The Rural Voice, 1999-06, Page 65PERTH folk
Richard Yantzi, President
519-655-2766
County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER County Pork Producers by the PCPPA
The Rural Voice is provided to Perth
Of elections, retirements and environmental black -eyes
Any opinions expressed herein may
not necessarily reflect the views of
the Perth County Pork Producers'
Association.
By the time you are reading this
article:
• we will hopefully have passed
OMAFRA's break-even price of
$1.42
• we will have a new Provincial
Government.
If the polls holds true, it will likely
be a majority Conservative
Government. If this is the case we
will start hearing how this wasn't just
an election, but rather a referendum
on past achievements.
I believe the Tories can take, and
for the most part deserve, credit for
the reforms and changes of the past
four years. They should not however,
include the "Farm Disaster Plan"
which is living up to its name by
being a disaster for the farm
community. As well as other
countless untold stories of its
inadequacies is the story in last
week's Ontario Fanner detailing the
loss of the farm by purebred breeder
Henry DeWolde. Let's see what spin
Noble Villeneuve puts on that one!
*****
In the last couple of weeks we've
been hearing of the retirement of both
Ross Daily and Murray Gaunt and
enjoyed starting the day with a cup of
coffee with Murray and 6:55 a.m. on
CKNX, catching the markets (okay
mabe not $6.50 soybeans) and the
current farm news. I will miss this
ritual with a trusted and familiar
voice.
What little I have had to do with
Murray — I found him fair,
impartial, knowledgeable, personable
and certainly interested in the issues
on the farm.
Ross has tended to be a bit more
controversial, maybe a little harder
hitting but fair, knowledgeable and
interested as well in the farm news.
He also does not — I found out -take
criticism from mere mortals such as
myself, very well.
Regardless, these two strong
voices/presences gave credibility to
their professions, and will be missed
by the farming community. We can
only hope that the respective radio
stations are willing and able to find
competent replacements.
Thank you Ross.
Thank you Murray.
Good luck in future endeavours.
Probably one or two of the most
worrisome developments this spring
have been the "leaks" at Acre -T
Farms resulting in discharges into the
tiles, and ultimately into Lake Huron.
I don't have enough details to report
accurately at this time on the extent
of spill or the amount of damage
done or even on cleanup procedures.
I don't know yet if it has even been
decided as to who is to blame —
Acre -T, or the building contractor or
others. I do know that it has elevated
"large barns" to even higher levels of
scrutiny by environmental grqups. It
is also likely that Acre -T will be
blamed with every beach closing if
there are any on Lake Huron for the
entire season. Kinda makes you want
to look at your insurance policy to
see that your liability insurance k
paid.
The environmental committee of
Ontario Pork is meeting at the end of
May to discuss the issues surrounding
this situation.
In other news:
1) Ontario Pork has negotiated a
"Platinum Contract" with a fixed
price (no basis) for more info call
416-621-1874 (OPPMB office).
2) Contracts (protocols and
procedures) are being reviewed by
Ontario Pork with a view to
becoming more active in both
renewals and new contracts.
3) Ontario Pork is revamping the
newsletter. An attempt is being made
to make it more relevant and current.
4) Pricing information on pools and
contracts will be available on the
website every week.
Pork Congress in Stratford is on
June 24'and 25.
The next meeting of PCPPA is
June 2 at 7:30 p.m.0
– Submitted by Russ Danbrook
Perth County Pork
Producers Association
PERTH COUNTY PORK
PRODUCERS' PORK PRODUCTS
• Smoked Pork Chops • Fresh Pork Chops
• Stuffed Loin Chops • Smoked Sausage
• Smoked Cheddar Sausage
• Bacon Burgers • Teriyaki Pork Steaks
• Vittorio's BBQ Sauce
AVAILABLE FROM:
Fred de Martines (Sebr.) 393-6812
Martin van Bakel (Dublin) 345-2666
Walter Bosch (Monkton) 356-9000
Ted Keller (Mitchell) 348-9836
JUNE 1999 61