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Zurich Citizens News, 1980-11-27, Page 13i Huron farm and home news Discussion on corn borer Ieav- u t es es ions Corn borer not a problem in 1990 At least this was the consensus of the people attending a recent corn borer seminar at Centralia College of Agricultural Technology. The meeting was composed of resear- chers, industry people and Extension people. How bad was the borer in 1900? From what we can gather, there were no more adults around than normal. The canners at Exeter monitor corn borer adults. Their results show that in the Exeter area they had an average number. In the Stratford area, there was below average number. At both places, the numbers A representative from were substantially less than Chimagro - which is the in 1978 and 1976. company with the main corn While the adult number borer insecticides - sum- was small, there may have med it up. "We don't have a been more egg laying than corn borer problem, we've normal. The female adult got a stalk rot problem". will vary her egg laying They indicated that from capacity in relation to what they saw, they wouldn't available moisture. If there be actively promoting corn is lots of water available for borer control for 1981. her to drink during the egg However, they would laying period, she lays more probably be doing some eggs. This. year there was preliminary .trials to look at lots of moisture available the economics of control. . during egg laying time. Why did some fields 25th. This year it was closer appear worse than others to the 25th. The eggs from I certainly don't have all these moths would be hat - the explanations, but we ched later than normal. At have parts of the answers. this time, probably the For instance, young corn. dimboa level in the corn was plants produce a chemical low enough to give poor called dimboa. This natural control. chemical kills small borers then they start to feed. When the corn plant is small, this . What abour next year? chemical is in concentrated Research from the U.S. quantities in the plant. The suggests large numbers will older the plant gets, the overwinter. However there more diluted this chemical is nothing you can do. Tillage is, thus earlier planted corn and crop rotation have no is less tolerant to borers. effect. Research done • by Also, we are not sure if all Terry Daynard in the 70's at hybrids produce this the University of Guelph is chemical. I can't get a direct enlightening. answer fromthe corn Grain corn fields he companies. checked had 70 to 85 percent Another part of the story is of the plants with corn borer that the borer moths were present. One field that was in later laying eggs/this year a zero tillage program with than normal. They reach the corn the previous year had 85 peak numbers in Perth and percent of the plants with Huron between July 10th and corn borer. At the same Canfarm okay says Hannam "Canfarm is in the final stages of a marketing plan that would have carried it through to its goal of finan- cial independence in the very near future. These ef- forts have been dealt a severe blow by a recent deci- sion of the Minister of Agriculture, the Honourable Eugene Whelan, not to ex- tend further finances to Can - farm to allow it to reach this goal. " This statement comes from Canfarm President, Peter ---Hannam. "Prospects have never looked better for Canfarm," he said. "More than 300 =ac- counting firms and bookkeepers have joined our agency program and they are counting on moving a large number of their farmer clients onto the Can - farm Service in 1981. There are strong indications that our operation in Quebec could be expanded by the ad- dition of several thousand farmers as clients through the U.P.A. We are negotiating international licensing arrangements for use of Canfarm programs in other countries." During the last year and a half of this co-operative's two year operation of Can - farm. directors and manage- ment have regularly pointed out to the Minister that the original estimate of the capital requirement would not be- enough to carry it through to self sufficiency. Tough times Continued from front page shown an increasing interest in the Canada Manpower training programs which , assist the unemployed in picking up a trade. Trades which are popular among area residents and which offer good job prospects are as a machinist, welder, carpenter or electrician. Gillespie said he couldn't see an increase in the ' number employed until the spring. To enjoy life: breathe through your nose and keep your mouth shut. People..who wonder where the younger generation is going should consider where it came from. What this country needs is a good five cent nickel. In October of this year, a meeting was held with Mr. Whelan to determine the financial support. available in 1981. His reaction was that he would only consider further assistance to Can - farm if the shareholders and provincial governments came forward with a share of the money. Shareholders saw this as a change of attitude. Their commitment when .the program was taken over from the government was to provide support in the marketing area with govern- ment providing financing based on need and progress. On November 13, Mr. Whelan notified' Canfarm that his government would not extend further support and that this co-operative should take immediate steps to either sell the operation or find another source of finances. The deadline given for this final step was December 31, 1980. However, the present restrictions placed on the co- operative by governments would make It very difficult or even impossible to negotiate a sale. The Board of Directors of Canfarm have expressed their determination that this farm service will carry on. This reaction by the federal government is a stunning blow to their plans. "But we will do everything we can to assure Canadian farmers that they will have a con- tinuing Canfarm service," said Hannam. "This. modern technological advance in farm management and record keeping is essential if Canadian farms are going to compete on the world market. All other developed countries are heavily sub- sidizing these services to make them available to their farmers. We cannot afford to let our farmers drop behind." "We were also disap- pointed that the govern- ment, by taking this attitude is breaking the commitment it made to farmers," Han- nam noted. "When Canfarm Co-op took over the program in April of 1979 the govern- ment agreed to provide a grant of 1.2 million dollars per year for the first three years of operation. In fact, the last installment of this grant is now earmarked for closing the operation down. They had also agreed to provide funds for research and development. After a year of negotiating, the only progress made has been a small amount for market research for a computerized national herd health records program, but these funds are now being held back because we do not have adequate financing. Then there is the data bank which the government asked us to maintain for their use. They have hardly ever used it during the last two years." Closing the Canfarm operation could cost the government about $6 million through their loan guarantee of $4 million and windup costs for releasing staff, and contracts for building space and cotnputers and for com- pleting the 1980 year's statements for the present 5,000 farmer clients. This step by the government would. remove any chance of recovering that 4 million dollars. Canfarm is a com- puterized farm record keep- ing the financial planning service with offices across the country. It was es- timated that additional funds of 2 million dollars would have been needed to carry this co-operative through to self sufficiency under existing agreements with government. Even under these cir- cumstances, several hun- dred thousand dollars of this money had been identified as being . available from shareholders if the govern- ment would extend its sup- port. . Canfarm was formerly operated as a jointly financ- ed program under the federal provincial governments and univer- sities. The'cost to the federal government alone at that time was over $6 million per year. In light of this decision, Canfarm is now developing a proposal to devote the funds the government has set aside for close down to es- tablishing an independent and completely self- sufficient operation. This plan will be presented to Mr. Whelan in the next few weeks. Centralia offers one -day Busy farmers can keep abreast of the latest developments without committing more than a day at a time through the Cen- tralia College of Agricultural Technology short course program. It offers free courses from January until late March on subjects ranging from livestock management to fitrmstead planning. Courses run from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. and are open to all. "The short course program, set up in 1968, gives college and agricultural extension staff a chance to pass the latest information to farmers," says Don Cameron, the program's co-ordinator. "The slate of courses is modified annually in response to new interests and needs of the farm community." The 14 courses include livestock sessions and general interest courses about farm income tax, estate planning and farm- stead planning. A herbicide update will be offered over two days. courses . Five subjects are new this year. A Farm Alcohol Production course, January 19, examines the economics and design of production systems. Farmers can learn more about weather forecasting at the Under- standing the Weather course, February 3. Changes in the marketplace promp- ted the introduction of a course about Leasing Arrangements, February 5. Another new course, How to Run a Meeting, is designed to help members of all types of organizations. The popularity of sheep production prompted in- troduction of Sheep Flock Management, scheduled February 3 at Woodstock and March 7 at Centralia. All courses are held at the college, but some repeat sessions are scheduled at neighboring communities. Pre -registration is not required. For more in- formation about courses and dates contact Mr. Cameron, Centralia College of Agricultural Technology, Huron Park, Ontario NOM 1Y0. time, another field that was in sod in the previous year, had 80 percent of the stalks with corn borer. It was about one-fifth of a mile from this field to the nearest corn field. Researchers from Agriculture Canada tell us that it is quite common to find 80 percent of the corn plants with borer every year. Furthermore, one corn borer per plant will not reduce yield. Also we have no idea when the main moth flights will be next year. So far I have been talking only about the one generation brood of corn borer. South of 401,there is a 2nd generation brood of corn borer. To my knowledge, Perth and Huron counties only have the one generation brood. Some of the in- formation you read from other areas may be con- cerning the two generation brood. Pat Lynch, Soil & Crop Specialist. November 27, Pia. 13 Pre -Christmas BAZAAR Dec 4, 5, 6th Each Day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Gifts for Everyone • LAO OR V4C4 CRAFTS Of All Kinds See Our Display COME brouse around .. . 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