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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1980-10-30, Page 20ts • BY ALICE GIBB Gordon MacMurchy, Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture, told Huron Federation of Agrieultiire members at their annual meeting When it comes to absentee ownership offarmland, "you've got to tackle 'it, and tackle it by law." The minister, who was invited to tell local federation members how Saskatchewan handled non-resident ownership of farmland FEDERATION ELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE—The new executive of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture is (left) John Van Beers of RR1, Blyth, the first vice-president; Gerry Fortune of 1#11, Wingham, the federation's first woman president. and Tony McQuail of RR1, Lucknow, second vice-president. The executive, and directors -at -large Bev Brown, Wafter Elliott and Jim Hunter were et Elmo at me annual -meeting In Brussels on Thursday. " • (Photo by Gibb) TACKLE IT BY LAW—Gordon MacMurchy, Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture, told Huron County Federation of Agriculture members they must tackle the issue of abgentee foreign ownership of farmland in the province "by law." In a speech at the federation's annual meeting, Mr. MacMurchy duttined the steps his government followed in legislating against non-resident ownership of more than 10 acres of land In the province. ' (Photo by Gibb) derry Fortune heads F of A by: ALICE GIBS Gerry Fortune. of R.R. 1. Wingham. was elected president of the Huron Countv Federation of Agriculture. the first woman to hold that position. at the federation's annual meeting in Brifssels on Thursday. Mrs. Fortune. who fa'rrns in Tunberry Township with her husband Doug. has been , first vice-president of the federation for two years. John Van Beers of R.R. 1 Blyth. was elected first vice-president of the organiza- tion and Tony Mcchtail. of R.R. 1. Lucknow, second vice-president. The three directors -at -large elected at the annual meeting were Bev Brown of R.R. 1,. Bluevale. Walter Elliott of R.R. 1. Lucknow and Jim Hunter of y R 1, Belgrave. - About 300 people attended the. annual meeting and banquet held at the Brussels. Morris and Grey Community Centre. The guest speaker was Gordon MacMurchy. Saskatchewan Minister of Agriculture, who told federation members about controls on the purchase of farmland by non-residents and corporations in his province. Before Mr. MacMurchy' s speech. the federation presented the Huron County Federation of Agriculture Award. honouring a member of the community who's made a significant contribution to agriculture. The recipient of the award, the third time it's been presented, was.Norman Alexander of Londesboro. In presenting the award, -Adrian Vos, of Blyth, said Mr. Alexander is well-known for his work campaigning against soil erosion and pollution'of the Great Lakes. Mr. Vos said the drainage commissioner for Hullett Township. has been recognized tis the ' Ministeries of Environment and Natu-al Resources for his crusade to save the environment- a crusade carried out at his own expense. Russell Bolton. of R.R. I. Seaforth. associated ,with Mr. Alexander in county farm organizations for many sears. said the former Londesboro-area farmer has been involved with the federation since it was organized in the county in 1%0. Mr. Bolton said when Norman Alexander joined the So il and Crop Improvement Association. he was concerned with devising a means to obtain clean seed. Hp added Mr. Alexander. ;ho operated a Londesboro seed cleaning niant for 30 Nears operated the first place in the tount. hv re seed was cleaned and praised him "for helping to get pure seed out to farms." Before presenting Mr. Alexander ith his award. Gerry Fortune presented Helen Alexander with a gift and praised her efforts in supporting Norman during his campaign. In accepting the honor. Mr. Alexander said he was reminded of a comment made by Mr. Bolton when both men were attending a Saskatchewan convention. Mr. Bolton had said, "The way they're putting trees into Saskatchewan...they're going to have more trees that we have in Ontario." Norman Alecander said the challenge facing farmers today is to do More for our land. He added. "I hope you (Federation Members) can direct your efforts to soil and the management of soil." said now. "Saskatchewan land . . .in fact stays in the hands of Saskatchewan people." Mr. MacMurchy said in 1971, when the New Demo cratic Party formed the govern- ment inthe province, there was growing concern in southern Saskatchewan about the takeover of land by interegts from goittn of the border: He said at the end of the 1960's, his province was coming out of " a real depression" - markets were poor, young people weren't going into farming, and land in the provinte was relatively cheap. . "Speculators were quidto exploit the situation," he added. In 1972, the agriculture minister said, the Saskatchewan legislature established a special committee to study the ownership of farmland in the province, with members from both sides of the assembly. Their role was to investigate the effects of the purchase and ownership of agricultural land by non-resident foreign and corporate owners. RESTRICT OWNERSHIP In 1973, when, the committee reported their findings, the agriculture minister said "they said we should restrict ownership of Saskatchewan land to family farm operations and co-operatives." • The result was the Saskatchewan Farm Ownership Act, which restricted non- resident buyers to owning a ,maximum of $15,000 value assessed 1#nd, and limited non-agricultural corporations to the purchase of one-quarter section of land. A three -matt Farm Ownership Board was also set up to administer the act. In order to protect retiring farmers, Mr. MacMurchy gold federation -members an • exemption provision was included so they could pass their land on to their children or other family members. Also, since the government didn't want to xliscourage pofen resider -WV -Who wanted to live in Saskatchewan, three-year exemp- tions were granted to potential residents and farmers living within 20 miles of the provincial border were allowed to carry on farming within the province. Mr. MacMurchy said the act resulted in 4"a fight in the legislature"and added, some opponents of the plan said "next we were going to burn the churches." But the act, "a bold step", was passed and the minister said once it was understood, it was welcomed by the province's farmers. However, the farm community soon realised "land was still being bought out from beneath the act by non-residents." Even in his own constituency, the minister said, German interests were buYing large amounts of land and offering as much as liurou S400 -an acre in a period when $150 an acre was the going price of land. Also, the land was sold with a lease -back provision, "an coffer that was too good to refuse." He told the over 300 guests at the banquet that 34 quarter sections of land were eventually owned by absentee German buyers. While the Farm Ownership Board investigated, they found each parcel of land was in the name of different corporations registered by 'foronto latsyers, which met die Stipuliffons of the Farm Ownership Act. TORONTO-LAWYERS— "The CPR is bad, but equally ,bad are Toronto Lawyers," the minister and jokingly. . * By the end of 1975, the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, the United Grain Growers and the National Farmers Union and Federation of Agriculture were all in agreement "something had to be done" , In the winter session of the legislature in 1977/78, legislation was approved retroactively to September of that year to limit the ownerhsip of farm land by non-resident or by non -agriculture cor- porations to one quarter section. But even the news legislation failed to curtail nbn-resident ownership. Mr MacMurchy said buyers and investors were willingto live with the new restrictions, "it just fobk more names." Also young farmers were trying to compete with non-resident buyers who could offer higher prices for farm land which meant "the young farmer was squeezed from the market." .• Soon organizatiOns in The provinte started calling for zero non -residency ownership of land. "We felt it would be alit:lost impossible to go to zero acres for either non-residents or non-agriculutral corporations, because then one could be in a situation where the local: - service station could not buy an acre of land to locate on the highway, or even the farm machinery dealership, because he 4.w..sn't fit the definition of an agricultural cdRoration whose shares are owned by resident farmers,'' Mr. MacMurchy told the audience. 10, ACRES The compromise was to limit purchases of land by non --resident buyers td itracres, and the new law was approved in May, 1980. Effective immediately, no non-resident or non-agricultural corporation could own more than 10 acres of land in the province. Also, the new act also made it an offense for someone within the province to buy land on behalf of a non-resident or on behalf of a Please turn to page 14 xpo/sitor SEAFORTH, ONTARIO, THURSDAY OCTOBER 30, 1980 (Second Section Pages 1A - 8A) F of A wants to help young farmer by: ALICE GIBB Huron Federation of Agri- culture delegates won't -be going to the Ontario Federa- tion of Agriculture conven- tion empty handed. Federation members ap- proved a number of resolu- tions at their annual meeting in Brussels Thursday for .delegates to take to the convention next month. The first resolutionap- proved by members said since young farmers face difficulties starting up in business with high land prices and high interest rates. "be it resolved that the federation set up a special committee- to study the problerri and to make some resolutions.' • A second resolution. also approved. was somewhat similar. It stated since •changes in the structure of agriculture have an impact 11..11m0, ^ on the whole community. both socially and economical- ly. and since these changes are influenced by govern- ment policies. the OFA was asked to lobby with the government on behalf of the farm community. The resolu- tion read. "be it resolved that the Ontario Federation of Agriculture OFA strike a committee to examine this problem, (such a committee could seek the assistance of a major research organlaatkrn to assist in its work)." The resolution asked that the findingsof the of the commit- tee be "a major part" of the 1981 OFA convention. Doug Fortune put forward a resolution call 'ng for changes in bank policy. The resolution said at present. payments and deposits at banks made after 3 p.m. are considered the next day's business It was pointed out this can cause particular problems over a long week- end, when a deposit might be made Friday afternoon but not show on bank records until Tuesday. The resolution asked that the Bank Act be amended so "that all bank transactions be completed the day they're initiated." Members passed a fourth resoluticm. presented by Norman Alexander. calling for the OFA to urge Plant Products , a federal depart- ment. to have the Seed Act revised so that certain weed seeds. including those of Johnston grass. poison hem- lock and velvet leaf. be classified as noxious and to have the noxious weed list updated more frequently ALTERNATE SOURCE Federation members turned their attention to resolutions dealing with the issue of alternate fuel and energy sources. The first resolution said since many farmers are interested in the production of alcohol as an alternate fuel source for food production and the S500 license fee is a prohibitive cost for many farmers. the OFA should "put pressure on the approp- riate authorities to have this cost reduced to S100 or less. • A second resolution -was approved asking the Energy Committee of the OFA set up a system of collecting infor• mation on energy -producing and energy -conserving prac- tices from around the pro- vince and "redistributing it to interested groups and individuals." HYDRO'S CO-OPERATION A third energy-related resolution asked that the provincial federation ask the Ontario govern mment to clevolop guidelines and pro, grams to encourage farmers to develop their renewable energy resources.. If these were developed. the resolu- tion asked.. that 'Ontario Hydro be required "to co- operate with farmers devel- oping electrical systems dependent on renewable energy andor energy con. servation," Also. the resolution asked that Ontario Hydro be re- quired to pay fair value for farmer -produced electricity •and that fair value would be the replacement cost t� Hydro of farm -generated dectricity. The resolution ctntituicd by asking that farmers be abte to obtain loans for capital and operat• ting costs for generating and energy-oonserving systems equivalent to those available to Hydro for us operating expenses. Finally, the resol- ution also asked that such loans could be repaid over a period of years by reductions on the utility bill or dedoc- tions from the electricity payment the farmer receives. The final resolution dealt with the price paid to the bmer for corn Sold to elevators. The resolution( said while the fine matter content is subtracted from the corn and the producer doesn•t receive any payment for this. the elevators in turn add it to feed rations and charge producers for it then. The esolutions asked - "That legislation be enacted to force the elevators to pay farmers for the fine matter content received in their corn at a reasrinable price based on feed price." Years Agone writer retires REWARD STILL ENJOYED— Pearl McFarlane, who's just retir- ing as author of In The Years Agone in the Expositor, received an award 10 years ,Ago honouring her years of service in the newSpaper business. She still keeps the award in a handy place, beside her bed. (Photo courtesy Leo Hagan.) In 49 years at the Expositor, Pearl has seen it all By: HERB SHOVELLER The Huron Expositor was born in 1860. and for much of its life, Pearl Patterson McFarlane 'was a fixture in the News- paper's office. For 49 years she filled any number of positions at the Expositor. from keeping books to handing out the paper to collecting payments from subscribers. Until this summer. she's researched and written the popular column "Years Agone." every Saturday morning. "1 did everything, including cutting w000 tor my fire," she said at her new home at Huronview near Clinton. "I'd keep the fire going all weekend. 1 did everything that had to be done because I was the only girl in the office." Pearl Patterson began at the Expositor in 1920, and continued to work there until 1954 when she married Robert McFarlane. a retired McKillop farmer. She returned to the newspaper after Mr. McFarlane died in 1957, and became well known for her popular column. "I like doing it," she said, who retired from writing late this summer "1 like the names, and 1 got to know the names of people from 100 years ago and up, And I like people." After being a part of the community and the newspaper business for so long. the has seen a lot of changes take place "1 was gr-een as grass when 1 started there. but I learned very fast. It was busy place on Thursdays. We worked steady from 8 to 6, and then we had to give out the papers." she explained. "We used to stay Thursday night to give out the papers. We used to wait until 8 or 9. People picked them up rather than wait for the mail Friday morning." The Expositor now comes in Thursday morning's mail. Other changes have been with the town itself. Mrs. McFarlane is certain only three businesses are still on Main St. that were In operation when she arrived. They are Sill's Hardware, Stewart Bros.. and the Expositor. Other changes the bright octogenerian remembers and considers important to the town are the arrival of the new hospital and the shoe factory. A third she mentions is the Lions swimming pool. While Seaforth is about to ger a second grocery store, she can refer to a time when there were "about seven ' in town. Pearl is proud o the plaque she received in 1969 honoring her 49 wears of service. The award, given by the Ontario Weekly Newspaper Associaffon, is kept in a drawer Just beside her bed. Mrs. McFarlane was born in North Dakota, but when her father died in 1911 when she was 11, her mother, Jenny Cuthill Patterson, who was originally from Winthrop, brought the family back to Canada. Of her family of one sister and three brothers, only her sister, Mrs. W.C. Bennett of Seaforth is still alive. "I really miss the work," said Pearl. "I really enjoyed the years I was there." That's probably why the award sits close to her bed.