The Citizen, 1993-09-15, Page 17ONTARIO
COMPUTER
FAIR
Over 50 exhibitors offering savings &
selection in computers, software, games
related products, computer clubs
Sun., Sept. 19
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Ilderton
Community Centre
County Rd 16. west of Hwy 4
Admission S5 for adults
Children 10 & under free
For more Into call 1-800-465-8286
Sponsored by COMPUTER Literate Publication
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1993. PAGE 17.
Farmers will be the innovators in new Canada
A new spirit of innovation will
make farmers, entrepreneurs and
business people the leaders of a
new Canada, not the politicians,
Roger George, president of the
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
(OFA) told farmers at the Huron
County regional meeting in Lon-
desboro Thursday night.
With the election coming up next
month, Mr. George said, it is gov-
ernment that is looking for ideas.
"We're the ones with the ideas," he
said.
The status quo, lurching from
one crisis to another, one ad hoc
program to another, is not accept-
able, he said.
If Canada had no farmers, there
would still be food on the table, he
said, but hundreds of thousands of
jobs that are dependent on agricul-
ture, would disappear. The only
OFA holds
elections
Ontario Federation of Agriculture
(OFA) members in Huron County
elected regional directors and dele-
gates to the OFA annual conven-
tion when they met in Londesboro
Thursday night.
Neil Vincent, RR3, Wingham
was elected the new director to
OFA for Huron Northwest, com-
prised of members in East and
West Wawanosh, Ashfield and
Colborne townships. Delegates to
the convention from the region are
Mason Bailey of Blyth, Chris
Palmer, RR5, Wingham and John
Rodges, RR2, Goderich.
Will Stafford, RR1, Wroxeter, is
the new regional director for Huron
Northeast (Morris, Grey, Howick
and Tumberry). Delegates are Bob
Harrison, RR1, Monkton, Doug
Garniss, RR4, Wingham, and
Heinz Claus, RR1, Fordwich.
Jeanne Kirkby of Walton remains
the regional director for Huron
Central (McKillop, Hullett, Stanley
and Tuckersmith). Convention del-
egates are Bill Wallace, RR4,
Seaforth; Brenda McIntosh, RR4,,
Seaforth and Charles Regele, RR1,
Dublin.
Bob Down, RR1, Hensall, was
re-elected director for Huron South.
Delegates are Murton Brock, RR1,
Granton; Fred Hem, RR1, Wood-
ham and Gerald Johns, RR3,
Exeter.
Bruce County
musicians
compile tape
For the first time in the history of
the International Plowing Match
there is a souvenir cassette tape of
music from the host county.
Featuring eight Bruce County
musical groups, the cassette
entitled "Bruce Beckons" is now
available.
Included in the compilation are
JIM LEASK and GLEN WELLS
from Cargill, the MUSIC MAKIN'
MOMS from the Tara area,
Paisley's JIM PATTERSON, THE
CRIPPLED DUCKS from
Belmore, Walkerton's RICHARD
KNECHTEL, NORTHERN
LIGHTS (who'll perform at the
Farm Safety Association display at
the Match) and the country group
YESTERDAY'S WINE (who'll
also perform daily at the Match).
The cassette will be available at
the Plowing Match along with
other fine souvenir items.
jobs left would be truck drivers
bringing food across the border and
part-time employees stocking
supermarket shelves.
Moves to restart the stalled
GATT negotiations in Geneva will
eventually affect farmers, Mr.
George said. He doesn't know what
is going to happen: "I mean I've
been making predictions for the last
three or four years and every one
has been wrong so far.
"One thing I do know, that, come
rain or shine, whatever sort of deal
we have in GATT, life will go on.
There will be cattle to be milked
the next morning and there will be
bills to be paid. And our industry
will survive and it will adapt.
Whether you're a beef farmer or a
dairy farmer or a cash cropper, you
will make those adjustments."
He said the important thing with
GATT was that whatever deal is
signed, farmers have time to make
the adjustments. Farmers need a
very strong prime minister to stand
at the border and not sacrifice vari-
ous marketing systems in the name
of an agreement. "I'm looking for a
prime minister to be tough at the
border and play the same game that
the Europeans and the Americans
and everybody else is doing today
as we make those adjustments."
The problems with agreements
like the Canada-U.S. Trade Agree-
ment (CUSTA) or the North Amer-
ican Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
isn't so much the agreement itself
as the fact the country didn't have
time to prepare for the conse-
quences, he said. "When (former
Prime Minister) Mulroney tells us
to go out and be global marketers
there's nothing wrong with that if
you're ready to be a global mar-
keter," but not all sectors were pre-
pared for the changes, he said.
Farmers must look at value-
added for their farm products if
they are going to claw their way
further up the food chain and reap
more profits, he said. "Whether that
means belonging to co-operatives
or ethanol plants, whatever it is
we've got to become more adept at
taking some profit there because
there may not be much profit in
corn at $2.80 a bushel."
This would require attracting
new capital investment in the
industry and that requires getting
new confidence in agriculture. The
opposite has been true in the recent
past with repair bills being higher
in Ontario last year than the invest-
ment in new plant and equipment.
This is dangerous because in the
future countries like the former
Soviet Union are going to take over
For a free catalogue, call:
UNICEF Canada
1-800-567-4483
unkef
United Nations Children's Fund
the role of producing basic raw
resources, meaning Canada must
produce more finished products.
He argued that there is a bright
future for agriculture, saying the
emerging countries like China and
Mexico will have more money to
spend on food and Canadian farm-
ers can fill that market.
And there is money in rural
Canada, (an estimated $60 billion
in rural savings acounts) to fuel the
re-investment needed in agriculture
so Canadian farmers can compete.
arrying the message
Shannon McNeil, RR6, Goderich, left, is the first Huron
County Milk Messenger. Shannon was crowned at a
banquet Friday evening in Brussels by the 1992 Huron
County Dairy Princess Amy Terpstra, Brussels.
on all Sunworthy sample book orders.
Fabrics, textiles and co-ordinates not included.
Enjoy tremendous savings on a huge assortment
of patterns and borders by Sunworthy.
Hurry in and save — this is a time limited offer.
Fabrics, textiles and co-ordinates not included. Limited time offer.
5 Years after their introduction
"MAGNUM" TRACTORS continue to set
the standards by which 100 plus
horsepower tractors are judged.
SEE THE NEW SERIES OF MAGNUMS
FOR "1994"
Special Preview at Vincents
MONDAY, SEPT. 20
ALL DAY
Come in and Test Drive it....
See why Magnum means more
You can lose a lot more than
your licence
drinking 0 Ministry of
the Attorney
and driving. omen° General
Manning's Lumber
& Building Supplies
Blyth 523-9305
off