The Rural Voice, 1981-08, Page 11area contractors, offering courses at least
once a year to introduce new ideas and
designs. He also advises on ventilation
for livestock housing. In addition to
building, Ken works with farmers on
solving drainage problems. Since he
administers the Agricultural Code of
Practice for the Grey County office. he
works closely with the Ministry of the
Environment, and he predicts that envi-
ronmental conflicts may become more of
a problem for farmers. Farmers work
constantly to make their operations more
economical and efficient, and Ken sees
the OMAF playing an important role in
getting the research and information
that's available from the universities out
to the producers.
It is doubtful there are many farmers
in the Grey county area who don't
recognize WALLY RITCHIE's curly grey
hair and ready smile. He has been with
the office for 14 years, and is responsible
for supervision of the ARDA program.
Originally a joint federal -provincial pro-
gram assisting farmers to lease or buy
additional land, the plan has been
curtailed by soaring land prices, and is
now being phased out. On his office wall
is a large yellowing map of the county,
stuck with dozens of coloured pins and
bits of paper indicating the farms and
properties in the plan, and since his
territory has been increased recently, this
means a lot of time on the road. His
greatest concern right now is the difficult
economic situation. "personal hardship is
something farmers have had to live with,
but now they could lose a dream, a
life-long career." Farmers should be
asking how they can help one another,
and he predicts a return to a more
cooperative way of farming. "This
country was built by people helping
people, and we may have to look at that
again."
Wally's grandfather took a farm from
crown land in 1875 in Keppel Township,
and his family has been farming it ever
since.
Clerk Stenographer SHERYL ROBSON
was born and raised in Meaford, and
had no introduction to farming till she got
married. She and her husband Larry were
running a full-time mixed farming opera-
tion, which has since changed to beef
stock. She has been at the ministry office
for nine years. Sheryl, too, commented on
the increased size and scope of the office,
noting that they were all much busier
now, and administering many more
programs. The oddest request she recalls
was from a woman who called in to ask
how to get rid of snakes, which had
overrun her house.
The increasing importance of sound
financial management in farming is
mentioned repeatedly, and the man in
charge here is DAN ROSE, area coordina-
tor and farm management specialist for
Bruce, Grey, Dufferin, and North and
South Simcoe. Following his graduation
from Guelph he worked as an ag. rep. in
York County and then the Rainy River
district, when he was asked to join a team
from the University of Guelph to set up an
in-service training program at the Uni-
versity of Ghana. He and his family spent
three years there before returning to
Canada, and Dan has been with the Grey
County office since 1974.
As the area coordinator, Dan organizes
the developing. planning. and evaluation
of programs like Grey -Bruce Farmers'
Week and the Centralia courses offered
in the area during the winter months.
Together with the ag. reps.. he devises
program objectives in the various com-
modity groups, deciding on priorities for
the producers in each county and
tailoring events to meet their needs. As a
specialist in business management he
provides estate counselling. and assist-
ance with family farm arrangements,
credit counselling. and tax management.
Last year two courses were offered on
money management as a response to the
concern that producers were having real
problems with credit and rising costs. He
is seeing more farm women taking an
active role in the business of farming, and
reported that the number of women
taking these courses is on the increase.
Assisting Dave Dixon in the Milk
Industry Section is Clerk -Stenographer
HELEN SHAW. She has worked for
OMAF for a total of 20 years, the last ten
at the Grey County office. Helen handles
all telephone calls and queries, receives
the milk tests, and does follow-up work
with the producers. She has seen a
number of changes during her tenure,
including the introduction of the Milk
Industry Branch in its present form.
A rather circuitous route has brought
PAUL SIMMONS, swine specialist, to the
Grey County office. After the Second
World war. he emigrated from Poland to
farm in Canada, but since then spent five
years in Newfoundland setting up that
province's purk industry, and three years
in British Columbia as a commodity
trader. He now puts his master's degree
in animal science to work assisting swine
producers from Rainy Riv er and Sudbury
to Halton, Peel and York Counties.
About half his time is spent on the road
responding to calls from the counties in
his territory, with a great deal of the
remaining time taken up with meetings,
workshops, and conferences. In addition
he handles the swine calls referred to
him; during this interview we were
interrupted by a query about cauliflower
ears! His chief concerns are disease
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RURAL VOICE/AUGUST 1981 PG. 9