The Lucknow Sentinel, 1985-07-31, Page 5Luclmow Sentinel, Wednesday, July 31, 1985—Page 5
Agricrew hard work, but offers valueable experience
By Alan Rivett
.It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do
it. That's the proclamation of a muffler
company in their commercials. It also
echoes the sentiments felt by the members
of a , Huron County Agricrew. y_
With rakes and buckets in , hand,
foreman Jeff Pbpp, Rick McLean, , Jerry
Oliver and Brian' Underwood are hard at
work on the farm • of John Martin near
Whitechurch, clearing a small field of its
stones last Tuesday. They are one of two
agricrews working in Huron County this
year.
It's tough work for the crew who began
their farm assignments on June 24. Their
main job since the beginning has been
picking stones and milkweeds but it has
also included "fun" jobs such as driving a
tractor and cutting wood, • which is the
favourite work of the crew. "It's O.K.
Sometimes it gets hard, though," says
Pbpp, a student going into grade 12, at
Central Huron Secondary School in Clin-
ton.
Experience
. Popp, who lives on a farm near Auburn,
entered the program in order to gain more
experience in farm work. He says the
Agricrew work term has helped him gain
experience.,
"I wanted to try; it (Agricrew) to see
what different jobs you could do," he says.
• "I wanted. to gain experience on 'different
types of farms."
Rick MacLean, a grade 10 student in
Clinton,. says he joined the program after
he had heard about it, from a cousin who
had worked on an Agricrew for a few years.
He . doesn't mind. the work,although the
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heat while working in the fields is some -
tomes bother some. "It gets too hot," he
says. The most they have worked at any
one farm is five days, otherwise; they
usually work for a day at a farm. Although
this is his first year m the prograrn, he.
hopes to gain employment elsewhere next
summer.
. First Year'
His co-worker, Jerry Oliver, is also in his
first year with Agricrew. He says he
expected there would be more working in
the barn, but sincejoining the crew, he has
learned to take the controls ..of a tractor.
Mr. Martin, who is employing the 'crew
for the day, says it's the first time he has
used the services, of agricrew- on his farm.
• 'He's pleased with the work of the agricrew
and will hire them again if the need arises.
"If I had 'Something like this again, I
think I'dget them back," • he says.
The co-ordinator of the agricrews, Paul
Nichol, a student at' the University of
Guelph, says the work for the crews has
been fairly steady through the summer
months. •
"When I first came into the office we
had a 10 person waiting list for the crews.
We had work booked up three weeks
ahead, "• he says, adding the crews will do
almost any kind of farm work short of
working with chemicals.
This year, there were 16 applications for
10 positions on the crews: "There's no .
trouble finding people," he says. The crew
are paid by the hour with the foreman
receiving $4.50 per hour and the crew
receiving a $3.15 an hour minimum wage. .
If a crew member is over 18, he receives a
$4 minimum wage. The farmer pays $90 a
day for the workers while a subsidy of
One of the,two Agricrews in Huron County were working, at the farm of John Martin of R.
R. 2, Lucknow, Agricrew employs high school age youths in the area at farms doing such
work as picking stones and milkweed from fiedis. From the left are, 'Paul Nichol,
co-ordinator of the Agricrew program, John'Martin, Brian Underwood, foreman Jeff Popp,
Jerry Oliver and Rick MacLean. • (Photo by Alan Rivett) k
$2.81 per hour is paid by the Ontario Youth
secretariat. •
Program Change
Nichol said there is a change in the
program this . year. Formerly, the crews
were assembled out of. applicants from
high schools. This year, a make work
project was implemented in conjunction
with the agricrew program which is geared
to youth who are out of school or have been
unemployed for 12 .weeks. He says there is
One .such crew in Huron County.
The Agricrew program .has been in
operation for eight years and has built up a
good reputation with the farmers in Huron
County, says Nichol.
"We've received a lot of calls back from
farmers who've had the agricrews in the.
past," he says.
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