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Home My WebLink AboutTimes Advocate, 1994-11-23, Page 144 Page 14 Times -Advocate, November 23, 1994 One Foot in the Furrow By Bob Trotter Women still fighting for equality The fight for equality must seem unending for women. At a gathering a few weeks ago, a very articu- late young woman said she had been refused crop insurance on some land she was renting although her husband had had no trouble getting insurance for his land. "There was just a whole lot of rules and regula- tions that seemed to work against a woman get- ting crop insurance at that time," she said. "It was my rental agreement. I was going to do the plow- ing and seeding although I was using the home farm equipment. I guess I could have got the insu- rance eventually but, by the time all the red tape was satisfied, the crop was almost off." This struggle for equality has been especially difficult in agriculture. "As a 50-50 partner, I have to sign my name for all major purchases. But these same businesses in- vite only my husband to meetings and on bus trips," said a Middlesex milk producer. The same thing happened last spring to another woman in our area when an implement company held an open house. "I had to sign to buy that big greenmonster in the driving shed but only my husband was invited to the open house," she said. "Next time we buy a tractor, it will be with another dealer, that is, if other dealers are still around." (She was referring to the fact that farm machin- ery manufacturers get scarcer every year). This matter of getting invitations may seem pi- cayune but it is the little things that build into big things. If the discrimination is so blatantly evident in such small things, you can bet your bippy it is there in many big things. Yet, women today are more at home in a tractor cab than a kitchen cabinet. They are doing the "husbandry" in the livestock bartis and they are running the kitchen computers as efficiently as they run the kitchen compacter. My statistics are probably a few years old but the last time I looked, 2,700 farms in Ontario were operated solely by women. No men around at all. Just as important are the wonderful women who stand side by side with their men. Across Canada, nine out of 10 two -operator farms are managed by one man and one woman. Computers, new machinery, automation have taken much of the drudgery and muscle -work out of agriculture making it easier for women to do everything on a farm and more women are be- coming self-sufficient on the farm. Isn't it too bad that these hidebound, red - necked, old-fashioned dealerships and some gov- ernment agencies cannot bring themselves to rec- ognize that equality is a fact of life on the farm to- day? I have been close to the farm scene for 50 years and I remember going to a local hog marketing board meeting about 35 years ago, away back when the board was in its infancy. A young couple came to that meeting together and she was the only woman present. During the course of dis- cussions, he arose once or twice to make a point. He was not an articulate man. When the discussion became a little heated, his wife strode to the microphone and made a short, decisive, deliberate and well -thought statement which brought the meandering discussion to a logical conclusion. She sat down, a little red-faced but after a sec- ond or two of a pause, the entire room broke into applause. She had terminated a heated, lengthy discussion with logic and common sense. I think you'll find that the members of the Onta- rio Farm Women's Network and Women for the Support of Agriculture are all cut from the same cloth as my friend from so many years ago. Decline of pesticide use TORONTO - A survy conducted by the Ontario Ministry of Agri- culture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) shows agricultural use of pesticides continues to de- cline, down 13.3 percent from 1988 and down 28.3 percent from 1983. OMAFRA Minister Elmer Bu- chanan says the ministry has now achieved half its pesticide reduc- tion target set for the year 2002. "In our Food Systems 2002 pro- ject, begun in 1987, die ministry set out to work with farmers as well as farm and environmental groups to cut pesticide use in half by the year 2002," Buchanan said. The latest study was conducted by the ministry in 1993. Jeff Wil- son, Clair of AGCare (Agricultural Groups Concerned About Resourc- es and the Environment), repre- sents Ontario's 45,000 growers of field and horticultural crops on ag- ricultural pesticide use and other related environmental issues. "We welcome this confirmation of reduced agricultural pesticide use, which represents a significant step toward achieving a 50 percent reduction under Food Systems 2002," Wilson said. When OMAFRA launched the Food Systems 2002 program, pes- ticide use reduction targets were set as part of a comprehensive re- view of farming practices. To meet its objective, the Ontario govern- ment introduced mandatory grow- er pesticide certification courses in 1991, and subsequently helped growers develop voluntary envi- ronmental farm plans. The farm plans, supported by the three ma- jor farm organizations in Ontario, are drawn up by farmers to assess their own level of environmental awareness and chart a course of improvements over the years. "The 13.3 percent decline in pes, ticide use over five years show : that -'Ontario farliterarP irr ship with • government, farm and ehvironmental organizations, have revised crop and land management practices to limit pesticide use to only those amounts that are neces- sary" said Buchanan. OMAFRA also conducted inte- grated pest management programs, which use natural predators to con- trol insect pests, and research pro- grams to make better use of pesti- cides. The surveys have been carried out since 1973, when the ministry pledged to the Internation- al Joint Commission on the Great Lakes that it would survey pesti- cide use every five.years. The next survey will be carried out in 1998. Join us Mon. Nov. 28 and Tues. Nov. 29 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. FOR AN IN-STORE POWER TOOL DEMONSTRATION & DISPLAY BY 4DELTA reat = avings On Power Tools for Your Christmas List Monday Friday Si ;) 1!t 5.10 1) u Hensall Co -Op 262-3002, 1-800-265-5190 Saturday 8a,m.-3p.m. Lorne Hepworth to speak at Soil and Crop meeting VARNA - The Huron Soil & Crop Improvement Association is inviting all producers to their annu- al meeting and banquet on Thurs- day, December 8 at the Stanley Township Community Centre, Var- na. Tickets are available through soil an crop directors or the 0.M.A.F.R.A. office in Clinton. Alan McCallum, Soil & Crop Advisor, O.M.A.F.R.A. will present highlights from soil and crop on-farm trials and results from the Ontario Cereal Performance Trials. Producers wilt also receive a copy of the Huron and. Perth corn and soybean variety trials. This year's guest speaker will be Lorne Hepworth, president, Cana- dian Agra Corporation. George Thompson, program representative for the Environmental Farm Plan, will provide an update and answer producer questions. Canadian agri- food exports in 1994: so far so good OTTAWA - Agri -food exports for the first eight months of 1994 are $9.6 billion, up 13.6 percent from the same time last year. If this growth continues for the remainder of the year, a 13.6 percent gain over last year's $13.3 billion in ex- ports would result in exports of $15.1 billion in 1994. Will the growth hold for the last four months of 1994? The strength in the recovery of bulk grain ex- ports, the canola seed expansion, and continued success in the U.S. market would suggest this is possi- ble. On the decline side, live bovine exports to the U.S. for the first third of 1994 were down 25 percent from last year, but now in the first 2/3 of 1994 are only down 11 percent from last year. Every province, and Atlantic Canada as a region, is currently ex- periencing double-digit growth m agri-food exports (Quebec is the exception due to decreased tobacco and cigarette exports). Got a news tip? 235-1331 NEW GE\ESIS TRACTOR COTTA DRIVE IT! You gotta get behind the wheel of a new Ford 70 Series GENESISrm tractor. It'll change your entire perspective of tractors and technology. • You gotta "hear" the new cab • You gotta feel the powerful new 7.5 -liter engines • You gotta U-turn at the tightest headlands • You gotta powershift through all 16 forward and 9 reverse speeds • You gotta glide the control console into a position that's comfortable for you You get the idea. GENESIS tratiOrs. Four new tractors in the 145- to 210 -hp class that you gotta drive to believe. Stop in today tor a demonstration. Gotta drive it. ft 39%s ■ FINANCING FOR 3 YEARS Available 'till November 30, 1994. LOGAN FORD Tractor Sales Ltd. 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