HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-04-21, Page 9'Weeping an eye on a very close pig at the 'Slice of Huron' program on Wednesday were Santa
Luangkham, left; Brandi French, Michael Seip and Angela Cregan of Exeter Public School.
One Foot
in the Furrow, y ob Trotter
A full time farmer may soon be
an anachronism.
Recent statistics in our area indi-
cate that more than 50 percent of
farmers earn more than half of
.their income from off -farm sourc-
es. At the same time, there are
fewer farmers every year.
At one time, many years ago,
farmers made up almost half the
work force of this country but that
has dwindled until today, about
three percent of the work force are
farmers. That three percent feeds
this country and still produces a
surplus.
According to the Ontario Milk
Producer magazine, the number of
dairy farmers dwindled by 422 last
year. Less than 9,000 dairy farm-
ers are producing in Ontario.
The Ontario Pork Producers
Marketing Board reports that there
are now 31.5 percent fewer hog
producers in the province now
then in 1989. That is a huge drop.
Surprisingly, 26 percent of the hog
farmers left account for 80 percent
of the hogs that come.
About 7,845 hog farms are left
in the province and most of them
are in central southwestern Ontario
counties of Waterloo, Wellington,
Perth and Oxford.
Getting back to dairy farmers,
estimates there are scary. New
technology makes it possible for
.one person to handle 100 milking
cows so that the number of farms
could drop to around 3,000 in the
next 15 years.
I hate•the thought of it. These
trends mean .there will be fewer
and fewer farmers and the farms
that are left will get larger and
larger. The family faint could be-
come a thing of the past and this
brings up a big, big question: What
is going to happen to rural commu-
nities across Ontario?
Who cares, you say? Well, you
should care. We need the services
and amenities in these communi-
ties to keep agriculture viable and
competitive. I believe it is time for
all governments to take a long hard
look at what is going to happen and
be ready to meet the challenge of
maintaining a healthy rural econo-
my.
We need to develop and imple-
ment plans to .create employment.
Incentives should be offered to get
big businesses to come to rural
towns and villages. Goodness
knows, if this trend in farming con-
tinues, there will be . all kinds of
people looking for work.
This province will have to set
aside dollars to create rural viabili-
ty. The massive infrastructure of
roads and communication services
must be maintained and improved.
I can see the day when more and
more urbanites will want to move
to the country. Some will commute
but with the trend to home comput-
erization, fax machines and God
knows what else, many will work
out of their rural homes and go into
the city once or twice a month in-
stead of daily.
Many more will use their country
homes for weekend and summer
recreation. Which makes it even
more imperative that the rural com-
munities be kept thriving.
In spite of the fact that govern -
net policies and marketing boards
have been trying to keep the family
farm alive, the writing is on the
wall. Farmers will become fewer
and those that are left will become
bigger operators.
I'hate the thought of it but that is
the way it looks from the bxperi-
ence this old farm writer has gar-
nered during the last 30 years.
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