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The Rural Voice, 1999-05, Page 64GREY County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER ' The Rural Voice is provided to all Grey County Farmers by the GCFA. 446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9 Email: grey@ofa on.ca Website: www.ofa.on.ca/grey 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551 Questions about precious water Warr. without it we cannot survi'e. Humans and animals would dehydrate and die. Plants would ither and die. Good clean water is a necessity in our daily lives. Here. in Grey County we largely take it for granted that water will always be there. How Targe is the supply in the aquifers beneath our county? Is it an infinite supply? I believe that there should be moratorium put forth to stop the taking of water for sale in an unaltered state. Who really owns the water? Is it the landowner. me Municipality, or maybe the provincial government? When municipalities send a water bill with the local utility bill, is it for the water or is it for the infrastructure and pumping to get it into the home or office'' Who has more right to the water? The dairy farmer, for instance, who ships milk which is largely water. or the cash cropper who sells a certain amount of water in every Toad of grain, or the car wash operator, the Laundromat operator or the water taker for bottling for sale? Environmental Farm Plan (E.F.P.) participation in Grey surpasses a milestone The 1999 series of Environmental Farm Plan (E.F P.) workshops has just finished. Six, two-day workshops and one three -evening workshop were held this past winter and a significant milestone was surpassed. Over one thousand farmers have now participated in the Grey County E.F.P. workshops. The current E.F.P. program will run until March 31, 2000. Additional funding was committed to the E.F.P. incentive program, which provides up to $1500 for qualified farm operations. As in previous years. farm organizations and Agribusiness in Grey County have been part of a strong team approach. and certainly deserve much of the credit for the high level of success here in Grey. The following organizations played a key role in hosting workshops in 1999: Holland Township Federation of Agriculture Sydenham Township Federation of Agriculture Sullivan Township Federation of Agriculture Egremont Township Federation of Agriculture Mennonite Community Around Mount Forest Euphrasia Federation of Agnculture Collingwood Township Federation of Agriculture Georgian Bay Fruit Growers Inc. Normanby Township Federation of Agriculture Bentinck Township Federation of Agriculture Glenelg Township Federation of Agriculture Grey County Sod & Crop Improvement Association The Grey County Dairy Producers provided funds to cover the cost of coffee, milk and muffins for each workshop this winter. Again this year, Agri -business have been very supportive of the participants in the E.F.P. program, and have contributed funds to cover the costs of a hot luncheon for each workshop. We want to recognize the following agri-business suppliers. Jim Clarke Well Drilling Ltd., Meatord Collwest Grain Products Ltd., Collingwood Formosa Mutual Insurance, Formosa George C. South Equipment Ltd., Meatord Germania Mutual Insurance Company, Ayton Gregg Bitton Fuels Ltd., Mount Forest Highland Water Well Drilling Ltd., Durham Holliday Farm Equipment, Mount Forest Holstein Feed Mill, Holstein Huron Bay Co-operative Keady Livestock Market Ltd., Keady R & B Lennox Fuels Ltd., Owen Sound & Collingwood MacDonnell Fuels Ltd., Owen Sound Maple Lane Farm Service Inc., Mount Forest Markdale Tractor Sales, Markdale Mooney-Grenon Fuels Ltd., Markdale, Owen Sound, Collingwood & Dundalk Neuman Well Drilling Ltd., Dundalk North Wellington Co-operative Services, Mount Forest Ronco Dairy Supply, Neustadt Simcoe District Co-operative, Dundalk, Meaford and Thornbury Secure Insurance Solutions Group Inc., Markdale, Dundalk, Durham, Hanover and Mount Forest Sprucedale Agromart Ltd., Tara & Hanover Terratec Environmental, Oakville The Co-operators - Jeff Elford, Meaford; Bob Lammie, Chesley-Walkerton Ron Wiltshire Seeds, Mount Forest On behalf of the Grey County Environmental Farm Plan Committee and the participants, I want to thank individuals, host organizations and the sponsors for your co-operation and enthusiastic support. This farmer driven initiative has become recognized as a world leader and the support of the local farm community is truly appreciated.0 Submitted by Ray Robertson Representative E.F.P. Program. Grey County 60 THE RURAL VOICE If water is deemed to be of public ownership, should we pay a royalty fee on every gallon of water used? Should we be reimbursed for the amount of water our property gathers for the public with every rainfall? In a drought situation, such as witnessed by some areas in 1998. should there be more regulations to stop water use for non-essential uses? It seems that when we speak of water all we do is ask questions. Well there is one thing that should not be a question to any well owner in the county. The Baseline Water Well Testing Program that OFA manages and promotes is a must for every well owner in our county as well as provincially. If this is done on a regular basis, then we will know what our water quality is. Our well could become contaminated from another source. It could be accidental if someone had a spill of some kind, or if someone was negligent and allowed effluent into .a creek or watercourse. Without these testing results, we would have a very hard time proving that our water quality was hurt by the actions of others. Contact your local Federation office to obtain more information or testing kits. Water is a natural resource that must be protected, used, not abused, by everyone. Pour a cold glass and enjoy it.0 — Submitted by Brent Zeinstra President Egremont Federation of Agriculture GREY COUNTY FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE DIRECTORS' MEETING Thursday, May 27, 1999 8:00 p.m. OMAFRA Boardroom, Markdale Members are welcome to attend.