The Rural Voice, 1979-08, Page 3Inside this month
Special features
Methane production on the farm P. 2
Foreign absentee ownership P 7
1935 Farm Magazine P. 8
Ontario Agricultural Museum P. 10
New cartoonist for Rural Voice P 12
The Bruce Trail controversy P. 27
Regular features
Keith Roulston P 9
Up & Coming P 13
Farming in the Past P. 15
Voice of a Farmer P. 17
A matter of principle P 18
Rural News in Brief P. 19
Advice on Farming P 30
The Rural Family P 35
The Young Farmer P 39
Gardening P 42
Want Ads P 45
Bruce Federation P 46
Huron Federation P. 48
Cover photo
by Sheila Gunby
the rural
Voice
Published monthly by McLean Bros. Publishers Ltd., Box 10, Blyth, Ontario,
NOM 1H0. Telephone 523-9646 or 527-0240. Subscription rates: Canada $3;
Single copy 50c. Editorial board: Bev Brown, Sheila Gunby, Alice Gibb, Rhea
Hamilton, Adrian Vos and Susan White. Advertising representative: Barbara
Consitt, Telephone 527-0240. Staff reporter: Debbie Ranney. Authorized as
second class mail by Canada Post Office. Registration number 3560.
Guest
Opinion
"They'll" do something about it
BY GISELE IRELAND
With the present increase in oil prices facing us you' hear
people saying "don't worry, they'll do something about it." We
wonder who THEY could possibly be. Certainly not the oil
producers, because they are getting top dollar for a barrel of oil.
That leaves perhaps our scientists or politicians who could
possibly change things.
We are looking everywhere but at ourselves. Every farmer is
going to have to assess his individual situation and figure out
how he can survive and keep his operation viable in the face of
soaring energy costs.
A very high cost is involved every time a tractor enters the
field. There are a great number of farmers who are already
streamlining their operations to make every pass through the
field count.
Some are integrating the spraying with the discing. Some are
practicing low tillage. A lot of farmers are insulating places they
never thought of before. Necessity is the mother of invention and
we'll likely see some pretty innovative farmers in the future.
If we sit around and wait for "someone to do something about
it" we are facing a long and expensive wait. Advertising tells us
now that wasting electricity turns people off. The fact that
putting only one item in a dryer or boiling a whole kettle for one
cup of water is wasteful, seems ludicrous to a farmer who faces
his present day energy expense.
On the other hand, every little bit helps. Most farmers could
run 300 acres with fuel for a year from the amount of oil or gas
used to move one plane load of people from one place to another.
As energy becomes more precious how are we going to
determine what is important and what is a waste? You will find in
future farmers are very serious about alternate methods of
energy, including solar and methane and about practices on the
home front to conserve some of the resources we have long been
taking for granted.
Letters to the editor
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