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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1976-06-30, Page 17Hill says agripow By GORDON KU. President, OFA On June 15, the two opposition parties united to defeat the Government's farm stabilization bill, Then they gave the govern- ment a clear directive to develop, by October 31, farm income protection lislation,embodying an insurance type plan, open to all farm commodities and in- volving a legally constituted negotiating role for farmers. The Legislature also directed that farm organizations be in- volved in the development of the legislation. Victory for Farmers This is a great victory for farmers and for the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. We have been pressing the govern- ment for just such a plan for the last year and a half. A lot of people wonder why farmers need an income protection plan. It sounds to them like "coddling" the inefficient. Most Cahadian farm prices are set in terms of the world grain market. This means the price Ontario farmers receive is completely independent of the quantity and quality of the Ontario crop. For example, they may have a poor crop, because of weather conditions here, and, instead of the price beinpfairly high because of a short supply, farmers may get a low price because, say, the Southern U.S. had a large crop. What this basically means is costs of production bear very little relationship to price of farm products in Ontario. Farmers' Need Ontario farmers, therefore, need some method whereby they can be assured of some of their costs of production, at the very lease . Otherwise, farmers are left Sterilizing not required It is not necessary to sterilize mason jars when home canning if you use proper canning methods, according to food specialists at the Ontario Food Council, Ministry of Agriculture and Food. But it is necessary that the jars be washed in hot, clean, soapy water rinsed in hot water and then kept hot until being filled with the food you are canning. When the food is processed in a hot water bath or a pressure canner, the jars are sterilized along with the food. However, in the case of open kettle preser- ving, which is recommended only for jams, jellies, relishes and some pickles, the jars must be sterilized before filling since there is no further heat ap- plicationand thus no way to ensure that the jars are bacteria - free. The easiest way to keep mason jars hot after washing is to place them, half-filled with hot water, into a very large pot, also half full of hot water. Be sure that there is a rack or a piece of board in the bottom of the pot to keep the jars away from the direct heat and prevent them from breaking. Keep the water in the pot hot while you prepare the fruit or vegetables for canning. If you are canning fruit you may choose to keep the jars hot in the water bath processor instead of using a separate pot. Remove the jars one by one from the processor and, after filling them with the fruit, replace them. Since,you must use a pressure canner for vegetables, you would need to use a separate pot for keeping the jars hot. playing a dicey game with bankruptcy. Without this kind of assurance, farmers' confidence in the far- ming industry is quickly disappearing. They are inclined to stop farming when things get too tough. And young people considering taking up farming are unlikely to do so. Agri -Power -No Joke Ontario needs adequate and varied food production. If we don't produce our own food, we will soon be at the mercy of high price imports, Agri -power is no joke. With more and more countries being unable to produce enough food, the power of food - exporting countries continually increases. Ontario does not need and cannot afford to shift its position from being a net ex- porter of food to major depen- dence on imports. The income protection legislation OFA proposed and the Legislature has directed the government to develop will provide price stability in the food industry. It will provide farmers with the assurance that their costs will be covered and therefore provide them with the capital to improve efficiency and quality of product. It will assure Ontario of enough farmers to produce enough food to feed its people. DO( . tl Citizens News, June 30, 1976 -Page 17 r no joke Program Would Be Voluntary The program OFA suggests would be voluntary both for each ' commodity group and for in- dividual producers of a com- modity. It would provide flexibility for the development of different commodities. For in- stance, some commodities might wish to have a high percentage of costs covered by a plan, others might just want a stop -loss plan and still others might not want a plan at all. No individual producer or group of producers^ would be forced to participate in any of these insurance -type plans. YOURSELF What OFA wants the govern- ment to develop is enabling legislation with a legally con- stituted negotiating role for farmers. This will allow farmers to work out with the government the details of plans and the kind of support each commodity group wants and needs. Work with Government We are looking forward to working co-operatively with the government in developing the enabling legislation to which the two opposition parties have now directedtthejgovernmentItoSubmit to the Legislature by the end of October. 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