The Rural Voice, 1989-01, Page 27(ALmAR)
Voice from
the Past
it's often been said: "The more thing's change, the more they
stay the same." But farm life has certainly undergone dramatic
and irreversible changes. Writer Wayne Kelly provides
evidence for both views: one, the changes in farming and rural
life have been so thorough that the past seems quaint; two,
"modern" problems really aren't so modern after all. Either
way, the "voices from the past" haven't lost their relevance.
F
ree trade, marketing boards,
the weather, storage prob-
lems, and international
dietary attitudes are factors regularly
considered by bean growers. With
some of this past years' crop still
poking hopelessly through soiled
snow, the annual dilemma is again in
season as farmers wrestle with crop
choices for the coming year.
Our grandfathers and great-grand-
fathers of 70 years ago had similar
concerns, as is clear from the opinions
expressed in the February 20, 1919
issue of The Farmer's Advocate:
Beans in Canada have been
everything but trumps during the past
two seasons. Growers, in Ontario
particularly, are stocked up with them,
and dealers who bought heavily of the
1917 crop, as many of them did, find
themselves in very uncomfortable
circumstances.
Beans are not moving, and they
have not been moving to any notice-
able extent for over a year. The 1917
crop was not of Al quality, and this
handicap was accentuated by un-
favourable harvesting conditions.
However, prompted by the high
price of beans and the appeals made
for foodstuffs, buyers took a chance
and stocked up with this commodity,
thinking that the world-wide tendency
towards diminished rations was suffi-
cient guarantee. To make a long story
short, many of those 1917 beans are
still warehoused in this country, and
no outlet has yet been provided.
Still optimistic regarding the de-
mand and still encouraged to produce
for the sake of the Empire and the
Cause, growers in the bean sections
planted extensively, and now they
have threshed another crop for which
there is no call.
The price at which the 1917 crop
was purchased, or partly purchased,
raised beans to a high level; so high in
fact, that consumption in Canada has
been very materially reduced. More
than that, Japanese beans of prime
quality can be laid down here at a
lower figure than farmers have been
expecting, and at a lower figure, too,
than the dealers who stored beans can
afford to accept. These two factors,
coupled with no outside demand, are
responsible for the present situation.
There are only two ways to bring
about relief: One is to restore beans to
their proper place in the Canadian
diet; the other is to move a large quan-
tity of them over to Europe and place
them at the disposal of those nations
whose cupboards are bare. This latter
suggestion requires government
action, and we understand the federal
authorities have already had such a
recommendation up for consideration.
Beans are a concentrated form of
food, and after this period of adjust-
ment is ended no obstacle should be
allowed to prevent us exporting
enough beans to steady the market and
create a reasonable demand for what
we have left.
The Ontario and Dominion
governments should co-operate and
endeavor to find an outlet for these
large stores of beans which were
produced in good faith and, to a large
extent, in response to appeals from the
governments mentioned.°
GRAM SYSTEMS LTD
•
•
•
•
Oual ty Grain Storage
Drying & Handing Products
DESIGN • SALES • SERVICE
Expert Erection Crews Available
Call Now
(RL•mAR)
GRPIn SYSTEMS LTD.
P.O. Box 550, Exeter, Ont.
519-235-1919
or call Brad Marsden,
evenings 519-235-2018
PERFORMANCE
PROVEN PLUS
PIGS
Since 1955
• HIGHEST A.D.G.
• LEANEST BARROW
' RESERVE CHAMPION
• THIRD PLACE BARROW
• Grey County Barrow
Performance Show
-YORKSHIRE • LANDRACE • HAMPS
and F1 SEED STOCK
FOERSTER
LANDRACE FARMS
Thanks to Swift Feeds, Ralston Purine and
Grey Co. Pork Producers for the awards end
their continuing support
Dennis & Barb Foerster and Family
R.R. 1 Neustadt
519-799-5571
JANUARY 1989 25