The Rural Voice, 1987-11, Page 14LJ ]
COMPLETE LINE OF
ANIMAL FEED
— Hog
— Veal
— Dairy
trrelleaven'
— Beef
— Poultry
— Pet
wed. to wed.
1 1 ■
treleaven's
feed mill ltd.
box 182, lucknow, ont. NOG 2H0
519-528-3000
1.800-265.3006
12 THE RURAL VOICE
EARNING THE
RIGHT TO FARM
After six years of financial prob-
lems in agriculture, many farmers are
still naive when it comes to seeing the
real world of finance. This was dem-
onstrated at a recent meeting in Bruce
County when farmers were asked to
formulate ways for the Farm Credit
Corporation (FCC) to help farmers out
of their monetary misfortunes.
What the farmers there failed, or
refused, to see was that any farm with
zero equity is doomed whether it is
guaranteed a cost of production under
supply management or not. Numerous
studies have shown this. All the same,
they asked that the FCC evaluate their
property at present market value and
lower the debt to that new value. This
step, of course, means that there is no
equity left and the business is already
lost.
In addition, one farmer in this
position complained bitterly that his
bank wouln't grant him an operating
loan. Should society, through the
FCC, be forced to throw more money
into this bottomless pit just to delay
insolvency?
Another beef with the FCC was
that this institution rented land at a
lower fee to a stranger instead of
renting it back to the bankrupt farmer.
One can't help but wonder what the
farmer himself would do if someone
were to come to him for a loan when
that person hadn't paid on his old loan
for five years. Wouldn't he rather take
lower interest from someone else and
be sure he got paid?
The old belief that a person has a
divine right to be a farmer still seems
to be prevalent among many farmers.
That belief is false. No one has ever
simply had such a right. It has always
had to be earned by hard work and by
being astute in business.
At the Bruce County meeting, a
dairy farmer said that he was insolvent
despite being declared a good farmer
by the FCC staff. It is hard to believe
that someone who has the protection
of cost of production plus profit, and
is insolvent, is a good farmer. He may
well be a good production manager,
but obviously he has failed in the
business end of his operation.
Should a person be in such a
position and the Debt Review Board
decided that, because of his ability in
production management, his debt
should be reduced, the lender would
be fully justified in insisting that such
a person take a course in business
management.
While the review boards work
rather slowly, this slowness seems to
be due partly to slow applicants. Up
to the end of August, the Ontario
boards, for instance, had received
1,001 notices of intent, but only 441
applications were completed. Of
these, 71 arrangements were signed.
This is 16 per cent of the total. The
Canadian percentage is 23 per cent
signed. This is in contrast to the
record to the end of February, when
only two agreements were signed out
of 65 completed applications (three
per cent).
These figures, supplied to me from
the Ottawa office, show that there is
an acceleration of the process and that
the boards are not "useless" as some
farmers at the meeting stated.
It seems that too many parents
spoil their child by sparing the rod of a
sound business education. It should
be obvious by now that knowledge of
sound business management is
essential to survive in farming. Not
only should banks insist on proof of
management ability for farmers, but
parents should insist on the same
qualification for their children who
intend to work the farm.0
ADRIAN VOS, FROM HURON COUNTY,
HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE RURAL
VOICE SINCE ITS INCEPTION IN 1975.