HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1994-03-16, Page 35Page 18 -Farm Progress '94
MABON MEAL
ABATTOIR
R.R. #1 Dungannon
*Custom Killing
*Selling Sides of Beef & Pork
*Freezer Orders
529-7601
Former agriculture minister
heads up Canadian Agra
by Ron Wassink
A former Saskatchewan agricul-
ture minister is the new president of
Canadian Agra in Kincardine.
Lorne Hepworth moved into the
newly created position in January
and hasn't looked back.
He comes to the Kincardine area
from Saskatchewan where he was
trained as a veterinarian and then
spent almost 10 years in public life
as a top profile cabinet minister in
Grant Devine's Tory govemment.
Hepworth was raised on the
family farm in south-central Sas-
katchewan, took early schooling at
the Hepworth School and high
school in Assiniboia. Upon
graduation from Regina University,
he practised in Lloydminster for a
couple of years before opening a
veterinary practise in Weyburn.
Besides his rural background,
Hepworth brings a wealth of
political experience to his new
position. In government, he was
minister of agriculture, education,
finance and energy and mines.
Hepworth accepted the challen-
ging position offered by Canadian
Agra, because he says he believes
in the company's approach to
agriculture.
"It's a very modem approach
that's so right for the times, the
integrated approach," he says. "It's
the way we have to go."
I Defining that "approach", Hep-
worth says it's a value-added con-
cc,t and diversification.
'It's not just stopping and
thinking that farming equals
production. But it's the production,
then taking production and adding
value to it through processing, and
marketing that production
throughout the world."
Canadian Agra's head office is
north of the Kincardine airport on
Highway 21. The company owns
large tracts of land in Bruce and
Kincardine townships. Much of the
land grows alfalfa for its new alfal-
fa cubing plant. Local farmers also
_ -supply -- _pmt-- with �tilfalfa.
Marketing is North American -wide
through Canadian Agra's BioCube.
It also owns the Pelee Island
winery, and is a member of a
machinery ring cooperative.
When he heard of Canadian
�1
You Pick the Price! Two Volume Levels
1 5W40 from $11 .27er litre Save up to 3Oper litre
SPRING
LUBE
S 66
EDWARD FVELS
CLINTON-- --GODERICH- -TEESWATER-
482-7381 524-8386 392-6100
SALE
ENDS
NEXT WEEK
Friday
March 25t"
•SALES AND
SERVICE
Lome Hepworth
Agra's vision, Hepworth says he
was "very much in tune" with it.
Secondly, he says his decision to
move to Kincardine was made easy
because the company was located in
a rural setting on the shores of Lake
Huron.
"This is the kind of environ tent
my wife and I feel at home in. "f it
had been Toronto, sorry, I'm not
interested. The community itself
was a factor.
"We get to work here! Most
people just dream about retiring
here. What more can you ask for ...
it almost leaves one speechless."
Questioned about the economy
and its effect on business, Hep-
worth says, "We're not immune
from global events relative to the
business no more than anybody
else."
But, he says diversification can
provide some stability, an example
Canadian Agra attests to.
Borrowing a cliche, he says you
How does
your farm
pesticide�.___._
storage area
measure up?
have to act locally and think global-
ly. Look at the world as a
marketplace.
Hepworth says he's an optimist.
You have to be in the farming
business and he says farming is
"going through one of its most
interesting period in terms of the
change its going to face, and not
change in the negative sense."
Farming is a very sophisticated
business, he says, adding that it
becomes moreso as new tech-
nologies and information come to
light.
Though change can be unsettling,
he says it has to be viewed
positively.
"We're richly blessed and we
sometimes forget lite We can't
look inward, we ha look out-
ward. That's very m h part of this
global view Canadian Agra has in
terms of marketing."
About the future of Canadian
Agra, he says, "quite frankly we
will continue to grow."
Speaking of the trial$ and
tribulations of Ontario Hydro, the
area's dominant employer, Hep-
worth is careful not to treat Hydro's
problems in simplistic terms.
But, he says reality is coping with
the world in change and "change is
never easy. It can be viewed
negatively or positively."
Hepworth's advice is to "stand
back and look at the larger picture.
When one does that and looks at
what we're blessed with, there's a
lot of opportunity. We sometimes
foreget all the resource we have.
It's easy to overtook, especially in
times of uncertainty."
To put it another way, Hepworth
says if he looks to his children, "I
think they have a very bright future
ahead of them."
Pesticide storage areas must only
be used for pesticides. Warning
signs must be posted at all entran-
ces, and emergency telephone num-
bers prominently displayed. Storage
facilities must be locked and
properly ventilated, but may not
have floor drains. Protective gear
must be close at hand. These pes-
ticide storage guidelines are legal
requirements in the Province of
Ontario! (from the Farm Safety
Association)
Food Cravings
Stress
Hyperactivity
PERFECT HARMONY
Melodie VanderWal
Nutritional Symptomatologist
Lifestyle Consultant
Migraines
Indigestion
Insomnia
Chronic Fatigue
PMS
Constipation
These are a few of the number of heal*, problems people try to live with every day.
We can learn much from symptoms. Symptoms are our body's way of telling us
something is not as it should be. These same symptoms could also be a waming to
us of what is to come.
For over four years, I have been counselling people on nutritional choices that can
offer them a much healthier lifestyle. This is a natural approach that can be used in
a preventative way to correct deficiencies.
Are you suffering from health problems today?
Are you concerned about the future of your land your family sl health and vieltemg?
Call today for an appointment for a FREE NUTRn1ONAL CONSULTATION.
PERFECT HARMONY
Melodie VanderWal
R.R. #3, Clinton .Ontario
(519) 482-3882
1113