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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1978-08-10, Page 11• • 1 CLINTON NEWS -RECORD, TIAL tSPAY.;, Bean Board won't make advance sales of the '78 crop BY ALICE GIBB This year, the Ontario Bean Producers Marketing Board won't be selling any white beans until they have them in hand. Bob Allen, a Huron County director of the board, told members of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture at their monthly meeting in Crediton that the board won't be able to make any advance sales of the 1978 bean crop. In the past, the Ontario Bean Producers Marketing Board have made advance com- mitments to sup ly dealers with 25 per cen'tcu the year's expected harvest of No. 1 Ontario white beans. Last year, heavy rains in September created problems for growers trying to harvest their beans, and much of the crop was lost. When the poor weather wiped out much of Ontario's bean crop, the board was able to supply the dealers with only about one-quarter of the 800,000 bags of No. 1 white beans they had promised to deliver. The dealers in turn had to fill orders from European canning fac- tories with poorer quality beans, beans purchased from American growers or had to buy back the orders from factories with cash. The two largest dealers which the Ontario Bean Producers Marketing Board sell to, the Ontario Bean Growers Co- operative in London and W. G. Thompson's and Sons, blame the farmers for not meeting their commitments and sq they are holding back the final payment for the beans, Allen said. Since the dealer's haven't made the final payment to the Ontario Bean Producers Marketing Board, they can't make the payment to growers. The Board is now suing the dealers for the final $5 to $7 million news farm news Use feed supplements Dry hot weather has resulted in poor pastures in many parts of Ontario, and farmers are urged to use feed supplements to maintain animal health. Many types of feed supplements are available to improve the nutritional value of pasture, says Dennis KcKnight; lecturer at Kemptville College of Agricultural Technology., To be effective, the supplement should provide the nutrients - missing in the forage, and be convenient to feed. Locally produced hay, alfalfa pellets or cubes (with or without for- tification), protein blocks, liquid protein supplements, grain supplements or ' ° self- feeding salt -feed mix- tures can effectively supplement poor pastures. Hay is a good pasture supplement. Feeding 5 pounds of dry hay daily will help prevent pasture scours and bloat problems. However, when no grain sup- plement is fed, a 1:1 mixture of calcium phosphate and trace - mineralized salt should be offered free choice with the hay, since pastures are normally poor sources of phosphorus. Range cubes or pellets, with- or without a urea base, can also be used to supplement pasture. These cubes contain up to 32 percent crude protein and 65 to 70 percent total digestible nutrients (TDN). Supplements containing urea, par- ticularly those containing high levels, should not be fed on pasture without fairly high levels of grain. Another method of supplementation is to feed protein blocks, 30 to 50 pounds each, at a rate of one block per 15 animals in grazing areas. Feed consumption can be limited to about 2 pounds per animal per day, by choosing blocks with the desired hardness, salt and fat content. "Liquid protein sup- plements (LPS) in a lick tank can be offered free choice, providing the animals don't eat more than they need," says•Mr,. McKnight. Since molasses and urea are the major components, care must be taken to ensure that the animals are ac- customed to the sup- plement over a day or two. "High urea sup- plements may not be well utilized on pastures because they lack readily available energy," says Mr. McKnight. "Traditionally little LPS has been used to sup- plement dry grass." Using salt to limit grain consumption on pasture is an olds practice. .Salt content may vary from 5 to 40 percent, although30 to 33 percent is most common. Actual intake of feed supplement may be altered from one pound, to liberal feeding, by decreasing the salt from 40 to 5 percent. Mr. McKnight says that, in general, the lower the percentage of legumes in the pasture, and the later the stage of maturity, the more protein required in the grain mixture. Use pasture rotation, fertilization, and stubble fields, and avoid early grazing to delay the need for pasture sup- plementation. • MORE NEWS MORE FEATURES Keep informed with the News -Record dollar payment and the two dealers ' are coun- tersuing the board for a payment for the beans they had promised, but weren't able to deliver. Allen told federation members he expects the litigation will be tied up in court for some time, which means it will likely be at least another year before growers receive their final payment for the 1977 crop. Allen, a commercial bean seed grower from Brucefield, said he would try and explain "why the bean board is in the mess it is." In tracing the background of the agency, Mr. Allen said when his father started growing beans, in the early 1900's, the barter system was the rule of thumb. If his father wanted a bag of sugar, he took a bag of beans into town, and made a trade. ONLY A YEAR Gradually marketing boards sprang up to handle beans for growers, including a 1935 board which was em- powered to buy and sell all the beans for • the growers. This board lasted only the year. Mr. Allen said the boards for the next 20 year period were "negotiating boards." For every bag of beans growers delivered to the mill, the board would take 77 cents of the purchase, price. Then, every few years when there was a five to 10 per cent surplus of white beans, the board would buy this up and dispose of it, so the surplus didn't bring down prices. But, improved insect sprays and the. use of combines. allowed bean growers- to double their. acreage and the board soon faced annual sur- pluses. In the late 1960s, the board decided to build a mill in Exeter, and suggested taking 10 cents from every bag of beans brought in by growers. The growers voted down the suggestion, and the government took this as a vote of noconfidence in the board. Mr. Allen said some dealers wanted to be rid of the board anyway, so "trumped up false charges" against the Wheat, oats, barley orquackgrass. Whatareyou harvesting next year? ROUNDUP® WILL CONTROL QUACKGRASS THIS FALL, FOR A CLEAN START COME SPRING. Next spring, nothing will be more important than getting in and planting as early as possible. Un- fortunately,doesn't that down t leave much time for dealing with quackgrass. Unless you apply Roundup® herbicide by Monsanto this fall after harvest. Simply allow P Y the :: quackgrass to re- grow undisturbed in the crop stubble until 1 the majority of plants ,;; are actively growing and at least 8 inches �`►; high (3-4 leaf stage). • But treat before the first killing frost Prop erly applied, Roundup will " be absorbed and "translocated" down into the network of rhizomes — de- stroyingthe _entire plant, above and below ground. Five days after treatment, you can resume fall tillage operations. Since Roundup has no re- sidual soil activity, you can plant wheat, oats or barley next spring — without risk of crop in- jury. What's more, many farmers using Roundup as the key element -in a quackgrass con- trol program, have been able to ;:`achieve managc- able quackgrass control for as long as three years. Don't think of tre'ating quack - grass as one more chore in the fall. Think of it as one less chore in the spring. See your dealer about Roundup. The herbicide that gets to the root of the problem. There's never been a herbicide like this before. ALWAYS READ ANC) CAREFULLY FOLLOW THE LABEL DIRECTIONS POR ROUNDUP HERBICIDE. Roundup* is a registered trad'errrarlt of Mc irsanto Company. 'Monsanto Company,1978. RC78.1y8 Monsanto MONSANTO �AETORONTOO" LANC LTD. WINNIpgc agency which was put out of office by the govern- ment. The board mem: said the only other marketing board which supported the Bean Producers was the hog producers agency. In 1969, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture sent do��w,,,,yl a troubles'hotiter fro Toronto to investigate the situation and he decided the charges were false and alerted farmers. The directors were re-elected and the Ontario Bean Producers Board was back in business. Allen said the board still faced the same old problem -"what to do with the surplus beans." WORLD PRICE He said the board has to sell beans when the market wants to buy them. Since 80 per cent of the Ontario white bean crop is exported, the agency has to accept the world price that's being offered. Allen said for the three years before the agency marketed beans, the growers were averaging $1 per bag less than Michigan growers and that they averaged $1 per bag more since the beans were handled by the board. The Ontario Bean Producers Board markets all the beans of Ontario growers, although growers can hold their beans back after harvest. BUY ELSEWHERE Allen said the European buyers can beans every day of the year, and "if you hold your beans back, they'll buy somewhere else." He said the problem occurs when everyone tries to sell the crop at once, and the price of beans goes down. Although dealers sell the majority of Ontario leans to Britain, Mr. Allen said last year's crop was sold in 51 other countries as well. He said three European buyers were touring Ontario this week, and that "they've got to have our beans and we (growers and board) have to have them." He said the buyers in Britain 'lave assured the board that they would never buy their beans all from one country. One grower in the audience expressed concern that buyers might purchase all their beans from the United States. American growers are expecting a very good crop this year. In response to questions from other bean growers in the audience, Allen said as far as the board knows, the dealers cannot put a lien on future bean crops. He said dealers can't take the debt from one pool and carry it to the next. Allen also told the growers that under the 'federal government stabilization program for the 1977 white bean crop, pedigreed seed growers do not qualify for assistance. PAYMENTS The government stabilization payments are expected to be made to bean growers by the end of~this month. In response to another question about Ethiopia's entry into the world bean market, Allen said although the country was the third largest exporter of beans for one year, this was because the government encouraged farmers to go into beans to get money to buy arms. Allen said the Ethiopian beans were sold largely to German canning factories since the Germans can their beans in salt brine, and sell them in glass jars, rather than canning them in tomato sauce. The board member said the German fac- tories preferred the appearance of the Ethiopian beans. In response to another question; Mr. Allen said growers would have taken more of the 1977 crop off the land if there hadn't been crop in- surance. He said if this had happened,' there would have been more poorer quality beans to be sold to the Japanese market or to be made into dog food. BEAN JAM The Japanese buyers use the beans to make bean jam, so don't require the highest grade of bean. Mr. Allen asked bean growers who had any questions about the board to call him or the other three Huron County directors. He said the diarectors rarely receive calls, despite the many rumours about the board. In other business, members were asked to contact their local papers to ask why they weren't publishing the monthly Farmers' Price Index prepared by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Peter Hannam, federation president, said in a letter to members, that while the Toronto dailies and other large national dailies were publishing the index, the small town papers didn't seem to use it. The executive com- mittee off' : the " 1 County Federation) Agriculture is 8t�io'` to draft a letter to the loci media about carrying the index each month. 50 NEW MEMBERS Bill Crawford, field - man ' for the Huron County federation, told members a very suc- cessful canvass for new members was completed in the north of the county, with 50 new memberships purchased. He said since the federation couldn't get someone to donate a building for use at International Plowing Match, the federation booth will be in a tent this year. Adrian Vos reported that there are rumours Canada Packers and its union are talking about a strike settlement. He said the only problem the Canada Packers and Swift strike is creating is that many hog producers are taking their light hogs to market early in the week. He said producers are lining up to ship their hogs early in the week, and the hogs are losing weight in the barns while waiting to be slaughtered. 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