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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1974-12-12, Page 12PAGE 12 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 197A' Report of NFU annual meetin (by Lloyd Willert) For the fifth year in a•row I attended the N.F.0 convention together with Alfons Creces, the second delegate chosen to the convention from this area. The theme of this year's convention (The Politics of Food) turned out to be one of the best ever. It proved what kind of humanit- arians the leaders of this organiz ation really are. It also proved to me how you become hated ant despised when you speak out and tramp on the toes of the people who only think of everything in dollars and cents, with no cons- ideration for the people in the world who no longer can help themselves. President Atkinson reported that 460 million people in the world are hungry or starving, as many as 2 1/2 million human beings will not see the New Yean of the spring. We in the wealthy nations cannot see disasters in our day to day activities, our shortcomings in meeting that world need. He reported that we used to have in excess of two months supply of food grains in the world, but todays level is about 17 days supply. This makes it more easy to playpolitics with food. In the weeks preceeding the convention, the National Farm- ers' Union carried. out actions across this country designed to bring the plight of the beef producers out to the public. This action consisted of sit-ins in Federal government buildings Steer This Way BY LARRY SNIDER Traveling a new highway? For safer driving, study map ahead of time, and know your exit (name AND number, if possible) before you start. New use for old tires - being used to make artificial reefs, to attract a variety of fish. They've been tested in both salt water and fresh water fishing spots. Safety researcher at the University of Michigan says 20 to 30% of car occupant deaths can be prevented if the belt systems available in most cars are worn. It pays to buckle up, You've heard it before, but it's worth repeating - keep a win- dow open while you're driv- ing. A vent is not enough. And open it wider if you're idling a lot. Farmer Frank Tisher of Nebraska doesn't plan to buy a new car this year; his old one runs fine, he says. It's a 1929 coupe. We'II bet Mr. Tisher would be tempted to buy a new car, if he saw the beauties on display at Larry Sniders. They're smooth•running and smooth looking, Test-drive one today. Larry Snider MOTORS LIMITED EXETER 235-1640 LONDON 227-4191 Huron County's Largest Ford Dealer Drive in soon! to mass marches on Provincial government liuildings, ending up with a mass telephone brigade from coast to coast. Some officials reported they never ever had so many phone calls before. Mr.. Whelan our federal Minister of Agriculture spoke at the convention and indicated he needs this kind of help to get his points across. Mr. Whelan said he couldn't see how we could use low grade beef in food aid programs, because of religious beliefs and peoples eating habits. Whelan said he is all for an adequate stabilization program for all farm products. This was the second proposal in the NFU bried ruing our demonstrations. He also said our third proposal a National Meat Authority would need more study and producer interest. The first night at the convention the first farmer I spoke to was telling his story on how hard the cow -calf man in Manitoba was pressed, he got a grant to get into production, News of Huron Hope (by Mrs. Eleanor Scott, Princ- ipal) We welcomed a new pupil to Huron Hope School this month. Larry has transferred to us from Exeter and we are very pleased to have him with us. We are now into full operat- ion with our laundry facilities. The tub had been installed in early October but the electrical outlet was put in just two weeks ago. Cindy, Barbara and Jeffrey had birthdays this month. Be- sides having the cake and candles, a picture is taken with the school's polaroid camera arc sent home with the "Birthday child" as a remembrance of their special day. Mrs. MacGregor and I took the opportunity to visit the Bosanquet Central School where two of our former pupils attend school. Michael Najdz- ion and Gary Stebbins were happy to have visitors and anx- ious to hear about their friends back at Huron Hope. For many years now the Lucan Legion has provided our Christmas Party. Santa Claus will be arriving in a police car on December 20 at 10 a.m. and always brings lovely gifts for the children, He is a very generous and understanding Santa and we will look forward to his visit. We are giving some of the younger pupils a chance to try their hand at bowling. Larry and Barbara have gone with the children from Mrs. MacGregors room to Exeter Lanes. The Nat- ional Youth Bowling Council provides bowling crests and these have been sewn onto the bowling shirts. A crest is rec- eived for each milestone in bowling scores of 75-100-125 up to 250, as well as a memb- ership crest. Some of our bowl- ers have been able to accumul- ate a number of these crests. With Christmas approaching so quickly it will soon be time to purchase our Christmas tree, Traditionally we have placed this in the hallway so that we can share it with the rest of the school. The decorations are all made by the children and it always looks very pretty. It is like the tree in Charlie Brown's Christmas in that its beauty comes from being a well loved tree, he bought more land and mach- inery and now prices for calves dropped 114% with the result he couldn't pay the Farm Credit Crop and the bank, so his cattle were seized with the object of selling them at a local sales barn, all these cattle brought was from 8-10 ¢ a pound, so the bank brought them back to the farrier to feed and are paying him. This was a com- mon story among cattle men I learned later on, as I talked to people from other provinces. We heard an address from Romeo Malone, Director of International Affairs C.L.C. who attended the Rome Food Conference and said it is lit- erally shameful some of the politics played by the world food producers. He said Canada is not an exception in this although we do a better job than most countries. Mr. Whelar was the only farmer Agriculture Minister present and this alone shows who is trying to run the food industry. We were shown a fihn of Ethopia where miles and miles of people were moving out of the drought areas, on foot, get weaker until they die of dehyd- ration and starvation, what a horrible sight, children crying and clinging to their mothers arms slowly starving. After seeing this I cannot see why people are still calling our organization communists, Marxists and what have you. Our organization is simply working for a planned food syst- em whereby we get a profit for what we produce, not at the expense of one another but for the good of all mankind. The speculation and, or get rich quick gimmicks can no longer be tolerated in a commodity so irnportant to the life of all (namely food). The convention dealt :with hundreds of resolutions and pol- icy papers such as Grains policy, fruit and vegetable policy; dairy policy; livestock and poultry, energy policy; back to the farm policy; transportation policy, land use policy; tenure of land. farm stabilization; price and quality control of farm inputs. The terms of land resoluting which caused a stir to our conv- ention simply gives direction to look into the areas of landown- ership than we know now where young farriers must pay huge prices for land, with no guar- antee of ever paying for it. I think this has a lot of merit, especially when you hear of large tracts of land falling into the hands of foreign owned corp- orations and governments. One young farmer put it quite clear when he said a meeting of non farmers in Toronto said by 1984 the price of land will be 2500.00 an acre and farmers can no longer afford to but it so they would be the owners or extend credit. Think of this "Who do you thing would be the owners?" Yes we have many so called free enterprisers who think, let the chips fall as they may but our convention was wide awSke when this problem came up and passed .it. This caused dissention which receiv- ed coverage on T.V. across this country. ELECTRIC MOTORS SALES and SERVICE Now is the time to have your . electric motors repaired and reconditioned. WE CAN ALSO SUPPLY NEW MOTORS GARY'S SERVICE GARY GINGERICH - PROPRIETOR PI IONE ::30-13:.1 PIIONE 230-4055 CHARGE Looking For A Christmas Gift THAT WILL LAST All Year Round ? WHY NOT GIVE A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION TO THE MorEohC oer @� SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Anywhere in Canada only U.S. and Other $5.00 $6.00 We will send an attractive gift card with each gift subscription. Zurich erg Newer Phone 236-4672 Zurich ualsaimaTIEMOmeRerirameasseuraseutumoso