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The Huron Expositor, 1978-10-12, Page 15You need farmers more than they need you Few people would believe that farm income has not kept pace with inflation. A look .at beef prices is enough to scare most housewives into buying .a protein supplement. But recent statistics released by the province indicate- that farm income is actually dropping at an alarming rate. For instance; in 1973 - just five years ago - farmers who filed income tax forms indicated that 29.7 per cent of their net in- come came from the farm. The rest of their income. came from other sources such as part-time jobs as school-bus drivers, janitors; welders, mechanics, snowblowing and an- ything else that could make them a dollar Or two. But by 1975, the farming share of their net income dropped to 25.7 per cent, a decrease of four per cent in five years. 'In other words, they made more money off thejarm than on the farm. What they made uft.te farm paid more. All of which indicates to me that fa.ein.„income,„deglined, Other income went up. Wages went up. - Who else is working for less today. than five years ago? The depressing indictment in the whole set of figures is that farmers have to take two or three jobs. That is the ines- capable fact that distresses me. In a basic industry such as agriculture, too many farmers fitsit necessary Co take other jobs so they can remain on thfarm. In most counties — even thoseAhought to be pri- marily rural in make-up —,more than half, perhaps even two-thirds of the money made by farmers was hot made from the land. Farmers have to work hard even on a modein operation. If they did not find it absolutely necessary, they would not hold down two or three jobs. If they could make a better living as full-time farmers, that is where they would prefer to be,. But-they cannot. They must find other sources of income. I put it to you this way: How many farm homes have you seen with a swimming ppol in the backyard? Darn few. And it's a lead-pipe cinch that most farm homes with a swim- ming pool are owned by a gentleman farmer. a chap with a primary income from another source who may be using the farm as a tax write-off. This is not to suggest that everybody should own a swim- ming pool. I am suggesting they are a sign of affluence. That affluence has not spread to the farm gate. A cartoon a few weeks ago in some of our national newspapers depicted a huge steer with a bloated belly eating dollar bills. The inference was that beef prices are too high. Few of those cartoonists bothered to depict a beef farmer dying of starvation a year ago aftera five-year low, after five years of struggling to stay in business because low beef prices caused hundreds of bankruptcieS. • Few cartoonists were even aware that beef farmers exist- ed until the price began to climb to the point now where a farmer can pay his taxes, his bank loan and perhaps buy some long-needed new. equipment. It would be interesting to find out how many other people in our economy are forced to find other jobs. A great many, probably, but it seems too bad that half the farmers in this province find it necessary. Why should they be different from anyone else? Because they are. They are unique. They are in a business that is so vitally important to us that we would starve without them. They supply more than 40 per cent of the gross national product. They, are one of the last bastions of free enterprise left in the country. They are farmers and you need them more than they need you. Great Bean Company opens xpositor jj -1. ATTENTION FARMERS We are ready to handle your CORN & SOYBEAN CROP Seed Wheat is also available Remember the Farmers Co-operative for: the •best ir? service. rtALsTot4 PURINA ' 131' CANADA ,I-.42t ilton J. Dietz '710608 R.R:4 SeofOfth bblin Feed ,Milt • v...olimpar.s••• 11111$111HIA '79 II) all here. ELDER ENTERPRISES SALES & SERVICE DIAL 262-6142 'HENSALL' ONT. The Exciter 440 has what you're looking for. A power- ful, reliable, economical, virtually indestructible machine specifically de- signed to go where 3lou want - ' to go and do what you want to do. See the Exciter 440 today at - ONTARIO BEAN GROWERS CO-OPERATIVE Three locations SEAFORTH 345-2007 "Service and a fair deal is our motto" ti LONDON RANNOCK ATTENTION FARMERS 4 P. .411r d—i E IMMIN"2-1 .A I M IP^ 3 ' • \ 1 11 '4 l I '4t k .1111 e.- I \ • Contact us first We are ready to receive your new' CORN & SOYBEAN CROP HENSALL 262.2527 DOUG MANN LLOYD WHrresEii MITCHELL 348-8433 TONY' BOUW LYLE SINCLAIR GRANT** 225.2360 RON SQUIRE BI GOS r • Huileft has court Iiiiii)ett Township Council held a 'Court of Revision' on the Voungblat Drain at its regular meeting' on Monday, October 2. Ken'Campbell and Robert Dempsey from the Huron County Road Committee ,and other owners were present. Mr. Dempsey spoke at length on the inequity of the assessments but the Court of ,Revision did not' see fit to make any changes. Constable Jim McLeod of the Ontario Provincial Police• discussed any problems the township may be having with vandalism, dogs, etc. A. Bosman and ' C.. Nesbitt diseuSsed street .construction in Londesbbro with couneil. The snow plowing tender of Ken Hulley at $16',50 per hour while working and $15 per day" standby time was accepted. The other tenderreceived, was .from George Radford at $18 per holm .plus $1.5,4per day standby. In other business, council decided to act-C,eit, the tile drain loan application for Lot 6, Con. 9 and Lot 6, Con. 10 and accepted the Completion Certificates Of the Tile Drain Inspector and instruct the Clerk to prepare the necessary By-Law. • Building permits were approved as recommended by' the building inspector, subject' to township by-laws and Huron County Health Unit where applicable, and Mr. Wood will be advised there will be no consideration given complaints against normal farm activities taking place in this area. Council passed a by-law to impose special annual drainage rates upon lands in respect of which money is borrowed under the Tile Drainage Act 1971. Severances were approved. for Thomas Whyte, DeJong Farms Ltd., Kenneth McNairn and William Whyte with the recommendation that there• be written agreements on line fences. Ceuncil also passed a by-law to authorize the Corporation of the Township of Hullett to enter into agreements with the owners of lands located in the Township for the purpose of reforesting portions of the lands. The worldwide export of beans is the main objective of the marketing operation of• the Great Canadian Bean Company, a' new compnay opened at. RR 1, Ailsa Craig. The family corporation, headed „by president Peter Twynstra, is dedicated to prodocing edible beans for L.H. ',Turnbull and Son, Ltd., Grand Bend -were awarded the contract for the Dunn drain by Usbornetown- ship council 'at .their Oct. 3 meeting. The Grand Bend company submitted the lowest tender of $4,835 for the Dunn drain construction. Other comp- anies who submitted tenders to the council were Gerber Drainage Enterprises at $6,250, Hodgins and Hayter Ltd. at $6018, Robert Nichol- son Construction Co, Ltd. at $5170, Birnam Excavating at $5490 and McKenzie and Henderson at $4,950, In other business, the council approved the pro- visional adoption of the Buswell drain report, Osborne awards drain contract A controversial amend- ment to, the Huron County Federation of Agriculture's land use policy statement regarding mobile homes was turned down by federation members at their monthly Meeting. The amendment to the land use policy presented by Merle Gunby. a ,member of the land use committee. read, "Mobile homes should be permitted only as a secondary or temporary res- idence where the occupant is actively engaged in operat-' prepared by' C.P. Corbett and Co. Engineers. Also, council members provisionally accepted the Blair drain report received from Biddulph Township. W.J. Routley, . tile drain- age inspector, reported the completion of three loan works for total loans of $32,400 to complete drain- age projects. Council also approved three loan appli- cations to the amount of $19,800, • CoUncil also approved the payment of supplementary accounts and general ac- counts for the month of September. The next council meeting will be held on Nov. 2. ing a farm." The original policy, which still stands. said. "Mobile homes should he permitted only as part of a mobile home park or as a secondary or primary reSidence where the occupant is actively engaged, in operating the farm," . In presenting the motion, Mr. Gunby said the cam- mktee didn't want their proposal to seem like "we were recommending mobile home parks.". ' • Mason Bailey, a member of the audience, said, "All plaimpig tomorrow With 'research today. both the domestic and export markets. The company's processing plant and warehouse, facility is located on .the Twynstra farm in the northwest of Middlesex County. The plant which is able to receive up to 80 metric tonnes per hour and process up to 10 tonnes of extra milk from every cow, every lactation. Purina research has shown that just 100 pounds of additional bo- dy condition at calving can mean 1000 to 2000 pounds of extra milk the following lactation. When you feed D & H Chow or & H Show Special mixed with grain to your dry_cows,youtan-expect- more milk from every cove. Stop in and find out how D & H Chow and -. & H Chow Special can help you get more Milk per cow in the next lacta- tion. per hour, has a capacity of 2,500 tonnes. Nine silos and a warehouse provide a 100,000 bushel storage capacity. The Great Canadian Bean Company will handle edible soybeans, white and yellow- eye beans as well as light and dark kidney beans. Facilities 'Huron F of A rejects: • EXPOSITOR "OCTOBER 12v 1078 home airmendniett Tyr your kids aren't gijing to farm and all of them won't want to live in a $50,009 house," -"He added, some may want to live in a trailer. John Van Beers, Who seconded the original motion calling for an amendment, said ''We is farmers want to keep people at least 1,000 feet away from our build- ings." Mr. Gu nby added: that the land use committee felt mobile,parks would be detri- mental to agriculture in the area in the long run. He said. "Mobile homes don't pay tax dollars to the community proportional to educational costs and ser- vices." On a vote of the members, the motion to amend the original policy regarding mobile homes was lost. A second amendment to the land use policy regarding cottage development in Huron County was passed by the members. The amendment read, "Further cottage or so-called "seasonal residential devel- opment" in Huron County should not be permitted." The previous statement in the federation's land use policy was that cottage devel- opment should be permitted only along the lakeshore and only under strictly controlled and limited conditions. Gordon Hill, a federation member, asked if the prop- osed change would mean the federation opposes cottage and seasonal residences along river properties in the county. Mr, Gunby said the amendment also covered this area. He said committee members were concerned alnut developments being builtwherc the' houses were' termed seasonal residences but in the long run would be ro osal used as permanent homes, • He said a town is being created 1,000 feet wide and 50 to 100 miles along the Lake Huron lakefront. . Mason Bailey said he felt the proposed amendment could backfire. If land wasn't available for recreational purposes along the lakefront then people would buy farms for recreational use. MriGunhy said if this happened, "We'll have one person on .a''100 acres rather' than 100-200 people on a 100 acres." Members approved the 'amendment calling for a halt to further cottage and sea- sonal residentail develop- ment in the county. Also during the meeting; Keith Roulston, publisher of "the Rural Voice, a farm magazine which goes to federation members in three counties, wrote to the mem- bers to inform them that his company. Squire Publishing ii • II II • • • III 'II II ill II II II '111 IN II It II III • II II II II II .4"mw 'Get up to a ton at the company have been designed to' accomodate future expansion in the range of varieties of beans, Mr. Twynstra said he feels that, an attractive export climate exists for beans now because of the present economic conditions in Canada. YOUR ONE-STOP SHOPPING CENTRE FOR ALL YOUR FARM SUPPLIES WARNING/AVERTISSEMEN't a • ifi