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Times-Advocate, 1986-10-22, Page 31LOOK AT BEANS — Agriculture minister John Wise, rubs some white beans through his hands during his tour of the area on Friday. Bev Hill, right, was spokesman for the Huron farm committee who in- itiated the request for the tour. Should Canada quit farming? That was the question asked a few weeks ago by Oliver Bertin in the Globe and Mail, Canada's self-styled National Newspaper. And Oliver made it sound as though this country is paying too much to keep farmers on the land. Like it or not, wrote Bertin, Canadian tax- payers pay a hefty sum to support too many marginal farmers on marginal land. Altogether, the federal and pro- vincial governments pay more than $4,6 billion a year in cash, services and tax write-offs to Canada's 250,000 farmers. James Forbes, a British Columbia economics professor, figures that the average -Canadian farmer now receives $32,000 in benefits every year. Prof. Forbes has pooh-poohed farm subsidies and supply manage- ment for a dozen years and does not seem ready to abandon his attacks against agriculture yet. He says that $32,000 is enough to Anw ' s t ,T —,. 4t ...with the New SUPER TOMAHAWK Chipper/Shredded • Chips branches up to 3" In diameter! • Shreds leaves, crop residues, vines, twig*, any organic matter with amazing speed! • Stateof•the-art design and performance! Now available from: LMi!Aij EXETER f31.YTH ?361115 573444 J take a farmer off the farm, enroll him in a community college and teach him -- or her -- to do something more profitable. All this may be quite true and eg- gheads in British Columbia or reporters in Toronto can callously suggest cutting ' off all aid to agriculture. What they do not say is that, in years of shortages and drought in other countries, Cana- dians would starve without a healthy agricultural industry here. We have lived beside the United States long enough to know that if a shortage of any commodity comes up across the line, Americans get it first. Neighbors get it last or get nothing. What the economists forget is that agriculture is as essential to Canada as, well, education. It has been the backbone of this country since its in- ception. It is part of our history and heritage, our culture and our character as a nation and all the high- falutin' figures tossed around by economists is not going to change that. • Farmers spend more than $15 billion a year and create more than 30 per cent of the jobs in this country. To speak of letting agriculture die is Your Farm -Guard policy with - The Co-operators protects y� produce and machinery. Por complete farm insurance protec- tion, call about Farm -Guard today. Verna Gingerich iOthe 0co-opelatozs Insurance Sery res EXETER: 429 Main Street, 235-1109 UFE HOME 'AUTO COMMERCIAL -FARM TRAVEL Compare yields to see th difference. FARMERS! Call me on or before November I 5th to arrange for a Pioneer weigh wagon, to compare corn hybrids or soybean varieties on your farm. You'll receive a FREE Pioneer green winter jacket - just for comparing. (Call your Pioneer Sales Representative today for complete details.) Your Pioneer Sales Representatives: George Sereda & Sons RR 1 Centralia 235-0273 Bill Coleman Kippen, Ontario 262.5031 r - (cito PIONEER® BRAND•SEEDS PIONEER. and SILA-RAC• grand products are •oldjubt•ct to the terms and conditions of sale Mai ora part of tM l•b•MM9 and ale documents. Pioneer and SiIa-bac are brand names; numbers identity products. • Registered trademark Ilcerhed to Pioneer Hl -area Limited, Chafhsm, Ontario, Cauda. tantamount to putting a few more million people out of work. I am convinced most agricultural products now produced in Canada would disappear if governments adopted a laissez-faire attitude to agriculture. We would not produce milk, cheese, chickens, eggs, turkeys, fruits, vegetables, beef or pork because other nations would undercut our farmers. And grain growing would go the way of the dinosaur and dodo bird. Do Canadians want to be dependent on the rest of the world for food? Do we want to regress to the status of so many Third World countries, begging for food from other. nations? I do not think so. I think the price Canadians pay to keep farmers on the land is little enough when compared to some of the huge grants and loans given so-called free enterprise businesses. I am quite willing to admit the price is high and I am well aware of the in- escapable fact that, even withall the money given to farmers, nearly one- third are on the brink of bankruptcy and another third are struggling. Ontario's Agricultural Council has already warned that most farmers cannot derive all their income from the marketplace. Delbert O'Brien, chairman of the council, says the idea of farmers making a full living from the land is a myth that should be dispelled and he encourages them to look for work off the farm. I'm convinced agriculture will weatherthis storm and come through it stronger than ever. History has pro- ven time and again, that when agriculture i healtAyt t gpt of e tationAt healthy.' Canadians must not forget that fact. Resolutions given okay Three resolutions were supported without much discussion at the tail - end of a lengthy annual meeting of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture in Brussels. The first resolution called for the Huron Federation to set up a commit- tee to study the Ontario crop in- surance program. In supporting the resolution John Van Beers, RR 1, Blyth said that the province said it would bring in changes in 10 days but his experience said that the 10 days would probably mean mid-January. A local committee would let local farmers have input into the changes needed, he said. A second resolution called for grain to be fed to livestock to be included under stabilization programs. In sup- porting the resolutionPaul Klopp ex- plained that under the tripartide red - meat stabilization program home- grown grains for feed are included in the costs and it has made farmers realize the value of their own feed grains. The third resolution called for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture to support the position paper of the Soil Conservation Society of America, On- tario chapter recently issued. Doug Garniss, supporting the resolution said that the Huron Federation had earlier sent a resolu- tion to the OFA calling for the OFA to formulate a policy on soil conser- vation. The resolution had not been acted on yet he said but this position paper "falls in line with what we talk- ed about". The new resolution will be considered at the October meeting of OFA. BRANDY POINT FARMS CENTRED AROUND • ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION • Our breeding stock provides our buyers with proven genetics from the top 3% animals tested across Canada. • Our program enables us to offer quality and health at a price that is hard to beat • We have an. ongoing supply of A.I ro. sired aHamp/Duroc• York/landrace boors 8 F1 York/landrace gilts • Our closed herd is ranked "Good" by the OMAF standards of Herd Health Classification. Come and take a look at our stock anytime, Delivery available KURT KELLER R.R. 1, Mitchell, Ont. 519-348-8043 Times -Advocate, October 22, 1986 Page 15A German returns visit with area Jr. Farmer The second half of a Junior Farmers exchange between Ontario and Germany is being completed this week in the southern portion of Huron county. Rob Essery, RR 1, Centralia and a representative of the South Huron Junior Farmers is hosting Reinhard Hinrichs of Bagband in north Germany. Essery spent a couple of weeks in early August in Bagband and is enter- taining the young German this week. The two young men in a weekend interview with the T -A discussed the differences in farming and life in general in their two countries. The farms in Germany are much smaller than in Ontario and in most instances houses are attached to the barns. Farm machinery is also small with the average horsepower of trac- tors ranging from 45 to 60. The average dairy farm would con- sist of 50 acres and about 20 milking cows. Farmers help each other in the sharing of equipment purchases designed to keeping cost down. In most of Germany there are only three telexision stations and they are government controlled and operate with very few commercials. German residents pay a television tax of $10 per month. There are no commercials on Saturdays and Sundays. The German milk averages 4.03 percent butterfat and 3.4 percent in protein. Essery said he was impressed with very intensive cereal crop manage- ment resulting in good yields. The Centralia young man said he saw very few fast food outlets in Ger- many and their meal systems are dif- ferent. Their main meal is at noon with supper consisting mostly of sand - Wise boosts bean payment Ontario white bean farmers who have seen at least 65 per cent of their crop ruined by incessant rains in re- cent weeks got some good news Friday. Agriculture Minister John Wise an- nounced irsizeable increase in ad- vance payments on the crop which will be put in place under the Agricultural Products Co -Operative Marketing Act. "We're really pleased. We feel the government bent over backwards for us," said Bob Readings, secretary - treasurer of the Ontario Bean Pro ducers' Marketing Board in London. "It just took a week from the time we asked for this until we got it." Wise increased the initial payment to445 0_ er tgppet 44f, Alms ' haegst ,from the original payment of $280 per tonne. "Producers will have the cash they badly need," Wise said in a news release. In addition to boosting initial payments, the federal government will guarantee the bean board's operating costs to enable it to market the crop. "Producers are faced with a damaged crop and many bills have to be paid," said board manager Charles Broadwell. "This increase will help them significantly." wiches. They also throw in tea -time at 9:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Hinrichs said his countrymen drink an average of six kilograms of tea a year. High silos like those in Ontario are not- seen in Germany. Haylage is stored on the ground in bunker silos. Milk trailers are used to milk cows out on pasture. These pastures are usually switched once a week. The milk truck which visits Ger- man dairy farms three times a week carries two tanks. One is to take the fresh milk away and the other is to returned skimmed milk to the farm. The farmer receives 43 cents a litre for his milk and pays in return 10 cents a litre for the skimmed milk. Milk quotas are not based on milk production but on the amount of pasture on each farm. The quota charge is $8,000 per acre of pasture. While in Germany, Essery visited an agricultural museum which he said was similar to the one at Milton, Ontario. He was in Berlin for four days and spent one day in East Berlin. Both young men agreed with the same comment, "Everyone should go across for one day, just to see the dif- ference and then you would ap-' preciate where you live." Rob Essery's trip to Germany was sponsored by the Ontario Junior farmers with considerable financial assistance from Ciba-Geigy. While in Eastern Ontario, Reinhard Hinrichs visited an eastern Ontario Breeders station and was looking for- ward early this week to a trip to the United Breeders plant at Woodstock. • He added, "We could use better breeding science in Germany to get taller cows." JUNIOR FARMERS EXCHANGE — A two-wayexchange for Junior Farmers between Ontario and Germany was completed this sum- mer. Above, Gerhard Hinkins of Germany is shown with Rob Essery, RR 1, Centralia wearing a German sweater. T -A photo Drainage pays off with better soil structure Good drainage prevents unnecessary soil damage such as compaction, smearing and crusting. Working wet fields with heavy soils causes reduced yields and damage to soil structure which may take years to reverse. 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