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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1983-08-17, Page 17v,. _dm," —.rot JUNIOR FARMERS GOLF The South Huron Junior Farms enjoyed a game of golf of the Exeter Golf and Country Club Saturday night. Shown checking score sheets are Gerald Johns, Lee Hodgert and Scott Hodgert. T -A photo. The trend is obvious., It is there for .the whole nation to see: Farmers are not reaping any benefits from the slight improvement in the economy. Benefits, in fact, have decreased. It is necessary to cite a few statistics for proof. The federation of agriculture and the cat- tlemen's association have been keeping track of the trends among the five major supermarket chains com- peting in the province. The figures prove that farmers reap less and less of every food dollar spent in the supermarkets. For instance, beef prices to farmers went down a cent a pound to farmers in July. In the supermarkets, the average increase was 21 cents a pound. Buyers paid less for FARMERS Book Now To have your seed wheat custom.. cleaned on your farm. We clean, treat, bag or bulk and we offer- ger-` mination tests. Call: Canadian Mobile Seed Cleaning Ltd. (agent) 519-289-5602 one foot in the rrow' a•um u• 1pp.•••.ae bp bob r,o„•, EM•N ae bm.• On, 1138 1c 1 the beef but got more for it from the consumer. Who took the loss? The beef farmers. The same thing is true for hogs. Farmers got two cents a pound less in July. Con- sumers paid an average of seven cents a pound more for pork. The buyers paid less and sold for more. Yes, yes I know. That is the way profits are made in this country: Buy for less and sell for more. But the primary producer, in this case, is the backbone of the industry and he gets it in the ear. How many of the super- market chains went bankrupt this year compared to the number of farmers who were forced into it? Just check the top 20 businesses in Canada as listed in Canadian Business magazine. Three of the five major supermarket chains were considered the best in- vestment in the country. Loblaws had a 14.2 percent return on equity. Provigo had a whopping 15.8 percent return. Steinberg -- Miracle Mart -- had a 10.5 percent return. Oshawa Group which controls Towers and the Dutch boy -Dutch Girl outlets had a return on equity of 13.2 percent. But listen to these people when they are appearing before Royal commissions, They cry the blues and sing songs of woe..They constant- ly preach they are getting a net profit of less than six pc: - cent while all the time gaining a bigger percentage of the food market dollars. Only five major food buying groups exist in Canada and the clout those groups have in the food chain is awe- inspiring. No evidence exists to prove that this clout is being used to manipulate prices to the ex- clusive benefit of a few. But that power is there. If there is competition, it is very narrow indeed. The aim of big business is to make a profit and use that profit to grow bigger while satisfying shareholders. With bigness comes power and power begets power. And so the farmer's share of every food dollar spent.con- tinues to get smaller. Four years ago, farmers got 60 cents of every dollar spent for food. Three years ago,farmers got 54 cents of every dollar. V.Eat was it this July? Why, it had dwindled to 49 cents. The rest of the dollar went to the middlemen and the retailers and the truckers and the packagers and the pro- cessors: It was spread around to many people but when you go through the list of com- panies owned by the giants in the food chain, you will find that most of those chains, through other corporate in- terests, . got a chunk all the way along the line. And who was left sweating in the back 40? You win the fur -lined bed- pan: the farmer. , Huron Farm and Home News Times -Advocate, August 17, 1983 Pegs 15 New Zealand man to speak on pasture management Pasture management We would like to invite you to attend an evening pasture management discussion on Wednesday, August 24, at the O.M.A.F. office, Clinton, 8:00 p.m., featuring Vaughan Jones from New Zealand. In recent years controlled rotational• grazing, or short duration grazing, as practic- ed in New Zealand, Rhodesia and many other foreign coun- tries has received tremen- dous attention in the United States and Canada. The system's ability to double and even triple production, cut management costs and im- prove grazing land is welcome news to North America's troubled livestock producers. The following in- formation is a summary of the topics.to be covered and some history on Mr. Jones. Topics to be covered during this discussion are: 1. Exten- ding grazing period. 2. Managing pastures for per- manence. 3. Strip grazing pastures and crop. 4. Perma- nent Power Fencing for Pasture Control. 5. Livestock management around the world.. - Dennis Martin Farm Management Specialist. Beef .meeting Dennis Timbrell, Ontario's Minister of Agriculture and Food, announced in June that there will be an expression of opinion poll held • in September. There is current- ly a check -off of 1/5th of 1 per- cent of the sale value of beef and dairy. animals. This deduction helps finance the Ontario Cattlemen's Associa- tion, the operations of the Beef Information Centre and' beef advertising. Producers have been able to claim the check -off back. The poll to be htld September 14, 1.5 and 16 at the O.M.A.F. office will give producer's an opportunity to decide whether the ..neck -off be made man- datory or not. A meeting to discuss this issue will be held at the Central Iluron Secon- dary School, Clinton. August 25 at 8:00 p.m. Graeme Iledley of O.C.A. will speak on the check -off issue. Mary Eadie of the B.I.C. will update us on B.I.C.'s activities. Current grade standards and propos- ed changes in grading will be covered -by Ross Procter of Bodmin Limited. Brussels and Steve Jones of the Meat Science Laboratory at the University of Guelph. An outlook on the state of i Mr. Farmer: We are ready to receive your 1983 BARL E Y crop We have 3 combines at special rates field ready Free Trucking is also available Call early for arrangements We will pay '7.50 a tonne for wheat stored in your own bins at home Goderich I L Bayfield For more information contact auuI uaysoo 1 mile off High–, y --r • Elevator 1 Varner ARMSTRONG FARMS & ELEVATION Bus. 565-5032 RR 1 Varna, Ont. Res. 262-5393 or 262-5996 the industry by Canadian Cat- tlemen's Association's Charlie Gracey will close out the program. Producers are encouraged to attend this in- formative meeting. The check -off issue is very impor- tant and should be well discussed prior to the opinion. poll in September. - Stan Paquette, Farm Management Specialist Local girl will compete iit ('.N.E. On Friday, August 26. Huron County's Dairy Princess, Marion Taylor. from Belgrave will compete at • the C.N.E. in the Preliminary competition for untario Dairy Princess. Marion who has had a very active year as Huron County Princess. is presently prepar- ing for the provincial com- petition where she will be in- terviewed by three judges and required to make a public address at the C.N.E. col- iseum starting at 6:00 p.m. sharp, Friday, August 26. We are planning to take a bus so anyone wishing to en- joy a day al the C.N.E., along with supporting Marion dur- ing the dairy princess com- petition on August 26, is en- couraged to contact our local agricultural office for reser- vations no later than Monday. August 22. Anyone who would like to travel on the bus must contact our Agricultural Office - 482-3428 or for long distance Zenith 7-3040 - no later than Monday, August 22 and in- dicate where you would like to be picked up. Dennis Marlin Farm Management Specialist Terrace Demonstration Project A :^rracing project will be under construction starting August 22 on the farm of John FARM SAff PAYS FFED and Hugo Maaskant. The farm is located in Colborne Township of Huron County. approximately four miles north of Holmesville, between Clinton and Goderich. This project is being done with the assistance of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food Farm Productivity In- centive Program grant. Terracing, a method of soil conservation, is widely used in the Midwestern U.S. states and is just being tried in On- tario. Coming from Iowa to lend their expertise will be: Stan Simmons, a Soil Conser- vation Services Engineer and District Supervisor; Oren Champ, a retired Soil Conser- vation Services technician; and John and Mark. Hicken- bottom, terrace construction specialists. Equipment used in construction will be partial- ly donated by South West Tractor Ltd., a John Deere dealer from London. An engineer's workshop Perth county match August 26, 27 The 1983 Perth County Plowing Match set for August 26 and 27 will demonstrate every. type of plowing mechanism from horse- drawn plows and antique tractors to the large tractors of today. The match will take place on the farm of Warden John Lindner in North Easthope Township on Lot 16, Conces- sion 9. To get to the farm, take Concession 9 from Gadshill, off of Highway 19 and travel past three sideroads. From Shakespeare, take Highway 7 and 8, up the county road to Concession 9 and turn right. The Lindner farm is on the left side down the road a mile and a quarter. About 1,000 to$1,500 in prize money will be divided among the many classes. The match starts at 10 a.m. on Friday with coaching available for all classes. In the afternoon, Perth County 4-H members or Junior Farmers can compete in the junior match. The regular classes start at 9 a.m. on Saturday with the speciality classes taking over at 1 p.m. The Queen of the Furrow competition will highlight the Saturday afternoon competition. Queen . competition organizer Rae Bender of RR 1 Gowanstown said coaching and plows will be available for any young women bet- ween the ages of 16 and 25 who wish to enter the competition. The winner will compete in the 1984 International Plow- ing Match to be held in Well- ington County. Mr. Bender suggested per- son's wishing to enter the Queen of the Furrow competi- tion should contact any of the Perth Plowmen's Association directors. A conservation display. along with a Farm Safety Association booth will be on the site of the match. For the hungrier ones, the Perth County Junior Farmers will be manning a concession booth. HILLY BILLY ACTION -- The Lucan Junior Farmers were in Sunday's Lucon Fair parade with a hillbilly type entry. will be held at the same loca- tion by Jim Arnold of the On- tario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, for laying out and designing of terrace systems. Any interested people are invited to come and see the project and discuss it with the experts on August 25th An) contractors are en- couraged to come out any time and if possible get in- volved in the project. The terracing is expected to be completed by September 2. For more information call John Maaskant at ( 5191 524-9081. Hugo Maaskant at (5191 524-6828, or the Clinton OMAF office at ( 519) 482-3428. Crops Update set at Centralia Crop research provides On- tario farmers with important new information to make crop production more efficient and profitable. To get the latest in- formation on crops grown in this area you should attend Crops Update at Centralia College of Agricultural Technology on Wednesday, August 24. The day will 'feature con- tinuous plot tours starting at 9:30 in the morning. Researchers a:,d extension specialists from Centralia College, the University of Guelph, Agriculture Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food will present research summaries on a wide range of -topics. These will include weed con- trol in corn and beans, peren- nial weed control, intensive management of cereals; crop rotations and crop residue management, canola, and new field bean production techniques. The noon hour program will feature market outlook com- ments for white beans, soy- beans, and corn. An equip- ment display will also be featured, with several manufacturers and dealers showing the latest in field and harvesting equipment. Lunch may be purchased on the grounds. 1