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The Rural Voice, 1999-05, Page 68HURON Box 429, Clinton, Ontario NOM 1 L0 519-482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135 Email huron ©ola.on.ca • The Rural Voice is provided to all farmers County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER in Huron County by the HCFA. Farmers never have a chance to be bored One Sunday. not too long ago when our minister talked about people becoming bored with their lives. I realized how fortunate we as farmers are. We never have a chance to become bored. Just when we thought spring was here we have a. late winter storm that has our roads in some "of the worst conditions of the year. In spite of all the charting that serious market followers do. the market and commodity prices remain unpredictable at best and a big headache at the worst. Farmers as a group are stronger for the constant challenges that we face. ,Sometimes though, the stress of too many difficult decisions can get any of us down. For that reason, our Huron County Pork Producers' are using Human Resources Develop- ment Canada (HRDC) funding to hire a stress relief counsellor for support to any farm related producer (not just pork producers), agribusiness or their families. The current challenges in farming may lead farm families to make difficult choices about the direction of their farming career. HCFA realizes that Changes and challenges are part of farmers' lives. With the year 2000 just around the corner, we have chosen as the theme for our annual meeting in October "A vision for agriculture in the future". We have invited commodity Young farmers discuss issues One of five Ontario Young Farmers Forums being held across Ontario earlier this spring was on March 27 in Harriston. Participation was from six counties. Young farmers between the ages of 16 - 35 had a chance to listen to some interesting speakers. The morning panel began with a presentation by Bob 'Robinson describing his family business. Showing some slides he backed his philosophy of: a) being realistic; b) holding daily kitchen meetings; c) be cautious when spending money. The second speaker was Gerald Poechman. Gerald is an organic farmer whose philosophy is to challenge the norm and to try to find a niche market. Gerald helped to organize an organic co-op in Durham and is a graduate of the, Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program. He is patient, he keeps learning and is flexible. He said organics have grown 20 per cent a year since early 1990. Axle Meister is one of 10.farmers who milk sheep•near Rockwood. He said that there are more sheep milked throughout the world than cows. The sheep milk is processed into cheese. Production average is 64 THE RURAL VOICE one litre per ewe per day and he milks 50 ewes. Stuart Cardiff from the TD Bank talked on financing your 'own business. He mentioned how agriculture continues to grow and farmers are expanding their operations. Stuart mentioned several ways the transition from generation to generation is occurring. He stressed that a good accountant and a good lawyer are needed. He also stressed that good estate planning is a necessity in order for things to flow as they were meant to. Stuart spent a few minutes on contracts, your labour, your time, your money in the partnership with them. The afternoon was spent in small groups talking about issues and solutions from a young farmer's perspective. From that, a wish list was made for a good environment so young farmers could sprout and grow. A few of them were government loans and a way of acquiring quota in a pay -back system (start up money). Thanks goes out to all organizers and helpers and your local Federation's support.° Submitted by Charles Regele chairmen and farm leaders to share their vision of agriculture in the next century with us. To date, Will Nap, Ontario Pork; John Core, Dairy Farmers of Ontario; and Michael Scheuring, Ontario Chicken Producers have responded to our challenge and have agreed to be part of our panel looking at the direction that we want to go in the future. Our annual meeting will be at the Brussels Community Centre on Thursday, October 7, 1999 with a social time at 6:30, dinner at 7:00 p.m. Be sure to mark this date on your calendar as a meeting to attend. Come and share your vision with our farm leaders.° — Submitted by Pat Down President, HCFA MAILING LIST REVISED ATTENTION OFA Members: Our mailing list for The Rural Voice magazine was recently updated. Due to circumstances beyond our control some OFA members may have been sent a letter from The Rural Voice requesting payment for their subscription. If you are an OFA member and received this notice, please ignore/destroy it. All OFA members in Huron County will continue to receive The Rural Voice magazine compliments of Huron County Federation of Agriculture. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.0 HCFA OFFICE HOURS Mondays and Fridays 9 a.m. to 12 noon 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Please leave a message. (519) 482-9642 or 1-800-511-1135 FAX (519) 482-1416 Email: huron@ofa.on.ca