The Rural Voice, 1983-02, Page 11GREY BRUCE FARMERS' WEEK 83
Notes on the Grey Bruce Farmers Week held in Hanover
PETER HANNAM:
MANAGING
IN THE `80s
by Sheila Gunby
Peter Hannam, president of First Line
Seeds Ltd., spoke to Grey and Bruce
county farmers on "Managing in the
'80s."
"We are in the greatest downturn
since the "30s," he said," but we must
find the bright side. People still need
food.
Hannam said there are three kinds of
management - information manage-
ment, marketing management and time
management.
Information management is vitally
important because "you could be taking
in cash but losing in equity."
"Your cost of production may be
higher than others," he said. "You have
to know where you are. Supply manage-
ment doesn't lock in a profit; it depends
on your cost of production."
Marketing management, Hannam
said, is needed because farmers must
know how markets work and the op-
tions that are open.
"The major aim is survival," he said,
"Locking in the cost of production may
be the wisest choice in this decade."
"Time must also be managed," Han-
nam said, "We must set aside time to
plan our time, to chart our financial
progress and plan what is best for us to
produce.
"We must learn how to use paper
well. Everything must be down on paper
and we must have financial and produc-
tion advisors."
On Canagrex, Hannam said. "it has
the potential to be the best piece of
legislation put out by Eugene Whelan.
Stabilization is one step," he said,
"providing a market is the next.
' Some countries will only deal with
governments or quasi -governments. We
could be lost in the shuffle. We can't
have too much export development
work done. Right now, each provincial
government is competing for the same
markets."
On a final note, Hannam said, even
though Canagrex would be a Crown
corporation, it would have a board with
broad representation. "We should not
be paranoid about government." he
said.
BRUCE COUNTY FILM
AIRS IN MARCH
The premiere showing of "Ready for
Slaughter", a CBC drama filmed in
Bruce county was presented at Grey
Bruce Farmers Week in Hanover. The
film will be televised on the CBC's "For
the Record" on March 6, at 9:00 p.m.
The film portrays a farmer caught in
spiralling interests rates, high costs
and tow profits. It shows his frustrating
position with his banker and his sup-
port of the "vigilante" group.
Allen Wilford, president of the Onta-
rio Farm Survival Association (OFSA)
and Carl Spencer, former president,
complimented the CBC producer Maryke
McEwen on a reasonably good story.
Spencer said he hoped it would give
people an idea of "what's going on."
Hopefully, he continued, it would be
seen by an urban audience and get
them talking.
George Bothwell, another member of
the survival group. felt the film didn't
go quite far enough because the farmer
was "still caught in the crunch". He
said the events presented were true a
year ago but the film needed to be
updated. "The biggest part is yet to be
told," he said, "It was sort of the first
scene in a one act play."
CASH CROPS
FOR GREY BRUCE
by Ron Garland
Crops day was the theme for one of
the days at the 1983 Grey -Bruce Far-
mer's Week. A large crowd of about 250
were in attendance. The day's events
were chaired by Larry Schmidt, Presi-
dent of the Bruce County Soil and Crop
Improvement Association and Harvey
Reekie, President of Grey County Soil
and Crop Improvement Association.
Guest speakers for the morning were
John Cummings, agronomist UCO; V,
Poysa ,Crop Science Department ,OAC
Guelph; N. Moore, Soils and Crops
specialist , Lindsay and Rick Upfold,
Soils and Crops Specialist Walkerton.
The afternoon speakers were Tom Lane,
Land Resource Science. OAC Guelph;
John Ressler, Ontario Farm Machinery
Board, Guelph and Dr. Terry Daynard,
Crop Science,OAC Guelph.
John Cumming's talk, cash crops for
Grey -Bruce was very well received. John
opened his talk with a list of cash
crops. Many of these are not suitable
for Grey Bruce farmers for one reason
or another. Cotton needs a great deal
more sunshine and heat than available
in this area. Marijuana would be ideally
suited to Grey -Bruce climate and has a
very good profit margin but there are
some draw -backs in regards to market-
ing.
White beans, he says, may be grown
in the southern parts of Bruce but you
may face the loss of two out of three
crops. Wheat, definitely for the lakeside
of Bruce county, but for the rest of
Bruce and Grey. winter wheat is sus-
ceptible to the heavy snow load ex-
perienced here most years.
Corn, according to Cummings ,is a
sad situation in general and in Grey
Bruce, the yields are just not large
enough to make any money. Soybeans,
Cummings believes,has a place in parts
of Grey Bruce but not in the 2300 heat
unit area in the centre of the region,but
definitely along the lake. Barley and
oats can be grown in Grey Bruce and
there is a market for them. Flax has
been proven to grow in Grey Bruce and
there is a dollar to be made in it.
Canola, something new but a crop
that will be heard of a lot more in the
future, looks like a viable crop here in
Grey Bruce. With a good marketing
system, hay could be the dark horse of
cash crops,according to Cummings.
With the limitations of topography,
climate, and heat units, cash crops in
Grey and Bruce are narrowed down to
flax, soybean, barley, oats and canola.
In summation, Cummings had the
following questions that you should ask
yourself. Have you budgeted out your
exact costs to grow and market that
crop? Can you establish a market where
you can book in at least a break even
return for your crop? Do you have the
equipment, land and time to grow cash
crops? Can you insure that crop you are
going to grow? Do you have the mental
attitude to handle some of these crops
because they need special care?
If you can answer yes to the above
questions but are a wee bit leery of
cash cropping, plant only half of the
acreage you think you can handle and
get that first year's experience behind
you.
V. Poysa talked on growing triticale.
Triticale is a man-made cereal. a cross
between wheat and rye. It has the high
yield and quality of wheat with the
hardiness of rve. Because it is a winter
THE RURAL VOICE, FEBRUARY 1983 PG. 11