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The Rural Voice, 1981-07, Page 16RURAL NEWS IN BRIEF Farmers want cold, hard facts from ministers A stormy gathering of Ontario farmers at a meeting, sponsored by the OFA, in early June in Toronto may have served its purpose. The farmers met with the federal and provincial ministers of agriculture, Eugene Whelan and Lorne Henderson, provincial treasurer Frank Miller and Premier William Davis to air concerns over spiralling interest rates and poor production returns. Less than a week later, Miller announced hazy plans to make funds. between $50 and $100 millions, available to assist farmers caught in the in- flationary squeeze. Though it was not made specific at the time, it is expected the money will go towards a subsidy or stabilization program. In mentioning the plan the treasurer appears to have followed through on his promise to the more than 900 farmers at the meeting that he would begin meetings with the OFA in an attempt to hammer out a solution. After the initial announcement by Miller, but before the details of the proposal were outlined, Huron Federation of Agriculture president Gerry Fortune preferred to remain cautious. "I'm going to wait and see," she said then. "I want to wait until we get the cold, hard facts." At the Toronto meeting. angry farmers regularly interrupted and jeered government speakers. Provincial agriculture minister Lorne Henderson, though offering the shortest opening remarks of all speakers, was the main target of verbal attacks from the floor. When Mr. Henderson began his speech with, "through the years the government has tried to respond to problems as we see them," an irate farmer hollered, "Bull . . . " Later, when he said the government was at the meeting expecting to hear from farmers, another unidentified voice interjected, "Interest rates, let's talk about it." "1 agree," replied Henderson, "and we're going to have the federal minister here" to discuss them. "Quit passing the buck," was the response from the floor. Throughout the steady and steep climb in interest rages, the agriculture minister has insisted the issue was a federal concern. Though interest rates were consistently cited as a major problem, another cause for agriculture's ills frequently PG. 14 THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1981 mentioned from both the floor and from the podium was poor management leading to over -supply. Andre Durand, a Huron County Director, echoed the concern following the meeting to agricultural groups without a marketing system. "Hopefully the farmers will admit they can't manage their way, and get off their ego trip. or we're going to have poverty on the farm," he predicted. "The reason (for the current dilemma) is not interest rates, it's return on production. Milk has a quota. and they have no problems." One of the agricultural spokesman, Bruce County's Brian Ireland, set the tone for the meeting. "We are farmers, not mushrooms," he began his talk, " and we don't have to be kept in the dark on a constant diet of horse. . . ." Later. a more objective Ireland said in an interview he thought the meeting had initiated some progress, and referred to Miller's commitment to work with the federation on a solution. Group will study Captan A committee formed by the Ministry of Agriculture will study the use of Captan, a widely -used pesticide which the health ministry has recommended be banned from sale for home garden use. The committee, composed of government, industry. consumer. and environmental representatives, will make recommendations to the Minister of Agriculture, Eugene Whelan, following its study. The health ministry has recommended that all food sold at retail level be free of captan residue. and the committee must also decide on this issue. The health ministry's recommendations stem from studies which have shown that Captan causes cancer in some animals. Jane Sattar of the health ministry said the recommendations were based on several non-government studies, and the ministry did not do any testing itself. The chemical has been used for 30 years to kill fungi on fruit crops. Joseph Cummins, a geneticist at the University of Western Ontario. said the chemical has caused birth defects, mutations and duodenal cancer in animals. He expressed concern that pregnant women and children might be exposed to the pesticide. Sattar also explained that the greatest danger of abuse of the product lies with an uneducated user, and a farmer who is used to handling the chemicals is not in much danger if he follows application instructions which allow for a great margin of safety. That is the reason for the re- commended ban on home garden usage only. Ministry of agriculture representative Dave Smithers was critical of the second recommendation that there be no residue left on retail products. He feels it is not possible to follow the second recommendation. yet still use Captan on the crops. He said the ministry wants to set a minimum residue tolerance. but it would have to be reasonable. Eugene Whelan has stated recently that due to controversy and uncertainty the ministry feels an obligation to study all aspects of this issue, so it may arrive at a "balanced decision". We're sorry We neglected to include the name of Josiah Weber, age 14. R.R. 4. Listowel with his prize winning drawing in the last issue of the Rural Voice. Josiah won second prize in the Art Section in the 9 to 15 age group. Our apologies Josiah.