The Rural Voice, 1983-11, Page 39BRANDY POINT FARMS
Hybrid Gilts - York x Landrace
Open or Bred
Also. R.O.P. Tested and Health Approved (
PUREBRED LANDRACE, YORK & CROSSBRED BOARS
Willy & Kurt Keller, R.R. 1, Mitchell
519-348-9753
meeting that it is unreasonable to ask
a pork producer to produce 20 pig per
sow per year. It only would result in
more hogs, she stated. That is
nonsense. It would result in the same
number of hogs produced more
efficiently with less sows. This
doesn't mean there is no point of
diminishing returns. It could well be
that the labour required to produce
the extra pigs more than offset the net
returns. But that in turn questions the
efficiency of a combination of
cropping and livestock production.
Maybe the assumption, promoted
by some O.M.A.F. swine specialists
that there should be a closed circle
from grain production, through
livestock production to market,
should be questioned. The profits
made from the field, if any, may well
be more than offset by a lower
efficiency inside the barn.
Whatever the answer, the young
man who wants to farm must earn the
right and should not expect it to be
God-given. As the guest speaker at
the Huron County Federation of
Agriculture's annual meeting, Dr.
Freeman McEwan, stated so
eloquently. "God helps only those
who help themselves."❑
Adrian Vos, a regular columnist with
The Rural Voice is a freelance writer
from Huron county.
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ONE MAN'S OPINION
Some lack basic
business principles
by Adrian Vos
One of the recurring themes
through the years, is the notion in the
agricultural community that everyone
has a right to be a farmer. This
completely disregards the little matter
of qualification. The majority of
today's farmers haven't studied
business practices required to be suc-
cessful in any business, including far-
ming.
The crisis of the last couple of years
has shown that even the basic
business principles are lacking in
many farm operations in financial
trouble.
Granted though, a number are in
trouble because no one could foresee
the coming recession with its deadly
combination of high interest rates
and low prices. That is still no reason
for farmers to claim exemption from
the pressures every businessman has
to cope with. Farmers have no more a
divine right to farm than any bank-
rupt firm has to do business. There
has to be managerial skills to get the
most out of the farm physically and
financially.
The emotional protests against the
demands to be as efficient as possible
are unrealistic. Every business must
continually strive to become more
efficient. For farmers to say: "We
have been the most improved
industry anywhere, so we now can
rest on our laurels" is ludicrous. An
industry that becomes complacent
about its performance is bound to
fail. This includes agriculture.
One activist told me recently that
even if interest rates dropped to three
per cent and prices rose to a strong
profitable level, young farmers still
couldn't survive. Their debt load is
too great.
I don't see why such a farmer
should be rescued by society. Anyone
who let himself get into such a bind
has no business to be in business in
the first place.
A local farmer told the N.D.P. task
force on agriculture at their Wingham
THE RURAL VOICE, NOVEMBER 1983 PG. 37