HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1987-03-18, Page 18Donald McKenzie, formerly a farmer in Ashfield Township and living in Goderich, has
took advantage of two farm tours, one to Russia in 1986 and another to Brazil in 1985. (Alan
Rivett photo)
Goderich man tours Russia
By Alan Rivett
Many farmers are taking advantage of
the various farm tours offered by coun-
tries around the world to see just how
agricultural practices are carried out in
these countries. ' .
On such farmer who took advantage of
the farm tours to foreign nations was
Donald ' McKenzie, a former Ashfield
Township farmers now residing in
Goderich. In the last tWo years, he has
toured farms in both the.Soviet Union and
Brazil and has garnered some perceptions
of the way these countries farm.
For 21 days in October and November of
last year, Mr. McKenzie embarked on a
farm tour to Russia with five other Cana-
dians. The'tour began -in Moscow with two
tour guides who doubled as interpreters
and continued to the Ukranian.city of Kiev
and on down to the Black Sea coastal cities
of Odessa, Sochi and Tbilisi. Because of
the small numbers on the farm tour, Mr.
.McKenzie. said the actual tours of farms
was cut short, but were still given tours of
the two major types of farming operations
in the Soviet Union - the Collective Farms.
and the State Farms.
The difference between the two farms is
that on the Collective Farms, 60 per cent of
all the crops grown go directly to the
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government. On the State Farms, it's
much the same principle.. only the farmers
have a chance to sell what they produce.
The group were told that the State Farms
produce much more produce under the
arrle growing conditions as '-they take _
some pride in being able to sell some of the .
produce," says Mr. McKenzie.
As for what crops grown in the country,.
Mr. McKenzie said they "just grow
everything" from the cereal and corn
crops to many acres of apple orchards,and
tea crops. One of the claims that the Soviet
.guides made to the group was the farms
were dble to grow- two cobs of coin lot
every stock. When the group asked to see a
corn crop, the guides responded that the
corn: -crops had already been .harvested. .
Overall, the- average corn yield on a Soviet
farm was three tonnes per acre.
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One of the operations the .Soviets.were- •
most proud of, says Mr. McKenzie. was
their apple orchards and cold storage
facilties which the small Canadian group
also had the opportunity to tour: As a kind
gesture, the guides gave out huge shopping
Wigs full of the crisp apples. '
()ne particular area of Soviet agriculture
that -Mr. McKenzie described as poo -r was -
- .their livestock operations w-hieh were in-
ferior to the operations in Canada. During
his stay in the Soviet Union' he viewed a
large,.state-run=pig farm.
'We took a,look at a pig set-up there and.
they were just the roughest looking bunch'
of pigs. I've ever seen," he said.
On another farm excursion. the group
toured a tea plantation near the city .of
Leningrad. the tea plants were grown. on
terraces and picked by hand by the
farmers. They also' toured a peanut and '
cashew growing operation in that area:
As for other perceptions of. Soviet. Iife,
-Mr. MacKenzie said the farmers do noten-
joy the kind of comparative wealth• of -
Canadian farmers, as he described the,far•
-
ruing villages as "pretty poor", but the
Soviet government is now -trying to reverse
this trend,by building new houses in these . -
villages. _ • - .
The roads in the rural communities were `
also not up to Canadian standards and -
were not well maintained by the govern-
ment. He found the people o€these farming.
villages to be happy and pleasant.._a far
cry from the people of Moscow «'here
"everybody looked sea serious". -
In addition, the group also toured one of:
•
the Soviet schrioN which Mi-. McKenzie
described as -modern and up-to-date"
with , closed-circuit television arid -
calculators at every desk."l'he° guide's told
the grdup that by the year 2000, the Soviet; -
hope to be world leaders in the_ fields of
science and engineering, and they :trV
looking; to the young people and the school
System to be leaders in'ichieving thus goal -
Brazil tour
In February of 1985, -he took- t.arin tour
to Brazil for a 21-. day' period which _he
described as a ''real good'. tarns tour with
18 fellow Canadians also travelling to
farms throughout the country.
- Mr. McKenzie said agricultural moder-
nization is coming -quickly- to this South
American country, with the group touring
- up-to-date meat packing plants, a cattle
artificial insemination research centre, as
• well as the vast sugar cane and cotton
plantations. maintained by the Brazilian
farmers. He was particularly impressed by the
huge swine operations of 30,000 pigs and
"not a poor one., on the farm. -
"The swine operation was probably one
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