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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1985-07-17, Page 11FARM THE HURON EXPOSITOR, JULY 17, 1985 -- B3 Minister plans review of Farm Credit Corp Agriculture Minister John Wise has announced plans for an in-depth review of the role and mandate of the Farm Credit Corporation and invited anyone interested in the subject to submit ideas., "One of this government's election prom- ises included a review of FCC programs and interest rates. The more I studied separate issues affecting farm credit the more I realized that what was needed at this time was a full and open review of the subject as a whole," explained Mr. Wisp "FCC staff are initiating a consultative approach to the study and will be talking to farm leaders, provincial governments, other lenders, farm management specialists,'uni- versity experts in the field, and most importantly, directly to farmers about their needs in the area of farm credit. "I don't want to place any restrictions on the types cif ideas to be submitted. We are looking for innovative ways of dealing with today's problems and tomorrow's chal- Soviets prefer Canadian wheat Returning from his first official visit to the Soviet Union, Canadian Wheat Board Min- ister Charles. Mayer says he has been reassured of Canada's position as a preferred grain -trading partner with the USSR. Mr. Mayer was in the Soviet Union at the invitation of Victor Ivanov, Vice -Minister of Foreign Trade, who is responsible for grain purchases. I received a very warm reception from our largest grain customer," Mr. Mayer said. 'The Soviets appreciate the high quality of our wheat, as well as their long-standing and positive relationship with the Canadian W heat Board." Slightly more than one year remains in the current long-term grain agreement between the Canadian Wheat Board and the Soviet grain -purchasing agent, Exportkhleb. In the first four years of the agreement, purchases by the USSR have already exceeded the five-year minimum requirement. Besides meeting Mr. Ivanov, Mr. Mayer met with Foreign Trade Minister Nikolai Patollchev, Agriculture Minister V.K. Metyyats and Minister of Agricultural Machinebuilding A.A. Yezhevsky. "The Soviets are understandably con- cerned about the trade imbalance that exists between our countries," Mr. Mayer said. "For every dollar we spend in the USSR/ they spend $75 in Canada, mainly for grain." Mr, Mayer suggested to Soviet ministers trade possibilities they might pursue to ease this imbalance. During his visit to Minsk, Mr. Mayer test-drove the newest 100 -horsepower model of Belarus tractor. In Leningrad, he visited a state dairy farm and toured port facilities, where Canadian grain was being unloaded. "I feel this visit to the Soviet Union has helped to promote a bettter understanding between our two countries," he added. "I am very pleased to assist in maintaining the kind of relationship between the Cana- dian Wheat Board and Exportkhleb that has made the Soviet Union our largest customer for the past 22 years." New project to test tillage A major project will be underway this fall to test conservation tillage methods for better soil management, Minister of Agriculture and Food Jack Riddell has announced. "Tillage 2000 is the name of the project," said Mr. Riddell "intended to establish more viable tillage practices by the end of the century.' The project will be conducted on at least 40 farms throughout the province for up to five years. Most of the sites will be selected this summer for the fall start-up. On-farm research plots will be used to demonstrate several different conservation tillage and cropping practices that can be Minister can Agricul ure Minister John Wise an- nounc royal assent has been given to a bill to ext nd his authority to guarantee loans under the Farm Improvement Loans Act. The bill will keep the Act in effect for another 18 months, from July 1, 1985 to December 30, 1986. "The extension of the Act is a recognition of its continuing importance within the credit system of Canadian agriculture," Mr. Wise said. "What farmers need is a flexible range of credit options in order to carry out the type of long-term planning necessary for effective farming. The Act provides an option that meets intermediate-term financing needs." The Farm Improvement Loans Act, intro- duced in 1945, authorizes the Minister of Agriculture to guarantee against losses term loans made to farmers by chartered banks, Alberta Treasury branches and other desig- nated lenders. Under this legislation, producers are able 'D wner D' is Two dairy herds. in eastern Ontario experienced severe health and production problems this year due to Vitamin 03 poisoning- Both cases involved the use of injectable Vitamin D3, occasionally called Downer D to aid in the prevention of milk fever. Vitamin D is an essential vitamin in dairy cattle rations. it is involved in regulating calcium absorption from the intestine, Ca mobilization ,from the bones and phosphate transport in the intestine. Massive doses administered 3-5 days prior to calving have shown significant reductions in the incidence of milk fever Milk fever continues to be one of the most common metabolic disorders experienced by dairy cows in Ontario A concentrated source of Vitamin 03 is available through vets to statistically compared to conventional meth- ods. Monitoring conservation tillage and crop rotations closely will reveal their effects on soil properties, soil erosion and crop yields. "Ministry soil conservation advisors How- ard Lang and Doug Aspinall will play a lead role in this project," said Mr. Riddell. "They will work in co-operation with land resource scientist Gary Kachanoski of the University of Guelph and with the Ontario Soil and Crop improvement Association." Tillage 2000 is part of the ministry's increased emphasis on soil conservation advisory work with farmers. back loans to have several outstanding loans to a combined ceiling of $100,000. The maximum repayment period for loans to cover the purchase of additional land is 15 years. For all other purposes, the term is 10 years. The interest rate attached to the loans matches the prime rate of each bank or lending institution plus one per cent. "Since the introduction of the Act until the end of last year, about 1.9 million loans have been approved, worth in excess of $5 billion. This reflects a sizeable capital investment in the agriculture sector," the Minister said. "During this period, $17 million was paid in claims, of which $2.8 million was subsequently recovered. That's a pretty good record, and I think it proves that farmers generally are a good risk," he added. Uses made of the loans by farmers include the purchase of agricultural implements, land purchases, construction and repair of farm buildings, land improvements and livestock purchases. dangerous inject 3 days prior to the expected calving date on problem cows. Unfortunately, many dairymen have got into the habit of using downer D on all cattle in the herd prior to calving. If vitamin D levels are already relatively high and continue to be high in the milking ration, then Vitamin D3 poisoning may occur. If this problem exists, the cow may show signs of drowsiness, go off feed and appear generally weak. The cow may go down, but will not respond to extra calcium. Her bones will become weak as large amounts of calcium are mobilized from the bone. Calcification then occurs to the blood vessel walls. Extensive mineralization of other body tissues and organs occurs. Finally the cow becomes hypercalcaemic and dies. Seed potato fees settled Following several months of consultation with the seed potato industry, Agriculture Minister John Wise has announced new inspection fees which will allow for regional differences in production and marketing. Under the new fee schedule, producers will pay a single fee covering both seed potato crop inspection and seed potato Producers may choose to pay this fee er $5.00 per inspected acre or at five con's for each hundredweight of tubers graded. "This arrangement gives full considera- tion to the concerns expressed to me by seed potato producers in different regions. of the country." Mr. Wise said. The Minister said Maritime seed potato po fees himboth separate were concerned that the mandatory field and tuber inspections would hit them harder than it would growers in other regions. Given their larger seed potato acreage and uncertain seed sales, the Eastern Canadian No change in The price paid to egg producers for Grade A large in July will be unchanged from last month and so continues at its lowest level in almost two years, the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency announced recently. Although egg producers had to pay more for young layers last month, this increase in their production costs was offset by a drop in feed prices, the agency explained. The producer price for Grade A large eggs producers preterite inspection fees baseu on the weight of produce actually certified and sold. The more specialized Western producers wanted a per -acre field inspection charge, since seed potato acreage is smaller there. In recognition of these regional differences and to ensure equity across Canada, the two-part fee schedule was set. Industry representatives raised a variety of related concerns during the cost recovery negotiations. As a result, the Minister has decided to initiate a management review of the seed potato program. The review will examine program delivery, organizational structure, consultation mech- anisms and issues such as future cost recovery. This settlement with provincial seed potato associations is the latest result of a series of consultations with the agriculture industry on new fees proposed under Agriculture Can- ada's cost recovery program. egg prices in July is now me same as in August 1983. CEM A, an organization operated by egg producers, sets the price for Grade A large at the beginning of each month using a cost of production formula. The federal government's National Farm Products Marketing Council is informed prior to CEM A's pricing announcement. The price paid by consumers is actually set by wholesalers and retailers. News de i• dline Monday 4 p.m. lenges. The summer will be used for information gathering and a report will be submitted to me by the end of September," added the Minister. Anyone wishing to submit ideas on the subject of the federal government's role in the field of farm credit can do so at any FCC office across the country or by mailing submissions to Corporate Planning, Farm Credit Corporation, P.O. Box 2314, Station "D", Ottawa, Ontario KIP 8J9. "With respect to farmers in financial difficulty, I recently met with the Corpora- tion's management and we agree that everything humanly possible must be done to find ways to help them," said Mr. Wise. The Chairmen of the 10 provincial appeal boards met in late June to discuss ways to improve their foreclosure review function. They shared ideas on how to handle this new task and suggested that ways should be developed to involve them before the legal foreclosure process begins. FCC is examin- ing ways to do this. Special efforts are being made to provide assistance to borrowers in arrears before the problem becomes unmanageable, Field staff are looking at ways to consolidate debt, improve cash flow and improve the manage- ment of the farmer's resources in. order to provide the best chance for, success in the near future. FCC currently has 18,700 accounts. in arrears. Financial counselling for borrowers facing repayment difficulties has become a higher priority in recent years and the Corporation is supporting its employees efforts through additional training in problem solving. "Regrettably, some borrowers do end up facing foreclosure action.FCC has been criticized in 'some quarters for its lack of flexibility, especially when looking at debt write-down. 'ewe issues have to be con- sidered when dealing with this problem - Who qualifies and Who pays? Seeing your neighbor get a debt write-down on a FCC loan when you are struggling and just managing to make your payments could be a disincentive to you. If FCC were to take on these additional losses, the burden of the cost would have to be carried by someone. Is it fair to ask future borrowers to pay through higher interest rates? "My mind is not closed on this issue and I would welcome suggestions for solutions to the problem," invited Mr. Wise, Within the parameters of existing legisla- tion FCC is also researching new programs: A form of indexed loan is under review and ways to more effectively administer land to which FCC has title are being studied, The Shared. Risk Mortgage program, introduced • in April 1985, is meeting with a positive response. Some $15 million have already been approved under the program. "I would also like to assure Canadian farmers that my colleague, Michel Cate, the Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, is placing high priority on introducing amendments to the Bankruptcy Act which will give the utmost consideration to the special circumstances faced by the agricul- tural community. "I will be discussing farm financing, taxation, and other critical issues with my provincial counterparts later this month in St. John's, Newfoundland at the Federal - Provincial meeting of agriculture ministers. This is an area in which we all share the same concerns and I look forward to their input in the review of the role and mandate of the Farm Credit Corporation," added Mr. W tse. Legislation approved Legislation to amend the Advance Pay- ments for Crops Act (APCA) has received royal assent, Agriculture Minister John Wise has announced The Act, introduced in 1977, provides guarantees for producer groups to arrange loans with banks to make interest-free advance payments, to their members who produce storable crops. The amendments to the Act will allow morn. producers and producer organizations to participate in the program, double payment limits to individual producers to reflect current market prices and bring advance payments for commodities into line with payments currently made under the Prairie Grain Advance Payments Act. "These changes will provide producers with the increased funds necessary to better meet their post-harvest financial obligations and allow them to store their crops for later sales when prices are normally higher," Mr. Wise said, "Under this system Canadian consumer% are assured of a reliable, reasonably -priced supply of high -duality Canadian produce for a longer period.' For - the 1984 crop year, 47 producer organizations,, representing about 18,000 advances to producers, received APCA guarantees totalling an estimated $190 million. OUR ELEVATORS ARE READY TO RECEIVE YOUR 1985 WHEAT CROP 2 Receiving legs 8000 buthour unloading capacity CUSTOM COMBINING TRUCKING AVAILABLE KEN R. CAMPBELL FARMS, R.R.1 DUBLIN 527-0249 YOU ARE INVITED TO THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF OUR EXPANDED FACILITIES at WALTON, ONTARIO DATE: JULY 19, 1985 (10:00 a m. — 3:00 p.m.) LOCATION Ryan Drying — Division of Cook's Branch Office, Walton Lunch will be served from 11:30 a.m. — 1:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY conducted by our New Minister of Agriculture — THE HONORABLE JACK RIDDELL MARKET OUTLOOK SESSIONS! Come and Join us for this Special Event!! HENSALL 262-2410 CENTRALIA KIRKTON WALTON 527-1540 228-6661 229-8986 Remember! You can BANK on COOK'S -- "where you can trade with confidence" Cook's Division of Gerbro Inc.