The Rural Voice, 1989-04, Page 84I
GREY
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
519-364-3050
' The Rural Voice is provided to all Grey
County Farmers by the GCFA.
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
THE TROUBLE WITH FARMING TODAY
What is the trouble with farming
today? Well, farmers are simply too
good at what they do.
Farmers now have the technology
and the know how to grow several tons
of hay per acre, whereas farmers in the
past only had the ability and the re-
sources to grow one ton of hay per acre.
Farmers can now also grow more
than 100 bushels of grain per acre ,
where in the past they could produce
only 25.
Dairy farmers can now milk and care
for 100 cows or more, unlike in the past
when 10 to 20 would have been the most
used.
Poultry farmers can care for thou-
sands of chickens, hens, and turkeys,
where once only a few hundred could
have been kept.
All of this leads to the fact that farm-
ers can produce great quantities of food
and other necessities with less time and
energy expended than in the past.
Canada has the ability to produce
more of any product than ever before in
history. Who has benefited from these
great achievements, you might ask?
Some of the benefits have gone to the
farmer, of course. Farmers today don't
have to expend as much time or energy
to produce a high yield as their fathers or
grandfathers did. But it appears, dis-
tressingly, that farmers have not gained
financially like they should have.
It seems that the consumer has bene-
fited the most from the rise in agricul-
tural yield over the years. Consumers
now have more food available to them,
which gives them a better selection and
better quality of product at a smaller
percentage of their take-home pay than
ever before.
Now, the question is, would it be an
advantage to farmers to become more
efficient and produce more?0
Elmer Scarrow
Vice -President
Grey County
Federation of Agriculture
GREY COUNTY FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE
44TH ANNUAL PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION WINNERS
Seniors:
1st: Bruce Pepper, Grade 7, James A. McGee School, Hanover
— Topic: "All I Ever Need to Know about Life I Learned in Kindergarten"
2nd: David Bootsma, Grade 8, Holland -Chatsworth School
— Topic: "Dwarfism"
3rd: Emily Glasspool, Grade 7, Beavercrest, Markdale
— Topic: "Parents and Children"
Juniors:
1st: Erik Reif, Grade 5, St. Vincent-Euphrasia
— Topic: "My Trip to Germany"
2nd: Rob Clark, Grade 6, Holland -Chatsworth
— Topic: "Learning Golf'
3rd: Joy Leith, Grade 5, Egremont Central
— Topic: "Grandparents"
82 THE RURAL VOICE
Grey County
Federation of Agriculture
ANNUAL
MEET THE MEMBERS
DINNER
Saturday, April 8, 1989
Markdale Legion
Markdale
12 noon
Tickets $10 per person
GREY COUNTY
FEDERATION
EXECUTIVE, 1988-89
Past President
Murray Clarke
President
Lome Eccles
1st Vice -President
Elmer Scarrow
2nd Vice -President
Allan Kinney
Executive Directors
George Black, Dave Clarke,
Agnes Diemert, and Arnold Oliver
Secretary -Treasurer
Donna Spitzig
Field Representative
Gertie Blake
Regional Directors
Donna Vanderham,
Clay Schwegler, Bill Pullen
OFA Executive
Ken Kelly