HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1979-08-30, Page 15EXCHANGING MEIVIORtES-4orne of the
guests at the Junior Farmers 30th anniversary
celebrations- in Clinton on. Saturday night' were.
(left to right) Rev Ireland, Rod. Stork, from the.
OMAF junior extension program; Mr, and Mrs,
Gordon Bennett, Jim Phelan, president of the
provincial Junior Farmers, organization, and Ray'
Westlake. Mr. Bennetts; now retired as a deputy
minister, OMAF, was the Huron County ag..
rep. in 1949 when the county. Junior Farmers
organization was .established.
(Photo by Dillon):'.
.esters are apprec,atedOle Sob Trotter Eldele Rd Etmua. Ont N38 2C7
Inquiring abau
Anyone connected with agriculture must be puzzled
about the judicial inquiry into the food industry which has
been going on since last February in Toronto.
The inquiry was set up to find: out what rebates,
discounts and allowancesdo to the final price of food and
who is getting kickbacks:
I'm on the outside looking ins As the famous comedian,
Will Rogers, said so many years ago:; All I know is what I
read in the newspapers. I have not had the time or the
money to go down to Toronto and listen to the charges and
counter charges. But I'ni sure puzzled about what is going's
Who can you believe?. First, the presidents of the two
major chains--Loblaws and Dorninion--give a figure on the
total percentage they received in rebates.. A month or so
later, they come back and gave a different figure.
What I suspect --and a number of letters have conte in
recently asking, why I, haven't commented on the
inquiry --has come frombetween the lines: in what is being
reported.
Judge. W.ti each harcritieized both companies for
their lack of candor Hecalled the president of Dominion
Stores "obtuse" which, in my dictionary, means slow in
No matter. What I see is; an aura of secrecy, a deliberate
casting of suspicion,'by the big retail chains. They are not'
going to reveal what the left hand doeth for fear thein
competitors will cut thathand off at the elbow.
In my humble opinion, I.:think these discounts and
rebates tend to cut down on open competition by leaving.
fewer products . on suPermarket shelves from which
shoppers can choose. This cutting off of other suppliers
only gives those chain stores the opportunity to
concentrate economic power, right from the, time ;the
product leaves the farmer until it reaches your table and.
mine.
Many, times over the last decade this column has forcibly
pointed out how the conglomerates cans -and do --take a bite
of profits • all along the food chain. By giving or taking
We will be receiving
Barley
•White Beans:
•Corn
Trucking Is available for pick-up & delivery
RYAN
DRYING LTD.
Walton, Ont„-
BrusselsSeaforth,
887-9261 527-0527
rebates and allowances, these huge stores with so many
'fingers in so many pies can.gouge the consumer,
' I emphasize: They can gouge the consumer. Whether
they have done so has not yet been clearly established. Bet
they, have the power and this power should be curbed. •
Whether this inquiry,, will be able to do anything to
prevent this concentration is, doubtful:
As l' read the articles in': a number of newspapers, I can
only conclude that some witnesses arerevealing as little as
possible.' Some of the testimony, in, fact, leads me to
believe that some witnesses'. are . deliberately leaving
misleading impressions>.
Dave Nichol of Loblaws and Allan Jackson of Dominion
Stores gave a completelydifferent percenta8e on the total
amount of discounts, and .allowances received from
suppliers.' The differences inpercentage were small but
loomed large when put into dollars and cents, In June,
Nichol estimated his chain achieves a rate of about two per
cent on sales. Jackson said his chain received more than
three per cent.
Later, when thosefigures "were. questioned, Nichol came;.
back with a figure of 5.3' per cent "of sales and Jackson
came back with a figure of 4.3 per cent of sales
If the . people giving testimony. keep : changing their
minds. every 10 days, what good is the inquiry? Whenit
was set up mare than a year ago, Bill 'Newman, the
minister of agriculture and food for Ontario, said itcould
be the most expensive inquiry- ever undertaken by the
province.
Maybe he knew something, I didn't know:. Maybe he
knewit would benextto impossible to ex ect candor from
P .p
all witnesses called. He probablyhad had experience with.
these people in other areas and knew how 'frustrating it
would be to expect candid answers.
Surely, the people . of thisprovince:have a right to
know --to expect the truth and nothing, but the truth --about
where their food dollar is going. •
Between 500400 people
attended. the Ooh«
.Anniversary colebta#lons ,qf
the Huron County Junior
fart. rs, .As oeiatwn. held art
the Clinton arena; Ott
Saturday.
Len. Me'Gregor. of the
Clinton OMAF .office. said
number of ;past presidents
arid, past provincial directors:
ol'• the county. organization;
attended, the;celebrations..
Although Junior Farmers.
clrubs existed, in the county
from' the 1920's. it wasn't
,until 1949' that a county -wide
organization was formed by
Gordon Bennett, then Huron
,County agricultural repre-
isentative, Mr. Bennett. who•
was a guest at the 34th.
anniversary celebrators, re-
cently retired as a .deputy
minister, OMAF. Another
guest was J.0 Rennie. who.
was the; assistant ag, rep, at
the ,time of the county -wide' •
organization of the clubs,
and is currently a .deputy
minister, OMAF,
Ina short program before
the dance, Bill Armstrong of
Wingham, president of the
Huron County . Junior.
Farmers, welcomed ;guests.
George Robertson, of'R.R,S,
Goderich,i0 was the first
County president in. 1949.
spoke briefly on the early
days of the 'organization.
Jim. Phelan, the Ontario.
Junior Farmers president
and the provincial director
from 'Karon County, :brought
225 help
from here'
The, Hurott County Feder-
ation , of .Agriculture has
directed 225 volunteers to
the clean-up operation in the
Woodstock: area following
the recent tornado which cut
a path through Oxford
County:
Adrian Vos . answered • the
telephone at the federation
Office in Vanastra and direct-
ed callers who wished to help
in the relief effort, Many of
the volunteers who travelled
to the stricken area took their'
own saws and tools to help
The federalrioti;s tornado
relief fund has called 52,500
in donations to date, Don-
ations may be mailed' to the
fund . at Box 429, Clinton,
,Ontario the federation
office.
The need its the coming
weeks in the tornado -stricken
area is for carpenters to help
rebuild barns and 'homes,
Feed for animals is also
required where barns and
:'crops were levelled;
For further information, or
to donate labour or feed, call
the federation office on. Mon-
days and: Fridays at 482-9642
•
•
Godericn
woman
to run
for
warden
Eileen Palmer,. reeve. of;,
Goderich, confirmed last.
week that she plans to run' for
the position of Huron County
warden, If Mrs. Palmer is
successful in her:. bid for the
position, she would be the
' first woman to serve as
warden in Huron County.
Hay Township reeve John
Tinney is .currently warden,:
and his position doesn't
come for re-election- until'
Dec. 11. !vitt. said
she plans to •announce her
candidacy at next Thursday.
Mrs.' Palmer, a. six-year
veteran of Goderich town
oouncil, is serving her third
ear VA county council.
•
CH
TOPNOTCH FEEDS LiMiTED`
16.
orcetings frog't,110 ()POMO
FtssQc4?tl9n. P'he1gn of
Blyth, is •the first proxincial
director from, Arm County
tube elected president of toe
provincial organtratiun•,
THE i #tt POSIT
Pon Pollen,, Huron.Countx
no. ,reps acted as emcee for
the pressram, which: was -
followed
asfollowed by a dance.
%,en. McGregor said
or: anizers were pleased with
the .'good turnout.."
Although' tlbeY had hos
more former kg. t'eps and
assistant ag, reps,, cpu14
return: for ,the anolversg7.?
colebrattons. Ibe distances
.volt+ed wore 100
most to 11Witcrt to 4:t
However, Mt. McGr
.said man* of th4
tetters of i ...n zttitl+
thejuntas?'> tt
3MTH ANNIVERSARY' GUESTS Some of the
guests at the Junior Farmers .anniversary
celebrations on Saturday night were (left to.
right) Gerald Smith of Mildmay, Harry Dougall
Of Exeter; Don McKercher of Seaforth; Howard.
Pym of Centralia; Ron McMichael;: Bob
McKinley, Huurnn-Bruce MP; Jack Riddell,
WELCOME .-,. Lois Moore of Egmondvilte is.
pinned with a name tag at the 30th anniversary
r County
celebrations of. ,theHuron • u a Junior
uni or
Farmers,.
Huron -Middlesex MPP; Jim Phelan of Myth;
Keith Williamson of Seaforth and; Rick.
Archambault of • Auburn. All; are farmer
provincial directors: (-excluding the elected
offiaiais;of the Huron County Junior Farmers,
(Photo•by °Mon
Thanks.
Huron County Jr. farmers
Would like to.; extend, their' appreciation'., to..
the foltowang . in making • their 3Qth;
anniversary dance a success:
Clinton Arena.
*Clinton OMAF 'Office
* Clinton High School
*Seaforth High School
* Flathwelt Sr Associate*
* and to all those who attended,,—
t' . 'keyto controlling
raTl�a, s the _
ss this fall with Roundup'herhiciiff
Next spring; nothing will be more
important than getting in and planting as
early as possible, Unfortunately, . that
doesn't leave much time for dealing with'
quackgrass.:
Unless you apply Roundup
/ -
herbicide
V
Herbicide by Monsanto this fall
after harvest. Treating quackgrass
this you'll fall ou'have one less chore
means I
in the spring.
Simply allow the quackgrass to
regrow undisturbed in the crop stubble
until the majority of plants are act-
ively growing and at mast 8
inches high (3.4 leaf stage).: But
treatbefore. the first killing .frost.
Properly applied, Roundup will
be absorbed and “translocated“
..down into the network of rhizomes.
destroying` the entire plant, above
,..and betaw ground'. Five days after
treatment, you can resume fall
tillage operations.
Since Roundup has no residual soil activity,
you can plant wheat, oats, barley, corm or
soybeans next spring - without risk of
crop injury.
What's more, many farmers using Roundup
as the key element in a quackgrass
control program, have beenable to
achieve manageable quackgrass
I control for as long as three years.
See your dealer about Roundup.
The herbicide that gets to the root of the
problem.
Monsanto Canada Ine.
Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Vancouver
ALWAYS READ ANO FOLLOW THE. LABEL DIRECTIONSi '
FOR ROt1NDtJP1 HERBICIDE.
Roundupt is n registered tredemavk tit Monsanto Company.
RCt4 5f19 . •
Monsanto Company 1979.
'i`hiS adV2ititernent
prepared ror
"Midler Jordan rlerrI k LltL
5696848 ' ,
etb cide'like.this before.
or further information cofltac
your. .toczti
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L I MIT EDIl
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Ventilation (Wholesale S Retail) Pesticides — Spraying Equipment,
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Phone
419 9 7