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The Rural Voice, 1978-02, Page 21a )e rs to .'t in to 11 r. s' d r 5 f give them long enough to qualify them for unemployment insurance," he said. He said a good picker can earn 570 a day picking tomatoes on his farm. Mr. Cameron blamed the poor labour situation partly on Canada Manpower officials who made such blunders as sending a man on crutches to pick apples on one farm near Brantford and hired an employee with hepatitis who then forced a quarantine situation on 20 other workers, ,on a farm also in the Brantford area. Huron presentation to highlight O.P.A. convention With Huron County hosting the 1978 International Plowing Match, a huge Huron county delegation will highlight the 1978 Ontario Plowmen's Association Convention in Toronto at the Royal York Hotel on Feb. 13-14. To facilitate the attendance of Huron county people to the convention a bus trip is planned for Tuesday. Feb. 14 leaving the Seaforth District High School at 7 a.m. If a second bus is required, it will leave Wingham at the same time. Anyone with an interest in travelling to the O.P.A. Convention to support the Huron County delegation in their present- ation. should contact Bob Gibson in the North (335-3277). Claire Deichert in the South (236-4130). and the Agricultural Office. Clinton in central Huron (482-3428 or Zenith 7-2800) by February 3. If there is enough interest shown. arrangements will be made for a bus on Monday as well. Please contact the same people mentioned if you wish to go on Monday. Phone the Ontario Ministry of Agricult- ure and Food, Clinton, if you wish accommodation at the Royal York Hotel for Sunday or Monday night. Please call prior to February 3. The program begins on Monday. February 13, with registration at 1 p.m. From 1:30 until 4 there will be a discussion. by Ed Starr. director, O.P.A., about ,the co-operative roles of the O.P.A. and the local committee. This will be very timely Imation. All committee chairmen r. to be there. In fact, this should lered a Command Performance! will be an evening banquet with .iment arranged by Miss Zena ars. 1'he Huron County presentation will be on Tuesday, February 14, beginning shortly before noon. The Seaforth and District High School Girls' Band will be leading this delegation in. Several from this delegation will be speaking, including chairman Howard Datars, vice-chairman Roy Pattison, O.P.A. director and host farmer Jim Armstrong, as well as the 1978 Huron County Warden Gerry Ginn. It has been requested that the entire sa,, Huron delegation remain in place while agricultural representative Don Pullen gives a short address about Huron County. The band will then lead the entire delegation out. Almost immediately following will be the noon luncheon. The Honourable Wm. Newman, Minister, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, will be the guest speaker. Huron County will have a hospitality suite, as in previous years. There will be notices about the location in the hotel. The support of "great masses" of people from Huron County would be appreciated at the Convention. Whelan says quota value getting out of hand Quota values for major commodities such as eggs and milk are escalating far beyond their worth, Federal Agriculture Minister Eugene Whelan said in early January. High quota values, he said, are making the rich richer and the poor, poorer. "The thing basically wrong is if they (marketing boards), don't put some control on quotas, the rich can get richer and the small, efficient producer will have trouble staying alive." the minister, a strong advocate of farm marketing boards said. "With any marketing board which has no control over quotas and Lets them trade on the free market, an unrealistic high value becomes involved," he said. "The capital invested in the quota is often more than the capital invested in the facilities and land." What Mr. Whelan advocates is removal of quotas from the free market and distribution at a "reasonable price" to farmers rather than between -farmer sales. He pointed out, however, that he has no control over quotas which are a provincial responsibility. Because of quota shortages for both industrial milk and eggs, both have been leased or sold at excessive prices. Mr. Whelan was critical of the decision of the Ontario Egg Producers Marketing Board and the provincial government to allow leasing of hen quotas as of Jan. 1. Just who stinks? The farm -versus urban uses, odour problem took a new twist recently in Elmham, England. There the local village council agreed to allow a fish and chip shop in place of a former piggery. One resident, however, objects. The shop, he said, would emit an "obnoxious non -rural smell." Lambton farmers had good crops, bad prices Lambton county's 3000 farmers had record crops but poor pries in 1977, William Abraham, county ag. rep. reported at the year end. Mr. Abraham said there were record yields in soybeans and winter wheat and a above average yields in corn and spring grains. Average yield in soybeans in the county was about 37 bushels to the acre (normal average is about 33). Winter wheat yields were 57 bushels to the acre compared to an average yield of 45. Corn average about 91 bushels to the acre, up from 83 for a normal crop. As elsewhere, however, farmers were hurt by the low corn prices which see them losing about 30 cents on every bushel sold. Weather conditions during harvest time hurt, Mr. Abrahams said, but not nearly as bad as in Huron and Perth counties. Canadian -U.S. meat trade said balanced Unhappy U.S. beef men who spent a good part of the month of January trying to stop imports of Canadian beef along the prairie border should take a closer look at the total meat import-export situation, a spokesman for prairie pork producers says. Dan Price, chairman of the Alberta hog producers marketing board says that Canada may have a healthy surplus in beef exports, but it's nearly balanced out by a huge import surplus in pork. In 1977, Price said, Canada exported 206 million pounds of beef and veal to the U.S. and imported 22.6 million, a surplus of 183.4 million pounds. In pork, however, the trend was the other way with only 20.9 pounds exported compared to 197.2 imported for a trade deficit of 176.3 million pounds_. Considering the fact that the U.S. livestock industry is about 10 times larger than Canada's, the effect of the trade between the two countries has a much greater effect on Canadian livestock pricing than it does on the U.S. markets," Mr. Price said. "If anyone has a right to complain, it is the western Canadian hog producer who should be shouting as he is hurting the most." THE RURAL VOICE/FEBRUARY1998. PG. 21.