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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1992-09-02, Page 9FAR..M IJPDATF Times -Advocate, September 2, 1992 Pape 9 The Queen of the Furrow contest at this year's Huron County Plowing Match held near Winthrop had four young women in the fields doing their own plowing. Kim Maloney from near Dublin was one contestant. Food prices down in July OTTAWA - In July, the consumer price index (CPI) for food purchased from stores decreased 0.3 percent from June, and was 3.3 percent be- low the July 1991 level. The July priceindex for food bought in res- taurants rose 0.3 percent. Overall, the price index or food fell 0.2 percent in July, and was 1.7 percent below that of July 1991. Retail prices in July were lower for several food groups, the largest decrease being a two percent drop in the cost of beef. July beef prices were lower than those of June in 14 of the 18 cities surveyed. Sugar registered the largest price increase in July, with a three percent rise in retail cost. Sugar prices were sharply higher in Ottawa, following the end of promotional sales. Vegetable prices to decline In the coming weeks, retail prices for salad vegetables will continue to decline, as domestic supplies in- crease. Potato prices will also de- crease o-crease in August, due to higher sup- plies. The 1992 domestic potato crop is forecast to be slightly larger than last year's. The main harvest will begin in September. Apple prices will not likely begin to fall significantly until Septem- ber, when the main 1992 harvest for stoarge beings. The 1992 apple crop is also forecast to be larger than 1991's. Nutritious food basket In July, the cost of a nutrititous food basket (NFB) sufficient to meet the needs of an average Can- dian family of four was 5134.19 a week, down 41 cents from the av- erage June cost of $134.60 a week. A year ago, the same basket cost 5137.75 a week. The cost of the nutritious food basket increased in 11 or 18 cities surveyed across the country. The largest price increase was $2.61 a week in Whitehorse, reflecting sharply higher prices for fresh veg- etables, especially potatoes. (The cost of the basket will likely fall in Whitehorse in August, as supplies of domestic fruits and vegetables increase. The largest price decrease in July was 54.40 a week in Edmonton, due in large pert to lower prices for selected fruis and vegetables, par- ticularly potatoes. Dna Foot 111 the .Furrow Bob Trotter Many years ago, a horde of dark green worms invaded the grain fields in the area where we had a little horse farm. These voracious little -beggars marched through the freids like a -maraud• ing army and that is why they are called anny worms. They are devastat- ing in the manner in which they leave fields almost bare. I remember trying to photograph them for a newspaper story I was working on. I did not have the fancy equipment most press photographers use theses days so I had to get reasonably close to get printable pictures. By the time I got the photo taken, I had a couple of dozen of the slimy things on my clothing. That's how voracious they were. They were so infested in some places that they virtually stopped traffic because of greasy roads caused by the squashed warms. It is hard to be- lieve that they could be so thick but, believe me, they were. Reports have surfaced this year about an invasion by the same kind of army worms in Eastern Ontario. - According to the experts, these pesky critters run in cycles between 20 and 30 years. They take leaves fust, then the beards of barley or buck- wheat, then they go for the top part of the stems because that is where the stalk is most tender. This causes the heads to fall off and the crop is then unharvestable. When they hit our area about 25 years ago, I stood and watched in awe as they cleared a 10 -acre fields in about an hour. They can be sprayed, or course, but this just lessens and damage. It does not prevent it. As if army worms were not enough to cope with, this wet, heatless sum- mer has put many crops weeks behind schedule. The weather has caused all kinds of problems. Tender fruit farmers in the so-called Niagara sunbelt have had hail. Some have been hit so hard they are pleading for help from the govertunent. Some other areas have been hit by heavy rainfall which has left acres of grain and some hay lodged to the point where it is almost impossible to harvest. Is it any wonder that fanners are complaining? They battle low prices for what they feed and grow. They fear what senior governments may do to their marketing boards. They see their production costs skyrocketing every year. They know the number of fanners decreases every year be- cause so many either go bankrupt or just get tired of the stress and strain and give up. It has been estimated that less than two percent of the popu ka- tion of Canada is engaged in farming full-time and less than four percent call themselves part-time fanners. Yet that less -than -four -percent are the most important sector of ow en- tire economy. Without them, we would not eat and eating is a difficult habit to break, isn't it? Weather affects all of us to some degree. Most of us, though, are not ful- ly, dependent on the vagaries of nature as fanners are. I can recall my gran - dad walking out of the barn almost every day during the growing season and anxiously scanting the sky. If everything looked good, be would bead for the house with a benign expression en his face and a opting in his stop. :But if the skies looked foreboding, that anxious look would invade his countenance and he would worry all night. Most of us have no idea bow tough it is for agriculture. If we had to farm for just one season, the little men in white coats would be dragging us, ticking, screaming, to the newest loony bin. Summer seeding works well on lighter soils By Harvey Wright, OMAF, Guelph GUELPH - Summer seeding of forage stands has been promoted as a seeding option for about five years in Ontario. Some farmers have routinely seeded this way with success, while others have had complete failures. What have we learned? 1. Results have been most consis- tent on sandy loams and hams. When these soils are packed after seeding to ensure good soil to seed contact, less rainfall is required to get good germination. These soils are also less subject to heaving the following spring. 2. There have been alot of fail- ures on clay loams and heavier silt loams. Even with packing it is more difficult to get good seed -soil contact and the top inch of soil can dry out quickly. Thus seed may sit for days before germination. Seed that does not germinate before Au- gust 20 will produce small plants with short roots that are subject to heaving in March -April. The com- bination of slow germination and heaving has been fatal to a lot of summer seedlings. I no longer rec- ommend summer seeding on clay loams without detailed discussion with the grower. 3. Sometimes plans to summer seed should be abandoned because of moisture conditions. If the seed- bed is quite dry and no rain is pre- dicted, one should consider waiting until the following spring. The heavier the soil texture, the more questionable the drainage, and the fewer the heat units, the riskier the gamble. 4. I have often listed August 10 as a desirable seeding date, and August 20 as the absolute cutoff for summer summer seeding of al- falfa based mixtures in the Guelph area. The earlier the better - even as early as August 1st. The odds of getting rain, and thus germination by August 20, become better with earlier seedings. 5. Be cautious recommending herbicides in September. A week's delay in growth due to herbicide ef- fect can be critical to over winter survival of alfalfa. Winter annuals will be gone after the fust cut. In summary, summer seeding has worked well on lighter soils, but not on heavier soils. Soil moisture and probably rainfalls must be con- sidered after seeding. Late seeding is a high risk gamble - if rain doesn't arrive promptly, stands will not likely survive. For further infor- mation on August seeding of forag- es, contact the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food office in Clinton. Linda Hacclus prepares to give her boars their daily feeding. Local farmers discover wild boars as an alternative to domestic pigs By Fred Groves T -A stat! SHIPKA - Here girls, here girls! Walking across a 30 - acre bush lot, Linda ■ ■ a ■ Haccius calls doz- ens of wild boars on the farm she and her husband Hubert work. The brown and black and lean looking pigs follow her around the lot waiting for their daily ration of corn and grain. In the spring of 1991, the Haccius' decided they needed an alternative way of farming. They were, and still are operating a very large domestic pig herd. "You have to find an alternative. We looked into a lot of things. We looked into deer and we looked into nut trees," said Linda. The major reason the Haccius' are slowly changing from domestic pigs to the European Wild Boar is the amount of work involved. Since Hubert came over from Germany 10 years ago he has been raising pigs. He started in Mitchell then bought the farm in Shipka. "I've done it for 10 years and I'm looking for some- thing different," said Hubert. Linda said they needed something that was less la- bor intensive. And it certainly is as they can spend up to 12 hours a day in the barn .with the nearly 1,500 domestic pigs. "This was a low cost start up," said Linda of the wild board. By the second year, you start to make money and by the third year, your investment should be paid back." The Haccius' started with 10 sows and one boar. By the spring they will have another large fenced in area with another boar and they could have up to 50 sows. Domestic pigs have to be watched very closely, in- cubators are always going in the Haccius' barn. Shots have to be given and their diet has to be watched on a regular basis. The wild boars live on the bush lot 12 months a year, cost a lot less to feed, and, according to the Haccius' the dark lean meat is becoming very popu- lar. In comparison, the breakeven point with a domes- tic pig is 5100 once it goes to market at the age of about six months. On the other hand, the wild boars are eating about 525 a year in food. "ln the winter, we supplement approximately four pounds of food a day. That can be a mixture of any- thing, apples, carrots, potatoes," said Linda. "If you are willing to make the effort, you can feed them for almost nothing;" she added. The wild boars live in the bush lot and spend up to two-thirds of their time looking for food such as bugs, roots, nuts and even the odd mouse. Walling constantly is why they are so much lean- er, that's why the meat seems to be better. Linda and Hubert are executive members of the Canadian European Wild Boar Association which has certain guidelines it follows to distinguish itself. Most of the guidelines involve the way in the which the wild boars are raised. Hubert said one of those is that the boars must be raised outside. "There are other people keeping them in the barn," he said but added they are not part of the Wild Boar Association. And what about crossing a wild boar with a do- mestic pig? It's been done. "The majority of wild boar breeders in this country have cross -bred. They get a better quality meat than pork but they do not get the quality of the purebred wild boar that isaaised in this fashion," said Linda. A domestic pig will weigh about 220 pounds in six months while it takes wild boar two years to weigh up to 150 pounds. Wild boars usually aren't shipped to market until they are two. Wild boars could become more popular once farm- ers realize they are less labor intensive and have a low start up cost. It seems the meat is already on a high demand. "The restaurants in Toronto are asking for it but we can't supply them on a daily basis," said Linda. It takes a little longer to raise this pig which Hu- bert describes as "strange, unique and a little danger- ous," but the wait may well be worth it for not only the farmer but the consumer. Could cause damage TORONTO - The North Ameri- can Free Trade Agreement, reached last Wednesday, could cause eco- nomic damage to Ontario's agricul- tural industries, Agriculture and Food Minister Elmer Buchanan said. • "We want to ensure that the high Standards in our own food - producing sector are not comprised as a result of this continental trade deal," Buchanan.said. Buchanan stated that full consul- tation among the provinces, agri- culture and food industry and fed- eral government are necessary before the agreement is officially signed. Buchanan also stressed the im- portance of maintaining Ontario's high labour, environmental, health and safety standards. He also called on the federal government to com- mit to any adjuistmau assistance that might be required from an agreement. "While the federal negotiators maintained the GATT exemption for Canada's supply management sector and some sectors such as elected livestock products and grains and oilseeds may benefit from improved access to Mexico, many of us are concerned," said Buchanan. "Producers and proces- sors, especially of horticultural products, are worried about in- creased competition and the diver- sion of investment which could re- sult from the agreement". "Ongoing harassment activities by our American neighbours are also contrary to the spirit of shared trade benefits under the Canada - U.S. Free Trade agreement," he said, " and instils very little confi- dence within us that they will act in good faith." NOTICE Middlesex County Plowing Match Re -Scheduled for Mon. Sept. 7 at the farm of Frank Vanneste, 1 mile west of Clandeboye on Middlesex Road 24. 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