Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1994-03-30, Page 10Page 10 Times -Advocate, March 30, 1994 FARM ]IPI�ATF Food product promotion excellence rewarded in Western Ontario TORONTO - Six retailers from Western Ontario were presented with Foodland Ontario Retailer Awards by Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Rita Burak at the O'Keefe Centre in To- ronto. The territory winners in the chain and independent store categories are: A&P, 395 Wellington Road South, London; Seips valu-mart, 38 Thames Road East, Exeter; Zehrs, 211 Ontario Street. Stratford; Knechtel's Solway's, 370 William Street Wiarton; Zehrs, 603 Colborne Street, Brantford; L&M Food Mart, 753 Andrew Street West, Fergus. These awards recognize merchandising excellence in promoting Ontario -grown and produced food prod- ucts and continuous support for the Foodland Ontario program. They also aim at encouraging more retailers to participate in Foodland Ontario promotions. "1,500 stores provincewide participate in promoting Ontario -grown fruits and vegetables each year. The 26 award winners put in that extra effort to ensure that Ontario's produce is a customer's first choice," said Burak. Each year, one chain store and one independent store in each of 12 Ontario territories receive Food - land Ontario Retailer Awards. In addition, two pro- vincewide gold award winners are designated. Two silver and two bronze award winners are also chosen among the territorial winners. The gold awards were given to Loblaws Supercen- tre, Guelph Line, Burlington in the chain store cate- gory. Silver awards were presented to Zehrs, St. Clair Beach in the chain store category and Valencia Fresh Foods, Sheppard Avenue West, Downsview in the in- dependent store category. Loblaws, Eagleson Road, Kanata won the bronze award for in the chain store .category and Mr. Grocer, Underhill Drive, Don Mills won the bronze award in the independent store cate- gory. "This years winners showed a great deal of care and dedication for the promotional activities for On- tario food products," Burak said. Eight more runners-up in Western Ontario received awards of merit in recognition of good merchandising efforts: Staffen's, 588 Queen Street, St. Marys; Food - land, Main Street, Lambeth; Zehrs, Hwy. 8 Box 365, Goderich; Zejirs, 216 Goderich Street, Port Elgin; Smith's valu-mart, 155 Inkerman Street, Listowel; Sobeys Food Village, 222 Silvercreek Pkwy, Guelph; Selby's Foodland, 1200 Oriole Pkwy, Elmira; Knech- teI-Village Market, 21 King Street East, Burford. Territory award winners of the Foodland Ontario Retailer Award, independent store category, are pictured here with Ontario Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Rita Bu- rak. From left to right, the Deputy Minister; Cathy Seip, co-owner; Tom Seip, co-owner/ manager; and Dwayne LaPorte, produce manager, Seip's valu-mart, Exeter. Production advice Growing soybeans in rotation CLINTON - "A good crop rota- tion is the key to successful bean production." Sound familiar? This production advice is recommended for all crops, but is especially im- portant for bean crops, since they are, undoubtedly, the most respon- sive to crop rotation. Producers. for example, who have grown white beans after a forage crop, have had much success in this re- gard, says Brian Hall at the Minis- try of Agriculture in Clinton. During the past several years as acres of soybeans have expanded, there have been more cases of soy- beans following soybeans. Before considering growing "beans after beans", evaluate the risk of re- duced yields associated with it. A review of several field trials done in Ontario and in the U.S.A. reveal that a good rotation produced yields from 10 to 40 percent high- er than soybeans following soy- beans. One of the longest term studies, at Purdue University, Indiana showed that over an 18 year peri- od, soybeans following corn yield- ed 10 percent better than when the preceding crop was soybeans. This was true for both a no -till and con- ventional tillage system. In the same trial, corn yields were im- proved even more dramatically. Corn yields following soybeans were 8 percent higher than follow- ing corn under conventional tillage system and 21 percent higher un- der a no -till system. Some field experience by grow- ers in Ontario supports the yield benefit of soybeans in rotation. In Huron County a no -till farmer looked at the yield of corn and soybeans in a field under two dif- ferent rotations. The two rotations where a two year corn/soybean ro- tation, and three year corn/soybean/ wheat rotation. The comparison has been ongoing since the. mid - eighties. Corn yielded 20-30 per- cent higher, and soybeans 10 per- cent higher under the three year ro- tation. These were not a side by side comparison, but is a field com- parison of two different rotations over the long term. Part of the rea- son given for the lower yield of corn in the two year rotation, was attributed to increased stalk break- age and leaf diseases. Another interesting rotation com- parison was by a farmer in Lamb - ton county who practised no -till.. The Lambyn farmer summarized his soybean yields for 1993 across all his acres when soybeans fol- lowed corn or when they followed a previous soybean crop. Soybean yields varied between 36 and 42 bushels/acre when the previous crop was corn. When the previous crop was soybeans, the following crop of soybeans yielded from 19 to 41 bu/acre. In this comparison note the much wider range in yields when the previous crop was soybeans versus corn. This was partly due to the better soil struc- ture and lower incidence of root rot following corn. Soil structure and disease levels Soil structure has a tremendous influence on the performance of crops and especially bean crops be- cause of their poor, weak root sys- tem compared to other crops. Some crops such as alfalfa are much better at promoting good soil structure than other crops. A ranking of various crops in their ability to promote good soil struc- ture is as follows: forage grasses, forage legumes, winter wheat, spring cerals, corn, soybeans, white and coloured beans. Soybeans and other bean crops add only a small amount of residue to the soil relative to other crop- ping systems. In addition, since these corps cover the sol for a shorter portion of the year than most other crops, soil deterioration and soil erosion potential increase. Grown continuous, bean crops de- plete organic matter levels and re- sult in deterioration of soil struc- ture. This will show up in the field as increased crusting, soil compac- tion and uneven beans. The two most common diseases encouraged by short rotations or continuous beans are root rot and white mould. THE GREAT (JANADIA BEA The Staff of The Great Canadian Bean Company, Inc., wish to invite all current and prospective edible bean growers to our Grower information Day at the Ailsa Craig Community Centre on Tuesday, April 5th from 9:15 - 3:30. The full agenda of this meeting is dedicated to the sharing of knowledge for quality edible bean production and marketing. To help the catering staff plan for lunch please confirm your attendance by calling us at 519.232-4449. One Foot in the Furrow By Bob Trotter Animal rights groups had nothing to do with closing You have to question the eth- ics of some of these animal rights groups even if you are a vegetarian. Taking credit for "successes" with which they had no part to play makes you wonder. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column about the clos- ing of the Ontario Stockyards in Toronto. I reminisced a bit about the years when it was a great meeting place for farmers. I did not see a group of animal rights demonstrating the day of the auction but, apparently, they were there. They were also there December 31 to, as they said, "to celebrate an end to slaugh- ter" at the stockyards because it was being closed. Fewer animals will be killed, a spokesperson said. "1' ve protest- ed against the consumption of animals here before. This is a good sign; I feel we are win- ning." „ What an erroneous claim! An- imal rights groups had nothing to do with the closing of the stockyards. It was purely and simply an economic decision. The yards were losing money. In addition, the comments made by the animal rightists who demonstrated... illustrated how little they know about ani- mal agriculture and how quick they are to take credit for some- thing they had absolutely no part in, according to the Ontario Farm Animal Council. In its newsletter, OFAC correctly points out that animals were not "slaughtered" at the stockyards. They were bought and sold there. Even a quick and cursory look at the newsletter from OFAC re- yeals these people are not just '?animal fans; they are fanatic's. They take credit for the work of others. They appeal to emotions and not reasoning. They have been responsible for threats against buildings and institu- tions. They have threatened the lives of people. They have sent letter bombs. They have placed incendiary bombs. They have been responsible for the death of at (east one professor in the United States. One has to wonder where they are coming from. They should be more intellectually honest in their goals and their philosophy. They say they are concerned with animal welfare but they are, for the most part, animal rightists. They want every ani- mal of every kind to be treated the same as human beings. It seems to me that they could at least be honest in their claims. Another glaring example of their deviousness came about at the turn of the year when they claimed a victory against Air Canadian the serving of pate de foie gras. When the airline quit serving foie gras, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it was as a result of their letter -writing campaign. Not so, said airline officials. It was discontinued because sur- veys indicated people preferred caviar. It was a purely commer- cial decision and had nothing to do with animal rights. All this information is con- tained in the quart( rly newslet- ter published by th . Ontario Farm Animal Cout.cil. It is one of the most interesting and in- formative pieces of literature that comes into my mailbox and , as a farm writer of more than 25 years, 1 get lots and lots of mail. Leslie Ballentine is the execu- tive director of OFAC and edi- tor of the newsletter. The organ- ization is holding an annual meeting April 20 at the Guelph Holiday Inn. Registration fee is only $10. I hope I can get there. If you want to subscribe to the newsletter, Leslie will be happy to put you on her mailing list for $35 a year. The headquarters for OFAC are 7195 Millcreek Dr., Mississauga, Ont., L5N 4H1. They need plenty of support. Rightists groups just got a $1 - million bequest from the Doris Duke estate. Imagine! a tobacco heiress leaving money to PETA? �► The On4'Dr7Oi T/ie /Jlarkel That,. •Has The No -Till Toolbar Built Into The Main Frame, No Need For Expensive Add -On Coulter Caddies •Has Up To 750# Of Down Pressure Per Coulter •Has Hydraulically Adjusted Weight Transfer To The No -Till Coulters And Openers •Is Designed For Any Field Condition - No -Till, Min -Till, Or Conventional SPEED Y 5000 SER/ES Sales & Service Phone (519) 236-4934 Fax (519) 236-7330 22 Main Street, E., Zurich United Farm Too/s The Leader In Conservation Technology c A P T U R E THE F U N T 1 M E WITH INSTANT COLOUR COPIES Enlarge family or team photos to 8-1/2x11 or even 11x17 instantly with our outstanding results. Ideal for business presentation materials, even colour transparencies 424 Main St. Exeter 235-1331