global and
domestic economies.
They also recommend permanent,
increased funding for the
Environmental Farm Plan which has
been very well received in the
county. Environmental upgrades
including manure storage, alternate
water sources, fencing to keep
livestock out of waterways, and
nutrient management plans bear a
prohibitive cost. The GCFA believes
that increased funding in the form of
grants and loans should be looked at
as an investment in the environment
and not as a cost.
Decreased funding to
municipalities and increased
responsibilities to counties for road
maintenance will make it hard to
maintain high transportation
standards. The GCFA recommends
that a portion of the transportation -
related taxes (fuel taxes, licence fees,
etc.) be turned over to municipalities
for ,capital and maintenance
requirements.
The GCFA would like to see
farmers being allowed a permanent
exemption from sales tax on building
materials simply by showing their
Farm Business Registration number.
An at -source exemption would cut
down on administration costs and be
much quicker for farmers than the
MAY 1998 51