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The Rural Voice, 1987-05, Page 10GMC TRUCK For the best: —Selection —Service — Price In A It Ir .'i\ 7 OF1U•••rAIIU•NU t,T14tJtY7�ifi. Re11TrTc�:1t1t1U. t U L1.lI]11LVLLU1WLIJ■ /MIN ■■Iffiuuu•■■■11■•■■■•a■■■ MARKDALE 1987 — Celebrating our first 25 years 1 •-• : •- 2 RentAP2eI • The original Manurigation rental service proven across Ontario • Full range of equipment • Options for all conditions • Dedicated support & service • Guaranteed booking dates • Special group rates From 519 area code Toll Free: 1-800-265-9682 NOW 50% of prior rental can be used towards purchase DELIVERY AND SET UP AVAILABLE MANAGEMENT INC. (519) 887-9378 Walton, Ontario 8 THE RURAL VOICE LAND SET-ASIDE: ADJUSTING TO SURPLUS The technology of food production is still making great strides, both in the field and in the bam. Canadian far- mers are painfully aware of the result of this increase in productivity: over- production and under -employment on our farms. The combination has led to many bankruptcies and off -farm jobs. In some commodities, such as dairy and poultry, the overproduction in the bams has been regulated and only the under -employment remains. The total national barn space decreases as efficiency increases. A farmer with an x -litre quota now needs only half the cows he needed 25 years ago. For field crops the situation is different. The land area has remained the same while productivity is still increasing in virtually every crop. In fact, the land area has increased as far- mers have drained swamps and cut down woodlots. In Britain, there has long been a policy of "land set-aside" where a far- mer gets paid for returning land to the condition it was in before the agricul- tural revolution — pasture land is returned to heather where possible, for example. In other countries of the EEC, there are some (feeble) efforts to do something similar, and in the U.S. grain subsidies are tied to taking crop land out of grain production. Canada's farm organizations should demand that our governments emulate such efforts. Only the com producers' association has advocated such a course here. But unless our government is prepared to equal the foreign export subsidies, it doesn't make any sense to compete in a world market dominated by the U.S. and the EEC when we know in advance that we must produce at a loss. The surplus lands wouldn't have to be retired in any permanent fashion. Possibly Malthus, who predicted over- production of people in relation to food production, will be proved correct some time in the future. Lands should be put in some kind of reserve, which could take the form of golf courses or, as Andrew Dixon of Ailsa Craig has suggested, trees can be a profitable alternative to field cropping. Why not demand government programs that pay a farmer who converts a field until the trees or its fruits can be harvested? In many cases, this could be done with an interest-free loan. The loan program so strongly advocated by the OFA for tile drainage should be dropped, as it only serves to contribute to the world's overproduction. The lands put into forest would give a number of farmers, who are becoming surplus farmers because of new technology, an opportunity to remain on the land, especially now that wood for lumber, pulp, and heating is in increasing demand. Such enterprises would also create jobs for those who want to work out- doors but for whom there is no place as farmers. It would spawn saw mills and trucking businesses, small indus- tries that would help, to some extent, to keep our rural communities going. It is time for the farm community to take its collective head out of the sand and recognize the realities of the changing times: the reality that an increasing number of people have stopped smoking, that an increasing number of people have cut down on meat consumption, that an increasing number of people have cut down on total food intake, and that an increas- ing number of countries are becoming self-sufficient in food production. The new Luddites cannot stop the bio -technical revolution any more than the old Luddites could stop the indus- trial revolution. The sooner this is recognized, the sooner more programs can be developed to deal with the tran- sition from the old to the new.0 Adrian Vos, from Huron County, has contributed to The Rural Voice since its inception in 1975.