The Rural Voice, 1980-02, Page 21Rural News in Brief
Canada won't sell grain to Russia
The U.S. embargo on wheat slated to be
sold to the Russians has surprised farmers
in both the United States and Canada.
U.S. President Jimmy Carter, protesting
the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, has
halted shipment of wheat to the
Communist nation, which has changed
trends in agriculture in both nations.
The Canadian government has agreed
they won't sell surplus Canadian grain to
the Russians to make up the shortfall
following the U.S. embargo.
Mike Miller, crops specialist in the
Clinton OMAF office, said grain sold on
the world market is priced according to
supply and demand. He said demand had
been high due to the Russian grain
purchases but that this quickly changed
when those purchases were outlawed. He
said now the supply of grain is high which
results in low prices on the market.
Mr. Miller said prices also fell off in the
pork and cattle markets with the
Afghanistan crisis but added both those
areas are expected to pick up in the near
future.
The crops specialist said that as long as
grain is cheap, farmers will either keep the
pork, beef and other livestock they have or
buy grain to feed livestock hoping to make
up deficits.
He said pork producers have already
started to react to the grain prices and Mr.
Miller said many farmers who normally
would have sold out their livestock have
kept them and have even expanded
livestock operations.
Mr. Miller said current low feed prices,
combined with low pork prices, have
prompted many farmers to keep their
animals in the barn. He said these factors
may combine to lengthen the low cycle
pork production is currently in.
Cattle follow a similar cycle to pork
except that it's much longer. Low beef
prices and high feed cost made cattle an
unattractive commodity for farmers for
some years according to OMAF statistics.
Mike Miller said that fact will probably
reduce the impact the present economic
trends have on beef production.
Mr. Miller said a change in market
conditions usually takes one or two years to
affect beef prices since the number of
beasts on the market today was determined
early in 1979.
The crops specialist said the one fact
which surfaced in the recent situation is
that farmers now have to be prepared to
accept political affairs as having as much
impact on agricutlure as the weather.
Mike Miller said farmers will have to be
"more aware" of international politics in
reading the market in the future.
Woman
appointed
Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food
Kenneth Lantz has announced the appoint-
ment of Joan McDonald to the position of
assistant agricultural representative in
Middlesex County to work with agricultural
representative Sandy Forsyth, effective as
of January, 1980.
Miss McDonald graduated from the
University of Guelph in 1978 and since that
time has been working with the Food Land
Development Branch of the Ministry of
Agriculture and Food.
Food prices
increased
1-uuu pi 10-S 10 Lousumers have increased
in the past year, according to the recent
OFA Food Basket, except in three
commodities - pork, chicken and turkeys.
Prices have increased for beef, eggs,
dairy products, bread, flour and processed
fruits. In all, the price of the weekly food
basket (based on food prices for a family of
four) rose by $3.74, an increase of 12.2 per
cent.
Farm -gate values also rose, particularly
for beef, turkey, eggs, milk and wheat. The
decline in beef herds in this down phase of
the cattle cycle has been well publicized.
Pork prices to farmers declined, due to
sharlply higher supply levels. The price
decline for chicken and turkey is expected
to be only a temporary situations. In all,
the farm -gate value of the OFA Food
Basket rose by $1.82, an increase of 8.9 per
cent.
The farm -retail spread also went up,
particularly for beef, milk, cream, cheese
and grain products. In all, the farm -retail
spread rose by $1.92, an increase of 15.5
per cent.
The farm -retail spread is of course the
cost to the consumer of processing,
packaging, distributing and merchandising
food.
The OFA report said, "It is pertinent to
note that more than half the increase in the
cost of the OFA Food Basket in the last 12
months occurred beyond the farm -gate."
McKinnon
chairman
At a recent meeting of the Ontario Milk
Marketing board, held in Toronto,
Kenneth G. McKinnon was re-elected
Chairman of the board.
J. Grant Smith was re-elected
Vice -Chairman of the Board.
Mr. McKinnon represents milk
producers in the Counties of Grey, Bruce
and Huron, and resides on his dairy farm at
Port Elgin, Ontario.
Mr. Smith represents milk producers in
the Counties of Oxford, Elgin and Norfolk,
and resides on his dairy farm at Burgess-
ville, Ontario.
"Pork Place"
receives award
The Pork Place, the Toronto restaurant
which specializes in meals featuring
Ontario -grown pork, has been awarded the
Toronto Sun Award for 1979 as the
outstanding Restaurant of the Year for its
noon luncheons.
The Pork Place, which was opened by
the Ontario Hog Producers' Association, is
a 200 -seat restaurant just two doors away
from Ed's Warehouse in downtown
Toronto, next to the Royal Alexandra
Theatre on King Street.
The association also operates a fast-food
outlet in Mississauga called Pork Pickins',
which the pork producers hope to someday
see extended into a franchise operation
under the title of their company, P.O.R.K.
Inc.
THE RURAL VOICE/FEBRUARY 1980 PG. 19