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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1985-08-21, Page 21Huron test set for September 13 and 14 Add conservation glass to plow maks For the first time ever a soil conser- vation class will be featured at the Huron County Plowing Match slated for September 13 and 14. Sponsored by the Huron County soils and crop improvement associa- tion, the class is being offered to show an alternative to conventional plow- ing methods, said association presi- Christie clan enjoy golfing The 11th annual Christie Golf tour- nament was held August 11 at the Ex- eter Golf and Country Club . A total fifty-five members of the Christie family gathered, after the tournament, at the home of Marshall and Marion Dearing, Exeter. Marshall Mclean, St. Thomas, and Brian Christie, Singhampton, paired up to take the first place trophy while Marshall Dearing and Darlene Stewart, St. Pauls placed second. The bent club award went to Susan Christie RR 1 Mitchell and Jo An- dreozzi London. Other prize winners were Jasson Christie. Staffa and Jim McLean St. Thomas. Games for the younger members were in charge of Verna Strathdee, St. Pauls. dent Jim Ross of RR 3, Wingham. Ross said those interested in plow- ing will be gathered at the match anyway. The 1985 match is being held on the Nott Brothers farm located on Highway 8 between Seaforth and Clinton. "This the soil conservation class) might be something farmers will want to look at," said Ross. The association has been consider- ing offering a class for soil conserva- tion tillage in the plowing match for some time now. fie hopes the class will grow each year. Soil conservation specialists from the county will judge the event. Ten- tatively scheduled to determine the outcome of the class are Jane Sadler - Richards, Rob Traut, John Heard and Brian Hall. Traut, a conservation agronomist, said there are no limitations on the type of equipment that can be used in this class, except that it should he equipment used for primary or fall. tilling. Modified moldboard plows, .a chisel plow or a modified chisel plow with sweep teeth are examples of the type of equipment expected to be used. "Last year at the Perth County match, someone used a homemade piece of tillage equipment. It was not Conservation drill available in Huron By Robert Trait Conservation Agronomist Huron Soil and Water Conservation District Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association. Soil and Water Conser- vation District will have a conserva- tion drill available free of charge to co-operators this fall for the planning of winter wheat. The drill is one of the pieces of conservation equipment available to area farmers interested in developing conservation tillage production packages on their farms. The ten foot wide conservation drill was purchased from the Best Manufacturing Company and can be used in no -till, minimum tillage and ridged fields. The double disc openers are notched to cut crop residues and are set seven ane One-half - inches apart. The height of each disc opener is also adjustable for planting in a ridged field. ---The—Best—drill is :.quipped with ACRA- plant units ( with a firming shoe between the disc openers 1, which forms a smooth, firm seedbed. Each - shoe runs slightly lower than the disc - Maurice Spruytte, born 1899, a veteran of the First World War with the Belgian Army in France was 86 on August 18. openers to leave a narrow trench for better seed to soil contract. Press wheels firm soil around the seed and act as gauge wheels to regulate seeding depth. The drill is available to farmers this fall to plant up to five acre tillage trials of winter wheat on differing soil types and areas throughout the county. These trials will compare the response of different varieties to dif- fering soil conditions, residues, fertili- ty, weed and insect control in no -till, minimum tillage or ridge tillage conditions. Technical assistance provided to co-operators includes evaluation of the site before planting, transporta- tion of equipment to the site. ( farmers must provide their own tractor and driver), assistance at planting time, Monitoring of the trials throughout effective, but it showed ingenuity. We like to see that as well." said Traut. Total points for the conservation class are 100. Points are deducted for unsafe equipment and unsafe opera- tion of equipment, said Traut. The most points, 400, are given for residue cover. The conservation agronomist said the judges are look- ing for anywhere from 50 to 54 per cent residue cover. Anything more or less costs points. Other areas to be judged are the soil surface roughness which is the rela- tionship of the ridge space to the ridge height and the depth of tillage. Friday, September 13 will be a practise day said Traut and he and the other judges will be on the match site to give assistance. First prize for the conservation class is $35, second prize is $?5 and Hurondale ladies enjoy Huron tour A bus tour in Huron County was the unique way in which the Education and Cultural Activities and Public Relations Committees of Hurondale Women's Institute chose to hold their August meeting. The weather was ideal. First stop was at the Lake Huron Water Supply System at Grand Bend where they were given a conducted tour of the lift stations and treatment plant. It was very informative and interesting. At Bayfield, they visited the wagon and harness maker shops. Tom Penhale and his two helpers were completing a hitch wagon which was due in a parade in New Hampshire the following Saturday. The.harness maker and his wife were working on an order for a four hitch harness set with all the trimmings. Members were amazed to see how Tom had customized his truck trailer to accommodate not only his living quarters at the front, space for the hitch wagon and harness at the rear but also room for up to six of his heavy Belgian horses in the air con- ditioned room in the centre. After lunch in Bayfield, on to Wingham to tour the Royal homes Ltd. factory and homes as well as C.K.N.X. station. Following dinner in Clinton, a stop at the Sloman Memorial Park on the Bayfield river where Clara Sloman and her two daughters, Margaret and Toby gave us a warm welcome to School on Wheels No. 15089 their home from 1926 to 1964 and where the late Fred Sloman taught more than 1000 isolated children along the railway west of Sudbury. Slides and photo albums and the gold spike helped all to visualize what ordinating both tours. The next Institute meeting will be held in the Usborne Public School Library September 15 at 8 p.m when there will be a speaker on battered women. Each member is asked to bring an article personal or household for the "home for battered women". Ladies who joined us on our bus trips and those who wished they had are welcome to the meetings. —it -must -have-been-like. the-growing-seasorrfor-weeds:-insects. nutrient deficiencies and the recor- ding of yields and moisture at harvest. Information collected from the trials will provide data useful in developing the production packages required for conservation cropping to be effective under area conditions.• In June the Institute also had the If you ate interested in par best of weather for their trip to Cullen ticipating in the winter wheat trials Barns and Black Creek Pioneer this fait please call Robert Traut or Villa a north of Toronto. Jane Sadler Richards at the Clinton g Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Institute members, their husbands Food office at 482-3428. Remember - and friends agreed that Lois and call early to avoid disappointment Gerald McFalls did a super job of co - The' school has been refurbished after 18 years of neglect and now begins the chore of restoring the liv- ing quarters. President Fern Dougall on behalf of the Hurondale Institute donated $25 and many members also made donations toward this project. all were reluctant to leave. A PiONEER STORE Dan Haugh and Bruce Pfaff look over County Museum) on the weekend at Crediton Summerfest. t a pioneer store provided by the Huron T -A photo in the rrowebl Most of the world focussed attention on Ethiopia in July when the Live Aid rock concert was said to have had the largest ever television audience. The desertification -- do you know what the word means-'.- of Ethiopia is driving people from (heir homes The Sahara. the world's largest desert. is a hyper -arid region with lit- tle rainfall. The semi -arid Sahel is where the misery is rampant. A band of deserts created by air cir- culation patterns lies around the world generally about 13 to :10 degrees north and south of the equator. in North America. we tend to look at the Dark Continent and figure that nothing like that could happen here. Not so. my friends. Natural deserts cover :18 per cent of the earth but that 36 per cent balloons to 4:1 per cent when the destruction by humans and their livestock and their cities have removed vegetation or overused (he soil. Salinization. urbanization and desertification is swallowing farmland at a tremendous rate. Canada's growing cities. between 1961 and 1976. took over an area the size of Prince Edward island. • We tend to think that deserts grow only in Africa but overcultivation. overgrazing. compaction. deforesta- tion. poor irrigation. salinizalion. loss of nutrients and pollution of soil and water could make the North American plains vulnerable to desert encroachment. Canada's West is particularly vulnerable to drought. Another of the big villains is ero- sion. Nearly 25 pillion tonnes of soil is carried away annually. blown into lakes and rivers and washed into the seas. - Farmers are as much to blame as anyone for this loss of the finest farmland in the world. A year ago. the senate committee reported that soil degradation was so serious it was costing Canadian farmers $I pillion a year in lost in- come. Farmers focus almost all their attention on food production. not conserva t ion. Acres and acres of farmland in southwestern Ontario gets planted in corn year after yearafter year. No at- tempt is made in some areas tt► rotate crops and give the land a chance to regenerate. • We live close to town and much of the land near our home will someday. unfortunately, become subdivisions That land is being raped right now with the same crop sown every year for al least to years. The use of plen- ty of fertilizer helps mask the loss 01 tilth but it is a short-term solution to productivity. Farmers take a holier-than-thou at - titude about acid rain from factories and generating plants. They pom- pously blame big business and big government for. acid rain problems when some farmers use farming practices that are just as devastating to the land and to production as is acid rain.. And yes, [know. they have to do it. they say. to remain • in business because they simply do not get enough money for the products they sell. "Give us enough money and we'll solve the problem." they say. ,bl'd like to be able to believe them. if something is not done to keep the land in production and to keep that land arable. we could all be living in the same conditions as the people of Ethiopia in a few decades. Riddell plan gets backing The Ontario Federation of Agriculture tOFA► applauds the one, year Ontario Family Farm Interest Rate Reduction program announced by the- Minister of Agriculture and Food, to reduce to eight percent in- terest rates on long -teem loans. Riddell is putting $50 million into OFFIRR to help those hardest hit by high interest rates and low commodi- ty prices, and about 10,000 Ontario farmers will take him up on his OFFIRR. OFA president Harry Pelissero sees this fulfillment of a campaign pro-- mise ro-mise as 'a signal that the government is interested in doing something in the long-term.' Although OFFIRR is a short-term aid package, it does provide a much- needed beathing space. and is the first step in a larger formula aimed al -recovery in the farming sector. - The government is already com- mitted to the second step -- price stabilization -- by the end of August. The third step involves a legislated debt review process The OFA urges swift action on this point because there are indications• that financial institutions, afraid 01 pending debt review legislation, are beginning to take' recovery action perma1urely. The OFA will be raising these con- cerns with federal and provincial officials. third prize is $15. The usual highlight of the plowing match is the Queen of the Furrow competition. Any Huron County females between the ages of 16 and 25 should contact Marie McGavin, Ruth Townsend or Helen Craig, all of the Walton area. Besides the regular plowing classes on the Saturday, the junior match will be held on Friday, there are competi- tions for the -non -plower. 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