HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2007-09-05, Page 4Page 4 September 5, 2007 • The Huron Expositor
Editorial
Opinion
Proprietor and Publisher, Bowes Publishers Limited, 11 Main St., Seaforth, ON, NOK 1WO
Famier's markets
an opportunity
tobuykmally
While the highly -successful Twilight Tunes,
which drew sometimes more than 300 people to
Seaforth each Thursday over the summer, a
farmer's market also had its beginnings at Victoria
Park this year.
The average of four to five vendors who travelled
to town to sell their wares each week - a couple of
them local food producers - can be seen as another
reason to visit Seaforth.
But, an even more important reason to build and
frequent a local farmer's market lies in a growing
local food movement, which environmentalists see
as a pivotal way to combat global warming.
Simply, the shorter a distance food has to travel
to the consumer, the less fuel is used and. the less
greenhouse gases are produced.
Because of refrigerated trucks, low gas prices,
taxpayer -built highway systems and long-term
storage techniques, most produce today travels
between 2,500 and 4,000 kilometres before it reach-
es our plates.
In the U.S., it's estimated that each food item in
a typical meal has travelled an average of 1,500
miles but if every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a
week that was locally grown, the country's oil con-
sumption would decrease by 1.1 million barrels.
Similar circumstances exist in Canada.
While we're urged frequently in small towns to
buy locally and support our downtown merchants,
the same philosophy is sometimes forgotten when
it comes to filling our fridges, freezers and cup-
boards.
We've all seen the commercials this summer with
the singing farmer who serenades grocery store
shoppers - and sometimes even karaoke patrons -
to remember that "Good things grow in Ontario."
Living in one of the most productive agricultural
counties in Canada, Huron County shoppers are
rarely urged to buy Huron County -grown food
although a number of existing farmer's markets
and produce stands run by local producers - not to
mention the Huron County Good Food Box - do pro-
vide that opportunity.
A new farmer's market in Seaforth is one more
way to support our local farmers while promoting
an environmentally -friendly food system at the
same time.
Susan Hundertmark
Your Community Newspaper Since 1860
E-mail us at seaforth@bowesnet.com
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www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com
9
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GPS systems for tractors
are `undeniably cool'
Oddly enough, none of the
Transformers I collected or
watched on television as a kid dur-
ing the 80s were tractors. At least,
none that I remember.
That didn't stop the little boy in
me from geeking out when I had
the opportunity recently to ride
along in a tractor that could steer
itself
Huron Tractor was giving demonstration rides at
the Huron County Plowing Match. Their machine
had an onboard computer wired to the steering
mechanism.
Huron Tractor AMS Consultant Brendon Van
Osch gave me a demonstration.
Before we really got going, he explained a bit of
the technology, pointing first at a device mounted at
the top middle of the windshield. It had a short, fat
yellow cylinder on top.
"This receiver here," he said, "that's your GPS
receiver. It gathers information from satellites in
the sky"
He said the receiver can get information from up
to nine or 10 satellites. Then he pointed at a com-
puter display about the size of a paperback book.
" This is the brains of the operation right here."
Van Osch then pointed at a compact box with cables
running between it and the computer display. The
steering wheel was fitted onto the top of it.
'This is your ATU - Auto Tac Universal," he said,
noting that it's detachable, so that farmers can buy
one system and transfer it between whatever trac-
tors they own that have power steering.
Van Osch explained that while this universal unit
steers the tractor manually by operating the steer-
ing column, there are newer trac-
tors that steer using the hydraulics
themselves.
Going back to the display, he
explained that it keeps track of
your progress - acres per hour and
speed, for example.
He keyed in 30 feet for the width of
the implement we were pulling
along behind us and said that the next step was to
program the straight path along the field we would
take from one end to the other.
"Once you do your headland, you pick your place
you want to start in the field," he said, explaining
that you push a button at that starting point, drive
to the end of the field and push another button to
mark the end point.
The computer then plots each pass, taking into
account the width of the implement. Then all the
farmer has to do is turn the tractor around at the
end of each pass. The tractor itself will take care of
the rest, overlapping by only a few inches.
Van Osch said that human operators tend to over-
lap several feet. That adds up. He said this means
that if a fanner has 2,000 acres to cover, they'll tend
to actually cover 2,200 acres. With the GPS -guided
tractors, they tend to only cover an additional 20
acres, which saves time, fuel, money and wear and
tear on the farmer.
"A lot of farmers are just scared to try it, but you
have to get them into it," he said, noting they usual-
ly love it after trying.
This suggests we're maybe a long way off from my
car driving me home at the end of the day, but this
is still undeniably cool. According to my inner six-
year-old, anyway.
Ron di Dave
"The school says they're
going to separate girls
and boys into different
classes.
Good. Who
needs girls
anyway?
" No, no. You're not "
seeing the big picture
here. Who would we
throw spitballs at?
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Member of th. Canadian Community Ne
rreecolationn
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by David Lacey
fWe'll just have"No, we can' Oh yeah,
then we
lose the
tactical
advantage
to throw them
at other guys.
Susan Hundertmark
Editor
Bernie Pugh
Advertising / Office
do that.
The guys
will just
spit back.
fr
Aaron Jacklin
Reporter
Maxwell Bickford Dianne McGrath
Composing Front office
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