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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1982-10-20, Page 2826 Times -Advocate, October 20,1982 Tr 11 SERIOUS DISCUSSION — Newly arrived Katimaviker Michel Paris chats with Exeter mayor Bruce Shaw at an informal reception for the group at ARC Industries. Off Is It possible to define who is–and who is not --a farmer? Agricultural organizations, particularly the Ontario Federation of . Agriculture (O.F.A.), have been battling with the problem for more than a decade. It is necessary because senior governments give grants and subsidies to farmers. But some of those so-called farmers should not get those subsidies. Is a farmer a person who is occupied on the farm on a full- time basis, a person who makes a living from the land? If that is true then half the farmers say, in Waterloo Region, would not qualify because many of them are forced to work at other jobs to maintain the farm, So that definition is out. Some census figures from a few years ago revealed that more than 50 percent of the farmers in this province have off -farm income. And is the professional man – doctor, lawyer, dentist, engineer - who buys a farm with another income just to show a loss for tax purposes, also.a. farmer? What about the chap who has a full-time job someplace 4fone foot in the] hitildrOW° byamitootLetters are appreciated by Bob Trotter" Etdat, Rd Etmna Ont N3B 2C 7 Which is when the corn farmer said: ")f corn prices drop much more, I won't gross $5,000 this year." Ralph Barrie, the articulate president of the federation,. said the definition may be taken out of the federation's hands. The province will make the decision, he said, and then the O.F.A. will deal with it. Much of the work being done by the Ontario federa- tion and, indeed, the Cana- dian federation, depends on - this definition which, in itself, does not sound too difficult until you consider all the ramifications. There are so many different kinds of farmers, so many degrees of who is a farmer and who is else and works the farm on weekends, holidays and nights to supplement his income? The definition is important. Literally millions of dollars in grants and subsidies are at stake here. Is the weekend farmer eligible, the man who works a few acres for a cash crop or who raises a few steers as a hobby? ' At a meeting of the O.F.A.. recently, a county director said if income figures were used as the sole criterion, the' O.F.A. itself would lose hun- dreds of members who could not qualify. A full-time corn grower said he woutd lose money on his crop this year because of the disastrous corn prices. Although desperately trying to make a living on the ' .farm, he could not qualify as a farmer. In Ontario, the province is embarking on some tar - reaching tax reforms. Farm land could be exempt from municipal education taxes, for instance. Suggestions have been made. One definition suggests that any farmer who grosses more than $10,000 a year from the farm should be considered as a bona fide farmer. Area produce farm gets government aid Sixteen more Ontario fruit and vegetable growers and packers have received grants from the Board of Industrial Leadership and Development (BILD) under the Ontario Storage and Packing Assistance Program for Fruit and Vegetables.. Included was a grant of $21,182 to Soudant Farms, Varna, for onion and potato storage construction. Agriculture and Food Minister Dennis Timbrell said the $376,095 in grants are "really incentives to help the growers and packers expand, upgrade and improve their operations". The recipients have personally invested another $780,418 in the various projects. "My ministry's gpal is to help Ontario become more agriculturally self-sufficient. This is just one of the many Sales, Parts, Service Logan Ford Tractor Sales Ltd. Hwy. No. 8 East of Mitchell Phone 348-8467 programs which will help us reach that goal." The grants cover one-third of the costs of new or renovated storage facilities for Ontario -grown fruits and vegetables for both the fresh and processing markets. They also apply to one-third of the cost of purchasing and in- stalling handling and packing equipment. The BILD initiative is aim- ed at extending the marketing period for fresh Ontario fruit and vegetables and reducing imports. BILD, a cabinet committee chaired by Treasurer Frank Miller, co- ordinates Ontario's five-year $1.5 billion economic develop- ment plan. It has set aside $20 million for this initiative and has already awarded $2,710,054 of it. Mastectomy group issues invitation The Goderich Mastectomy Group extends a cordial in- vitation to anyone having had a mastectomy to attend a meeting to be held in- St. Peter's Parish Hall, North Street, Goderich, Ontario, on November 6 at 1:30 p.m. Guest speaker will be Mrs. Thelma Griffin, President of the London Mastectomy Group. Anyone wanting more in- formation should write to 128 Widder Street, Goderich, or call 524-9427 or 524-2537. HY-1?FT READY MIX LTD. Ready Mix Concrete Complete concrete forming, concrete driveways & concrete finishing Exeter 235-0833 Forest and Clinton ( • . • . a 1. • not, that any distinction could tramp on a lot of toes Do you tell a doctor who already makes $100,000 a yea off the farm that he cannot receive any of the privileges when he can prove his 200 acres lost money last year.? Do you order the part-time farmer to quit his city job or quit driving a school bus or whatever because it will negate his tax exemptions? It is a tough question to answer. A light-hearted note was thrown into the discus- sion' when a Niagara area farmer said: "A farmer is a man outstanding in his field". Can't help but agree. with that but it isn't enough to satisfy the senior govern- ments in this country. s satisfactorily. • A study of dra maintenance showed th r 25% of tiles less than t years old had been repaire Of tiles 11 to 20 years old 66 had been repaired. All til over 40 years old had eith been repaired or neede maintenance. Trends in drainage in Ohi Random systems are bein replaced by evenly space systems - usually plastic. I most cases the rando systems were still workin when they were replaced. The random tiles wer generally felt to be too fa apart and too shallow. Random systems are stil being installed to dra$ seepage areas and solve "we spot" problem in fields with several soil types. They're much the same as us in the fact that few farmers have drainage maps. Service is often complicated by dif- ficulty in finding headers and mains or knowing what size of tiles are in various locations. Some contractors are pro- viding aerial photographs of drainage systems. Pictures are more likely to be saved than maps. ' The fact that a quarter of the relatively new (1 to 10 years old) tile drainage systems examined needed repair came as a surprise. If the same thing is true in On- tario, I'm sure that a lot of farmers are not getting a good return on their tile A drainage investment. Tile drain service Drain inspection needs to become a more routine chore. Most problems occur at junc- tions or abrupt changes in grade. Outlets are another problem area. A drainage map makes for quick inspec- tion of possible problem areas. Huron farm and home news Report on file drainage, 441 caIf sale There area lot of opinions on how long drainage systems should last. In Ontario we don't really have too many facts about the useful life span of tile drains. Unlike most Investments, tile drains can't be monitored or looked at very easily. You can find a bCeak of washout, but you really can't measure general tile performance very well. There have been several studies in the United States. Estimates on drain life expec- tancy range from 10 to 100 years. Work done in Ohio by Dr. Warren estimated drain life at 10 to 15 years, but found that some systems failed in as few as five years. The drains that failed in Dr. Warren's study were generally in unstable soil conditions that caused shifts in grade or alignment; collapsed tubing; pulled joints and plugged outlets, pipes and manholes. In 1978 there was a study of 95 tiles mains in Williams County, Ohio. The tiles rang- ed in age from one to 76 years. Of the 95 systems, 12 needed repair and six needed replacement. The other 77 systems were worki ng in at en d. es er d s Huron -Bruce 4-H Thanksgh• ing show and sale big succes Thirty-four 4-H calves from Huron and Bruce were shown and sold at the Second Annual Thanksgiving Show and sale. James Coultes of Wingham judged the show and MPP Jack Riddell auctioned the sale at the Brussels Stockyards Limited. Both Jim and Jack are to be com- mended on the excellent job of judging and auctioning. Teeswater scaled at 990 and ti sold to Modern Livestock Auction Mart, Clyde, Alberta at 88.00e per cwt. Steers were divided into light weight, (under 1100 lbs.), medium (1100-1200 lbs.) and heavy 1200 lbs. and over classes. Paul Coultes of RR 5 - Brussels, 1060 Ib. steer topped the light weight class. Brussels Stockyards Ltd. pur- chased the calf at 85.50. Scott Townsend of RR 4 Seaforth, 1060 lb. reserve calf sold to Gamble and Rogers at 85.00. Grant Hayter and Kenneth Thompson calves were cham- pion and reserve in the medium weight class. In the heavy weight class, Joseph Gower of RR 1 Centralia, won with his 1230 lb. steerselling at 90.50 to Blyth Meat Market. Brad Falconer of RR 4 Seaforth, sold the reserve steer in the class weighing 1200 lbs. to J.M. Schneider of Waterloo for 85.25. All calves sold above the market, thanks to the buyers. Average weight was 1083 lb.s with an average price of 82.70 per cwt. Many thanks to all club leaders who assisted, the 4-H participants for excellent presentation -of their calves and to Brussels Stockyards Ltd. for their excellent facility: We look forward to this Thanksgiving Show and Sale continuing as an annual event. S.J. Paugette, Associate • Huron 4-H'ers entered 22 steers, with Bruce entering eight steers and four heifers. TheGrand Champion steer owned by Grant Hayter, RR :3 1':trkhill, weighing 1120, sold for $1.04 per pound. Pur- chaser was Bob Miles of Woodham Meat Market. This steer, a Limousin Angus Cross, was overall show champion and won the Modern Livestock Trophy of Clyde, Alberta, donated by Randy Scott, their representative. Reserve Champion Steer shown by Kenneth Thompson, RR 1 Kincardine, weighing 1100 pounds, was purchased by James Coultes of Wingham for 91.00 per cwt: Grand Champion Heifer rib- bon was won by Donald Grubb of Teeswater, weighing 1040, It sold to But- tons Meat Market of Lucknow at 99.501. Reserve Champion heifer hown by Steven McKague, of 0 g d n m g e r n t • GAMES FOR ALL AGES Customers at Thursday's South Huron Hospital Auxiliary rummage sale found a large number of games for all ages. From the left look- ing over the assortment are Edith Love and Vera Pin- combe. T -A photo inancirig ...AND LOW, LOW END -OF -SEASON PRICES! The time is right to buy the Avco New Idea farm equipment you need. When you buy Avco New Idea: Manure Spreaders Hay Harvesting Equipment Corn Pickers Uni-System Combines Uni-System Forage Harvesters Uni-System Power Units You pay no interest until* 3-1-83 6-1-83 8-1-83 8-1-83 8-1-83 8-1-83 Save now! ...offer ends soon! 'Offer good on certain machines and requires 30% down including trade. For more details contact: luding Farm Supply Limited RR 3 Zurich, Ont. Sales and Service Repairs (519) 236-4934 (519) 236-4321 NEW IDEA Agricultural Representative ed 20% of operating costs in Ontario farm assistance your last accounting period. The total value of program agricultural products on your Have you applied or en- farm in 1981 must have been quired about the Ontario more than $12,000. Farm Adjustment Assistance Some 260 Huron County Program (O.F.A.A.P.I? farmers have already made This program provided an use of this program. Others interest reduction grant on planning to apply should do so floating rate bank loans of up right away, because the ap- to five percentage points. If plications have to be process - you have a $100,000. authoriz- e 1 before the end ofthe year. ed line of credit at the bank at Application forms are 17% interest, your interest available at the bank. When reduction for the coming 12 completed, the application Is months could be $5,000. In- reviewed jointly by your stead of paying $17,000 in in- banker and a member of the terest you would actually pay local Ontario Ministry of only $12,000. That's reducing Agriculture and Food office at your bank interest cost by Clinton. 29.4%! (5/17 x 100 equals 29.4%). Don Pullen Agricultual Representative The interest reduction grant can reduce interest rate Silo gases by a maximum of five percen- Silo gas can be fatal. It can tage points down to 12%. At kill just as quickly as a fall the moment, interest rates from a silo. Do not enter your are on the way down! silo for at least three weeks The program also provides after filling. Always turn on for a Government guarantee the blower to properly ven- on a future operating line of tilate yqur silo before credit if such is shown to be entering. needed in your farm financial If, for any reason, you have plan. The interest reduction . to enter the silo before the grant and the Government three week period is up, wear guarantee are both for a 12 a self-contained breathing ap- month period commencing on paratus, and always use a life the date of approval. rope. Never enter a silo under To be eligible for these conditions without O.F.A.A.P.., a farmer must h'nother person present. have equity in the farm Remember, silo gas can business of between 10% and be fatal. 60%. Interest and principal John Heard, Assistant payments must have exceed- Agricultural Representative ODDFELLOWS INSTALLED — The new executive of the Exeter Order of Independent Odd ellows was installed recently. Back, left, Floyd Cooper, Fred Delbridge,-Bill Rowe, Bert Brown, Charlie Atthill, Bill Adams, Delmar Skinner, Norm Stanlake and Tom Kooy. Front, Harold Patterson, Donald Dearing, Bill Noakes, Greg Ramsay, Noble Grand Norm Whiting, Past Noble Grand Cliff Grasdahl, Don Wilson and Lloyd Hern. At Henson, Mitchell, Mitchell, Granton, Port Albert around the clock Hi Speed Legs 8 Truck Unloading Hoists To serve you Hensall 262-2527 Mitchell 348-8433 Granton 225-2360 Port Albert 529-7901 e 't v