Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-10-08, Page 1138YEAR -41 GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1986 60 CENTS PER COPY Farmers are still optimistic r Tlx: 4' ,, ; �,.�, vv' nue i tr crop BY SHARON DIETZ Farmers are still optimistic part of this year's white bean crop can be harvested but -they estimate more than 50 per cent is damaged. Varna area farmer Bev Hill said there is bound to be some of the crop salvaged but the unknown is the quality of what is harvested. Hill said in an interview Tuesday morn- ing, he doesn't think'the crop is physically lost. It will be physically possible to harvest the crop, but whether it will be marketable is the unknown. • A minimum of 50 per cent is not marketable, said Hill and more likely bet- ween 50 and 75 per cent is of dubious quality. At this point it is unknown whether it will be worth trying to harvest what is salvageable when the rain stops, but Hill points out that all of the white bean crop in North America is in the same situation. The crop in Michigan is in worse shape than the crop here. Hill who has 225 acres of white beans and 1500 acres of soybeans, said his soybeans appear to be alright quality wise. The big- gest problem with them is they are ben- ding over and lodging which makes it is more difficult to harvest and there is more harvest lost. Hill expects farmers could be on the field in a week to 10 days if we get no rain for a week. "It's hard' to say. We have no bench marks to work with. We've never ex- perienced so much water at this time of year," said Hill who has been farming for 20 years. Previous to this, 1977 was the worst year on record for wet bean harvest and that time, Hill harvested his crop in October. He salvaged all of the crop but the quality discounts meant the value was low. Exaggerating the wetness is the warm temperature. "We could have lived with the water but the warmth is causing mould and discolour,"said Hill. Beans are a risky crop to grow. The in- put costs are not as high as corn, but the weather conditions have to be just right during the growing season and for harvest. Adding insult to injury this year is the fact that it was an excellent bean crop just sit- ting in the field waiting to be harvested un- til the rain hit. Hill sprayed his beans by helicopter, with a chemical to defoliate the plant and kill weeds, just days before the rain started, so he has this cost invested in his crop as well. Solid seeded beans are more prone to uneven maturity and spraying to Riddell µ l * 4 ,tom .1 ortstiv EA,64.4 ikeirW9 IIF flip r - i ht examines rain -damaged beans on t proceed to combine immediately. Ashfield Township farmer Ray Hogan is looking at clipping his beans rather than pulling them, if he ever gets into the field. He believes the plants will be too rotten to pull, although there won't be as much deterioration now that the weather has turned cold. Hogan says Michigan farmers are worse off than area farmers. Beans only repre- sent a portion of our harvest here, but in Michigan farmers have beans and sugar beets in one-half to two-thirds of their acreage and both are rotting in the fields. The corn crop here is starting to mould but Hogan says farmers will get it off one way or another. The wet conditions are particularly depressing because farmers were looking at a bumper bean crop this year. The wheat harvest was poor because of mould and even though the corn is a good crop, the price is low. "Farmers were looking to the beans for their profit this year," said Hogan."Now it's gone." What a disastrous harvest will mean to farmers over the long term, con- cerns him. Hogan accompanied the tour provincial Agriculture Minister Jack Riddell made Friday when he visited farms ifs Middlesex and Huron to assess the damage. Riddell appeared to pass the buck, said Hogan. He +fid the farmers the aid they are seeking is feaeral jurisdiction. The farmers told Riddell there are things he can do immediately like enhanc- ing the interest rebate program instituted last year, which will help in the short term. This program was more. successful than its predecessors, said Hogan, because it �hd not require the banks' participation. With previous programs the bank re- quested a guarantee and they used it to bump people from their farms. Only a small ;n bet bf.,f rtners who' Were eligi aJohle usedl}ilie'kpid tafits for this' h Gori: ,: the 'fartners suggested Riddell knock down the interest rate or increase the grant money available. Hogan said he does not want to be critical of Riddell because if anybody can try to do anything, it will be Jack. But his first obstacle is his own cabinet. Farmers require short term help to plant a crop next spring and it will have to come from the province, said Hogan. Even fare, ers who have insurance will require ; assistance, said Hogan."In- surance covers cost of production but not all of it and farmers sure won't get rich on Turn to page 3 • _ Huronview architect Provinei l Agriculture MimSter Jack Riddell, r g , e• Brucefield-area farm of Ken McCowan, left, during a tour of farms southwestern Ontario, last Friday, as other Huron, County farmers look on. Riddell has not committed yet to any government emergency aid programs for farmers affected by the recent heavy rainfall. ( photo by Patrick Raftis.) defoliate enhances the quality of the harvest. He, is optimistic he will get the crop off because he solid seeded his beans, planting them in 10 inch rows so they can be straight harvested with a combine. The ad- vantage of direct combining is that it eliminates some., risk because you don't in have the cost of scuffling and pulling. Beans which were ready to harvest before the rain and had been pulled are lost, said Hill. Hill believes his solid seeded beans will be an advantage this year because; you don't have to wait until the land is dry enough to pull and then harvest, you can is questioned Huron. County Council react; ed a deci- sion to hire the architectural firm of R. Ritz Architect of Stratford along with Stin- son, Montgomery and Sisam Architects of Toronto at. a cost of $275,000 at the council meeting on October 2. However, the choice of architects was challenged by Hay Township Reeve Lionel Wilder. Mr. Wilder questioned Huronview Committee Chairman Clarence Rau as to why the architectural firm of Snider, Reichard and March were not hired for the ' lower tender price of $261,000 as they had already done the preliminary drawings for the renovations. "Snider, Reichard and March have done the preliminary work and would be quite knowledgeable about the project. Why are you Changing horses in mid -stream?" said Mr. Wilder. Stanley Township Reeve Rau, responded that the firm which was hired had address- ed every question with ,the committee of management at Huronview and provided a more comprehensive presentation than thefirni of Snider, Reichard and March. "We thought that their figure was right in the ballpark, and we felt strongly that that's the route that we should go," said Mr. Rau. Reeve Rau also explained that the Snider, Reichard, March bid of $261,600 was the lowest because the bid was minus the $20,000 cost of the preliminary designs. All things considered equal, the bid would have been $281,600 which would make the Ritz along with Stinson, Montgomery and Sisam bid the lowest at $275,000. One other architectural firm was in the running for the $1.3 million renovation plan for the county -run nursing home east of Clinton. Program looks out for kids When Robertson students leave for school in the morning, their parents are, in- formed almost immediately if they don't arrive safely at school through a safe ar- rival program, run by volunteer parents which is entering its second year at the school. "No incident triggered the program," says parent volunteer Dorothy Venkiteswaran. "Goderich is pretty safe still but after hearing about the recent inci- dent of sexual abuse of a child in town, I'm' glad we're doing this." Parents who volunteer as often as twice d month, go to the school in the morning to phone the homes of students who are ab- sent and unaccounted for. The program was initiated by parents who were used to such safe arrival programs in cities before they moved to Goderich. "I'm interested to know if my child has arrived at school safely. Before, I had no! way of knowing until noon," says parent Susan Chan. '-= :s Parenfisx£rom the city were surprised, . • 'the program wasn't in place here. And, in the last few years, city problems have been moving to small towns," says Venkiteswaran. The school asks parents with sick or ab- sent children to phone the school before 9:15 a.m. or send a note with a brother or sister to prevent receiving a call from a volunteer. Though preventing truancy is not the program's intention, the safe arrival pro- gram has done just that in some instances. ' "Many positive side effects have resulted from this program. It has caused a reduction in the number of truancies as well as in the number of persistently late • ' pupils. It has increased awareness of the i arents duty to notify the school prior to a ce and it has created a on aid .-for farmers child's absence uncommitted general feeling o BY PATRICK RAFTIS A visit by' provincial Agriculture Minister Jack Riddell to rain -plagued farmers in southwestern Ontario last week, offered area farmers some assurance the government is interested in their plight — but little concrete evidence that help is on the way. Standing amidst a blackened field of rain -damaged beans on the farm of Ken McCowan, near Brucefield, Friday, Rid- dell told a gathering of about 25 Huron County farmers he was waiting for a "total assessment," of crop damage before deciding if any aid is appropriate. "We haven't sat down and decided on any kind of aid programs, outside of what have in place," he said. already we, Y P Cash crops in this area, particulary beans and corn, are in danger of being lost completely due to heavy rainfall in September and October. Many farmers are without crop insurance• and even many insured farmers feel the program is insufficient to make up for lost crops this year. "The intent of the program�� was nothing more than to cover losses, said Riddell, adding that to make the crop in- surance program more lucrative would 11 be more expensive for participants. "If you want an enriched program, you're going to have to pay for it." • There is some possibility the insurance program will be expanded to. help farmers this year and a submission has been 'made to the program ad- ministrators, said Riddell, however, crop insurance is a joint federal -provincial government program and any changes to be made would require approval from the federal level. "There's not a heck of a lot of sense go- ing any further unless they (the federal government) are going to get involved," said Riddell. Riddell placed much of the respon- sibility for helping farmers on Federal Agriculture Minister John Wise, saying that the Farm Credit Corporation, another federal program, should be revamped to make credit more avai¢able to farmers. "We need more money for long, short • • • f well-beingbetween the and intermediate term credit, at fixed school staff and the community, assuring rates of interest that farmers can af-• the parents that they will be notified by ford," he said. telephone if their child does not arrive at Also on the subject of credit, Riddell school." says the program's guidelines. said" he ' has been having "very, very frank discussions," with the province's banking officials, "asking them to show leniency in light of the fact this is an • unusual year". He has asked the banks to consider such measures as foregoing payments until farmers can "get back on their feet". "They (the banks) tell me they are not about to close out the farmer," he said. "Enrichment," of • existing programs, such as CFFIR and FOCAP are one op- tion the government is considering, as a Turn to,,page 3 • $55,000 subsidy for day care centre available BY SUSAN HUNDERTMARK Though he said he was disappointed by Goderich council's recent defeat of municipal day care, Mark Roberts, of the Ministry of Community and Social Ser- vices said $55,000 is still earmarked for a day care centre in Goderich until the end of March, 1987. "There is a project in London that can't use this money this year so the $55,000 is the next thing to being" guaranteed from the province because I'd like to see a day care centre here," Roberts told a meeting of several Goderich councillors who wanted to ask questions about the financ- ing of a day care centre. "If you wanted to go that route, I could give you approval in two weeks," he said. The $55,000 would be a capital grant con- taining the province's 80 per cent share for the renovations of the Goderich Mini Com- munity Centre to accommodate a day care centre. Roberts explained that the province pro- vides indirect subsidization to all users of day care across Ontario, since the real cost of day care usually ranges from'$20 to $23 a day and the east to parents is usually $12 to $14 a day. Though the federal and provincial governments have been saying for the past four or five years that day care centres must move towards,charging the actual costs to parents, indfreet" subsidies• ere wmoorno necessary especially in rural Ontario. "The policy says we have to work towards charging actual costs but my opi- nion is nobody's going to close down day care centres if We don't, he said. When Coun. Jim Searls and Deputy - Reeve John Doherty asked if a day care centre could be rim at no cost to the town, Roberts said if the town charged $23 a day, its only cost would be 20 per cent of those in need "My argument would be that the market can't afford $23 a day here. And;.there's no way to get out of paying the 20 per cent;" he Said, w Works Cotntni'ssioner Ken Hunter corn - merited that at a rate of $23 a day, nobody would come to day care because it would be too expensive. Roberts added that Goderich's Day Nursery budget includedindirect subsidy from the taxpayer. Searls suggested rating the cost of day care to parents based on their incomes. "It's the only fair thing to do," he said. Cohn. John Stringer said such a scale could bean "adtinistrative nightmare." "The -benefits of day care are such that taxpayers are willing to pay as long as we're getting the cost to taxpayers down to a minimum," said Stringer. "Why should a person making $50,000 pay the same for day care as a person making g i$20,000 year?" asked Searls. a Roberts answered that going to a movie costs everyone $4.50 regardless of their wage while Doherty replied that going to a movie was a choice while people on fixed incomes could not choose whether or not to pay for day care through their taxes. When Searls asked whether the federal task force on day care would change the grant structure now provided for day care, Mayor. Eileen Palmer replied that Huron - Bruce's MP Murray Cardiff told her it is highly Unlikely the policy will change. "It's too sensitive an issue. The federal government had a hard time over de - indexing seniors' pensions so they're not going to change any other social pro- grams," she said., Roberts agreed saying rural day care has a good advocate in Pat Bailey, former deputy -reeve of Wingham. "Everyone in Queen's. Park knows about Wingham. People like Pat Bailey are real, ly letting people know what it's like -in rural Ontario. They're telling Queen's Park it's unrealistic to Move in the direc- tion of charging full costs to parents for day care. The province isn't goingg to close down centres when it built theta," he said. When asked about private day care cen- tres; Roberts said no grants were available to theirr' unless they were run by Turn to page 5 • INSIDE THE SIGNAL -STAR Care of elderly A crisis is looming in health care of the elderly says a leading authority with the World Health Organization. Speaking in Goderich recently, Dorothy Wall said the implications of an aging population will af- fect all areas of national life; social, economical, political and cultural. See to- day's feature report on Crisis in Health Care of the Elderly on the community page, section A. Vikings undefeated The Goderich Junior Vikings and the Ex - der Panthers remain the only unbeaten teams' in the Huron - Perth Football Con- ference following the Viking defeat of the Clinton Redmen here Thursday. See the action and get the details on today's sports page, section B. •