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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1980-03-20, Page 25Level ofe i...- _.1e..... � � rn at show unwarranted, says area accountant BY RHEA HAMILTON Efficiency is the key consideration in farming with today's high interest rates, Federation of Agriculture members heard John Murph-y, from the Royal Bank, Alec —McLeod;—Bank of C6m merce, and Bill McEachern, a Grand Bend area accountant, agreed on that in a panel discussion at an HFA meeting in -Exeter. Mr. McEachern said that the level of pessimism at the recent farm show in London was un- warranted. "As an accountant I see a lot of financial in- formation but I only know of three farmers that have gone bankrupt recently," said Mr. McEachern. "Of those three only one declared bankruptcy and the other two are being encouraged to do so out of mismanagement or__ expansion." Mr. McEachern agreed that high interest rates and increased costs have dampened profits but 85 percent of the farm businesses are owned and. • farmers on a whole are not heavy users of credit. The exceptions are young farmers and those doing a lot of expanding. "Interest rates are not causing the calamity," Mr. McEachern said and cited figures illustrating his point. Out of a study of 174 farms in 1978 the average group were 75 percent financed for their feed, livestock, and machinery. Along with a mortgage of 10 percent (which is not possible now), the average group would miss their payment , of $53,000 (principal and interest) ---by- $ 2 ,000-oi~$ 3 , 000: ----_— "Invariably farms are 25 percent financed and with farmers using the interest to reduce their income tax it alI helps." Producers in the beef and pork business would be more affected by in- terest rates. Many are heavy borrowers for their stock and suffer from fluctuating prices, he said. Alec McLeod urged farmers to remember the basics, to check the ef- ficiency . of their operations. He suggested revolving operating loan to reduce costs. A monitor and check throughout the year would help with cash flow. "Farmers have a tendency to use a lot off short term credit," said Mr. McLeod. "The first problem comes, in 'opera -mg Ioans which are __affected by_ttae-market," Mr. McLeod said. "Set up a long term loan 'and discuss your finances with your banker." . Mr. McLeod stressed in individual _situations that the farmer have good co- operation between himself and his banker. Mr. Murphy was asked who gets the profits from the higher interest rates. "As prime rate goes up so do the deposit rates. The higher interest is to- stop borrowing," said Mr. Murphy. "The farmer takes what the market gives him and he can't take his own price.". Another drawback is that farmers are all competing for the same source of funds. Both the tile drain loans (at 6 percent) and farm credit (12 percent) have limited funds. Members questioned the panel about what they thought the future would hold for the farming community. Although the farms would tend to be larger units, the panel agreed that the farmers would be younger. "Look around the room here. There is a large number of farmers here under 36 years," said Mr. Murphy. It was suggested by Tony McQuail, West Wawanosh, that there should be a greater spread between borrowing and depositing rates. He questioned whether the economy would respond to the high interest.. rates or whether Christian Christian women... • from page 8 the Old Testament. Among the others are Deborah, a judge and leader, Phoebe, a deacon in the Church and Priscilla, a teacher and friend of -'t il—e Apostle -Paul"..'_ in the New Testament. The. course offers an opportunity to explore the historical roots of women in the Bible, Mrs. Peters said. It will examine the Creation story, women in ' the Old Testament, women in Jesus' time and women in the early Church. For more information about Women and the Bible, contact Brenda Fisher at Conestoga College 653-2511, Ext. 366. 4-H clubs organizing BY LEN MacGREGOR, EXT. ASSIST. During the ' March School. Break, the Huron County 4-H Club Leaders' Association and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food will be organizing 4-H Clubs. throughout the many communities in Huron County. 4-H clubs are •, open to boys and girls between the ages of 11 to 19 years as of January 1, 1980. The organizational meetings have been set up as follows: North. Huron' 4-14 Trailblazers Horse Club, Brussels 4-H Calf Club, Blyth-Belgrave 4-H Beef Calf Club, Blyth 9-H Rabbit Club, and Hallrice 4-1-1 Dairy Calf Club - Blyth Public School, Monday, March 17 at 1:30 p.m. South Huron 4-H Multi- _Pro_j_ec-t—_Field Crops - Clubs, Exeter 4-H Sweet Corn Club, Exeter 4-14 Calf Club, Zurich 4-H Calf Club, Zurich 9-H Swine Club, and Exeter 4-1-1 Horse and Pony Club - South Huron District High School, Exeter, Monday, March 17 at 8 p.m. Howick 4-H Calf Club, Howick 4-1-1 Swine Club, Howick & Turnberry 4-14 Horse Club and North Huron 4- H Gun Safety Club - Howick Central Turn to page 10 • WATER WELL DRILLING "79 YEARS EXPERIENCE" • FARM • SUBURBAN •.INDUSTRIAL • MUNICIPAL • • FREE ESTIMATES • GUARANTEED WELLS • FAST MODERN EQUIPMENT • 4 ROTARY & PERCUSSION DRILLS "OUR EXPERIENCE ASSURES LOWER COST WATER WELLS" DAVIDSON WELL DRILLING LIMITED 4 Rotary and Percussion Drills PHONE 857.1960 WINGHAM Collect Calls Accepted "ONTARIO'S FINEST WATER WELLS SIDE 1900" anyone will be able to see if the economy is hurting and be able to hold back. One farmer was con- cerned with the dif- ference in interest costs between Quebec and Ontario farmers. In Quebec, interest rates to ._far..m err. ___ar-e---8--percent and there is no limit to the funds available to the farming community. The panel offered no answer except Ontario could sheot fund-s--out-the same way. The drawback is that it. creates an ar- tificial environment and more government in- tervention. Mr. McEachern in general foresaw a disaster. "Profits are not there and with reducing inventory more problems would be created. Young farmers are having to leave - and' the farming community is really suffering," he said. Mr. McLeod disagreed. "Interest rates do make it difficu]k, but they are not the only factor." It was suggested by the bank representatives that the rates would not likely go down and that "we may look forward to 222 percent interest." Farmers were en- couraged to explore the idea of partners and not buy new 'expensive machinery for income tax purposes. Other answers ,for farmers looking at machinery are to own larger pieces co- operatively. Mr. Murphy suggested that. three or more get together and apply for a syndicate loan at 11 percent. The maximum loan per partner is $15,000 each or a total loan of $60,000. The meeting heard that John Phillips, editor of Town—and---Ceun-t-r-y,7--h-ad- contacted HFA 'vice president Gerry Fortune and apologized fox - an editorial that did not "go over well in Huron-. "It was not his intention to offend anyone," he ad- ded. In" response to his editorial. Huron members requested .that the Ontario Federation of Agriculture disassociate themselves from the publication. Bill Crawford, Huron fieldman, reported on the membership. After a drop below 2,000 mem- bership averages at the 2,014 mark. • • For details on plans covering Corn, Spring Grain, Beans & New Forage Seeding call: GEORGE TURTON RIDGEWOOD PARK R.R. 5 GODERICH 524-7411 OeePS U CLAY - Sllo Unloaders Feeders Cleaners Stabling Leg Elevators Liquid Manure Equipment Hog Equipment BUTLER — Silo Unloaders Feeders Conveyors FARMATIC — Mllls Augers, etc. ACORN - Cleaners Heated Waterers WESTEEL-ROSCO Granaries B & L . Hog Panelling LOWRY FARM SYSTEMS RR 1, Kincardine, Ont. Phone 395.5286 tl GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, THURSDAY, MARCH 20,1990 -,-.PAGE 9A ' FARM CLASSIFIED SECTION Those crazy, mixed-up food prices. Consumers are howling about the price of beef. rt costs more than $3.60 a pound for sirloin steak. But how would you like to live in Belgium where the same cut costs $6.90 a pound? Or how about Denmark where sirloin averaged more than $9 a pound last month or in Britain where housewives were paying $5.90 a pound in London supermarkets? • And you complain abent chicken prices which are set hy the chicken producers marketingboard?,prices... here are around $1.07 a pound as this is written. But in Switzerland, chicken was being sold at $1.65 a pound. In Brussels, Belgium again the price was $2.16 a pound. Do you know what the poor Japanese worker paid for -sirloin-a month age? Exactly $18 a pound -!-And chicken was being advertised at "only" $1.88 a pound. No doubt about it -- Canadians are being well -served by farmers. Canadians', _pay less for food than any other nation in the world. Yet;many want to scuttle the marketing boards farmers have so painstakingly organized during the last 20 or 30 years. Complaints are heard regularly from many sectors of the economy about marketing boards, especially those few boards who work on a quota aystem; boards that determine the quantity of the product and give those quotas to producers. One of the most important marketing boards in Canada is the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency (CEMA). A recent report was tabled in Ottawa suggesting that, if the egg marketing agency were disbanded and Canada's borders opened for imports, eggs would drop in price almost immediately between nine and 14 cents a dozen. That's possible, of course, Canadian farmers lost money for years trying to produce eggs in this country until CEMA took•over. You can be sure a lot off egg producers would go broke in only a few months if the agency was disbanded and the chaos returned to what it was 10 years ago. CEMA is not taking the accusations lying down. An independent consultant was hired. The firm found that Canada's economy could lose $250 million without Letters are apO,ec.ated by Bob T,otte, Eida a Rd •Ei,n.ia Ont. N38 2C 7 CEMA. The production cuts that Canadian farmers would have to make would cost more than 3,000 poultry workers their jobs. As if we haven't got enough workers on unemployment now. During CEMA's first five years in operation; prices to egg farmers went up only 23.2 percent. During the same period, wages in industry jumped 77.7 percent and the consumer food index went up 55.5 percent. 1-ri other words, as has been said dime and time again in_ this.-c-o.rnecr-fnod_prices-have-not-}uraped-as-h-igh in the last decade as almost every other sector of the economy. And, yes, I know! It seems as though you are spending more on food. But take a good look in_the food bask -et next time. How many non-food items are in there? Paper products -- toilet tissue, facial tissue, kitchen tissue -- soft drinks,.,. hardware items, dog food, cat food, sanitary napkins, lunch bags, wrapping paper, hand lotion, drugs, everything from elbows to elephants because the supermarkets are getting more and more chunks out of the consumer dollar all the time. How much of it is food? Those same chain stores are getting bigger every year. In 1969, chain stores grabbed 48.4 percent of grocery sales. Ten years later in 1979, those same chain stores had grabbed a whopping 60.4 percent of the grocery dollar, according to a survey conducted by Maclean -Hunter Research Bureau. The figures were published in a recent issue of Canadian Grocer Magazine. A chain store, the survey notes, is any company with four or more stores controlled by one - owner. The clout 'of the chains increases every year. To those who would disband marketing boards, I can only say that, without these boards, Canadians Will be increasingly at the mercy of less than half a dozen supermarket chains who are interested only in their own pro,it picture. Marketing boards may the only thing standing in the way of starvation if the chains have food prices all to themselves. A. For sale 300 BALES of hay, no rain. Call 529-7835, after 6 Straw for sale. Call 529- 7192 after 5 p.m. -11,12 D. Livestock FOR SALE :- Stood selection of Hampshire, Yorkshire, Hamp X York and York X Landrace boars, ready for service. Prices reflect market conditions. son, R.R,4 2317,-12-14 Bob Robin. Walton, 345- A. For sale Double cut red clover seed. Contact Fred Crawford, RR3 Goderich. Phone 529-7134.-1142 (UCIJJ&/IJIJJiEd 04. awns d,i� 'un4S1. RCA„144 ivawn5ie oN aIII aalaogs e — 7(ileuad Lola oN as1JJaxa oN 6uNem oN Iu!uunJ oN BEM CI CO owei ■ MI roth drainage IMITED FARM DRAINAGE SYSTEMS We will be offering the same service in Huron and Bruce Counties that has kept us foremost in Perth County sin- ce 1948 CALL US NOW FOR A FREE ESTIMATE 396-4722 595-8405 Or Write: Roth Drainage Limited R.R. 1 Gadshill, Ontario NOK 1J0 ho else cares? • We'd like you to meet two people whOE are asking that question. Jean Stewart and George Salovaara work for the Ontario government, taking dare of people who cannot care for themselves. Jean and George want to know if the Ontario government understands the value of the work they do. Jean Stewart has been a counsellor at the St. Lawrence Regional Centre for the Mentally Retarded in Brockville for - more than eleven years. She works with 18 trainable mentally handicapped ° adults, aged 18 to 70. She teaches these residents everything from personal hygiene to basic skills. It's a demanding job. And a frustrating job. "I'm burned out. Some days are not so hard, however over the years it wears you own. Jean earns $13,140. That's less than a supermarket cashier, less than a letter carrier, less than a gardener, even less than people in liquor stores. "The questions that bother me are: Does no one valuethe work I do? Am I not worth as much?" George Salovaara also wonders why the government places Such low value on his work. George has been a psychiatric nursing assistant at the North Bay Psychiatric Hospital for 15 years, working with patients who are - mentally unstable, often violent, and who often need -protection from them- selves. He earns $13,680 a year. The work has escalated in the past five or six years, he says. There is not enough staff; and the problem is compounded by an acute shortage of male staff whose greater physical strength helps in controlling violent patients. George -is frequently in physical danger, facing a hostile patient armed with a piece of furniture or other makeshift weapon. "I've never, been seriously injured --- just just black eyes or loose teeth. But a - colleague was killed two years ago, and there is some injury every week." George remembers working closely with one patient who later hanged himself. Jean and George are only two of the people whose jobs are caring. There are 6,300 other -employees of the Ontario government who do similar work. The government's wage offer is 5% this year and 41/2% next year. It's not enough for the work they do. They don't want to strike for a decent wage, and they don't think they should have-- to. Jean and George and their ca -workers care. Shouldn't the government care about them? We - re. Doyou? Published for Ontario's 6,300 - institutional care workers by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union t- -