Loading...
The Rural Voice, 1987-01, Page 10SEE OUR MINIATURE LIVE WORKING STEAM ENGINES, TRACTORS AND LUMBER WAGONS CALL OR VISIT HAUGHOLM BOOKS (Janice and Allan Haugh) 1 mile east of Brucefield on Huron Co. Rd. 3 519-527.0248 PUERTO VALLARTA MEXICO For only \z*, .t)0 $599 p nperson Includes: plus taxes • Hotel Accomodations for 7 nights Airfare • Airport Transfers • Free 10,000 pesos spending money Free Puerto Pouch Direct flights from London all January departures ADDED BONUS Mention this advertisement and receive a $50.00 Discount per couple on your Funway Puerto Vallarta vacation. 44 Ontario St., Clinton 519-482-7771 8 THE RURAL VOICE WHAT PRICE SALVATION? Two academics have caused a bit of a furor in the farm community lately, expounding principles that may be acc- eptable to the general business commu- nity but which seem to be anathema to farmers. Let's take a closer look, not at the details of the ideas, but at the philosophy behind them. University of Western Ontario pro- fessor Dr. Larry Wynant remarked re- cently that fanning is a business like any other. Immediately the farm com- munity took issue with this statement, but without showing convincingly why farming should not be considered in this light. It should be perfectly clear to even the most conservative farmer, how- ever, that unless he adapts normal business practices on his farm he cannot survive as a farmer. Normal business practices include keeping records of finances and production, being informed about new farming practices, and being able to analyze new practices to see if they could be adapted to the farm in question. In these respects, a farm is no dif- ferent from any other business. The difference between the business of farming and the business of manufact- uring develops when what we know as traditional farming is compared to a family manufacturing business that grows so big that the family is no longer integrally involved in day to day decisions. Then the "family busi- ness" becomes simply the "business." But the same change can occur on the "family farm." When the farm gets so big that the family no longer controls the decision-making process, the farm quite simply becomes a "business." The second proposal making emotional waves among farmers is the idea of another University of Westem Ontario professor (cum beef rancher), J. Charles Lemmon. The concept of franchising, he says, could be applied to farming and thereby save the hide of a number of farmers. A franchise is a right, or a privi- lege, to use something, usually for a fee. In the case of a farm franchise, the farmer would have the right to use the expertise or knowledge of the fran- chise company. The Lemmon proposal leaves room for some flexibility in the owner- ship of the land. All equipment, how- ever, would be owned and supplied by the company and leased to the farmer. In a case where a farmer already owned the equipment, the company could buy it from the farmer In the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise, for example, the member must buy and use a secret sauce and other inputs from the franchise company. He must also prepare the food according to a prescribed recipe. In return, he is supplied with the guidance required (beginning with market research to determine if there is a place for the franchise at the proposed location) to run a profitable operation. The profits are split at a predetermined percentage. With regard to farming, a franchise agreement would leave the franchise buyer with more independence than the owner of a fast-food outlet and with an income that would depend mainly on the farmer's own management skills, subject only to the rules laid down by the franchise company. Operating money would still be the farmer's responsibility, but when tallcing with the banker the farmer would have the company's backing. It stands to reason that the com- pany would demand accurate and de- tailed records of the whole operation, just as such records are demanded by any business, as I noted earlier. For some farmers, such an arrange- ment could be a way to save the farm. For others, saving the farm at this price would be unacceptable — these people would choose bankruptcy first. Should a farming franchise be set up in the future, farmers should take a close look at it. Rejecting anything out of hand is not business-like.0 Adrian Vos, from Huron County, has contributed to The Rural Voice since its inception in 1975.