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Farming '92, 1992-03-18, Page 12'I A12. FARMING ’92. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18,1992. Farming '92 1992 holds optimism for many despite continuing problems Summing up the situation in farming in Huron today you would summon up the quote of Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities: "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times." You have to be a hopeless opti­ mist to not realize there are deep problems in farming, says Bob Humphries, Agricultural Represen­ tative for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Huron but in his talks with farmers he finds there is still a lot of optimism out there. "There arc flames of opti­ mism here and there," he says after attending a round of annual meet­ ings of various commodity organi­ zations in the county. OMAF economists predict a 22 per cent increase in net cash income for farmers in Ontario in 1992; that's an increase over some pretty dismal figures in 1991 but still a healthy increase. Al least part of that will come from government assistance. There will be an esti­ mated $711 million in government assistance in regular programs including GRIP, NISA and Tripar­ tite programs, plus $129 million in rebate programs. Still, he says, it would be much better if farmers could get this money from the mar­ ketplace. As the fifth generation of his family that has been involved in agriculture, Mr. Humphries says he worries about a sense of dignity for farmers. A country needs good experienced farming, he says and notes that in Russia, a land that should easily feed itself, shelves are empty because something broke down in their food-producing sys­ tem. "What’s going to happen if good knowledgeable farm people can't stay in the industry," he says. Since Huron is a leader in Ontario in supply-managed com­ modities like milk, eggs and chick­ en the future hangs in the balance awaiting the outcome of the GATT talks but Mr. Humphries has found that the optimism has been much higher among producers who made the trek to Ottawa on Feb. 21 to lake part in the huge rally of 40,000 farmers on Parliament Hill. "People felt good about the rally." It will be interesting to see the results of the most recent Census when they are released this year to see if Huron has maintained its ranking as the number one produc­ er of food in Ontario. Numbers in individual commodities have dropped, he said, but Huron still seems to be holding its ranking. For instance OMAF statistics say there were 32,000 fewer hogs shipped from Huron than in 1989 but Huron still retains its number two position behind Perth. The number of milk producers in Huron keeps dropping but Huron is still a very solid num­ ber four in milk production. Huron remains number two in beef feedlol cattle (behind Bruce) despite a drop in numbers. The industry seems to be shrinking everywhere, not just in Huron, he said. Huron is number two in laying hens behind Niagara and number one in production of replacement pullets and number three in broiler production. It's number five in cow-calf and number four in sheep (Grey leads in both categories). But the problem is still that Huron just isn't selling as much farm produce as it has in the past. In 1986, Huron was selling $1 mil- lion a day in farm produce. OMAF statistics for 1990 put the total at $342, a drop of $23 in spite of four years worth of inflation. That decline has hit the take- home pay of many Huron fanners, driven some out of the business and left some in bad shape. "There's no doubt there are farm families that arc feeling great financial distress," he says but he doesn't think the numbers have been as bad in Huron as some other counties where coun­ selling staff have been much more busy helping families in trouble. There are older farmers who are wondering if the constant struggle is all worth it but Mr. Humphries says he gets a boost from working with the young farmers on pro­ grams like the Farmstart program. Not all of these young farmers are going to make it, he says, but they're all optimistic and feel good about what they're doing. Many of them, he thinks, will still be here in 20 years. Optimism of spring Each spring farmers take to the soil again with renewed optimism. Huron Ag. Rep. Bob Humphries says that despite the obvious problems, there is optimism among many Huron farmers as the new season begins. 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