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The Rural Voice, 1983-02, Page 44Lesterosa Swine Breeding Stock 18th Production Sale FRIDAY AFTERNOON, January 28th at 1:30 p.m. at the farm Grand Champion Duroc Herd at the 1982 Royal Winter Fair Other Royal Winter Fair Accomplishments include: • Grand Champion Duroc Boar • First Place Junior Duroc Boar • Grand Champion Duroc Gilt • First Place Intermediate Duroc Gilt • First Place Junior Duroc Gilt • Premier Breeder & Premier Exhibitor for Durocs. • First Place Senior Hampshire gilt • Reserve Champion Yorkshire Boar • First Place Junior Yorkshire Boar • First Place Yorkshire Herd • Premier Breeder & Premier Exhibitor for Yorkshires. 70 Boars, 70 Open Gilts, 20 Bred Gilts Landrace-Yorkshire-Duroc- Hampshire & Crossbred. All swine are R.O.P. tested & health inspected by government personnel. For more information or a catalogue contact: DAN LESTER R.R. #5 FOREST, ONT. 519-786-4286. PG 44 THE RURAL VOICE, FEBRUARY 1983 KEITH ROULSTON IN THE SAME BOAT: RURAL/URBAN SMALL BUSINESS MEN Whether one agrees with the tactics or not, there was something refreshing about the news, a few weeks back, of members of the Farm Survival group coming to the rescue of the owners of a local farm supply store which was in financial trouble. As one who straddled the line between the small-town urban and farm communities for many years, it was disturbing to see how alienated many farmers and farm leaders were from the urban portion of their community. While as small businessmen, they were in the same boat as the grocery store owner or the barber, many farmers seemed to distrust their small-town counterpart or at least feel that the town businessmen could look after their own problems and the farmers had enough to worry about themselves. This isolation wasn't all on the farmers part, of course. Many times I listened to a merchant complain about the subsidies farmers got and, more often, the tax breaks that were available to farmers that they didn't feel they got and on top of all this, the constant whining of farmers who were often better off than the town businessman. Farmers have often made the remark that farmers have to stick together to form a united front if they hope to get anywhere. It seems to me that the same can be said for all rural communities, perhaps more so. Farmers worry about their declining numbers and the lack of clout it gives them politically. Although they produce the one commodity we can not get along without, food, they are often taken for granted. Food, these days, is taken as a right, something that should take up a small bit of the income so that the rest can be spent on more important things like video games. The population numbers in small towns is not declining any more but actually increasing according to the 1976 census, yet the old mind set that small towns are dying and are irrelevant, that the future is in the big cities, continues with the media, education system and most of all the government. , We've seen some wonderful examples of what our rural communities can do when everyone, town resident and farmer alike, gets together to fight an outside danger. I remember a few short years ago watching frustrated people throw snowballs at Frank Miller when he came to announce the closing of the Clinton Hospital. Today the hospital is still open and a modern addition has been made. I remember a meeting in my own town when the provincial government declared the local arena unsafe. The meeting was in June and by the next January the old arena had been torn down, a new one was opened and was completely paid for. That kind of action by the entire community is inspiring and helps keep our communities alive. Would that the same unity would hold in relations between the farm community and the urban merchants, because the future of each is inextricably tied to the other. The merchants cannot live without the business of the farmer. The decline in many of our small towns over the years resulted from the decline of the farm population. There's little doubt that if there was a family on every hundred acres today, our towns and villages would be able to offer us more services than they do. But farmers have only to look at the situation in prairie towns where the railway has gone; to see the difficulties they face if the community they depend on dies. It seems about time that the small businessmen of both the town and country realize they need each other and set out to do everything they can to help each other. It's likely few of us would like to see strong-arm action like the Farm Survival group took on but the same thing can be accomplished if the two groups will support each other to keep such crisis situations to a minimum.