The Rural Voice, 1983-12, Page 9"Hurricane
Malcolm"
Malcolm Davidson moved to Canada in 1957. Over the next
twelve years, his drive, enthusiasm and passion helped change
the nature of Ontario agriculture.
by Alice Gibb
His father was a shrewd, English, finan-
cial genius, adviser to the tin kings of
Bolivia. His aunt was the youngest person
to graduate from the London School of
Economics, a noted author and financial
editor of the London Observer. The young
Englishman himself attended Eton and
Cambridge, two of England's most
prestigious schools. From these unlikely
beginnings came one of Huron County's
most innovative farmers.
Malcolm Davidson moved to Canada in
1957 and over the next 12 years, his drive,
enthusiasm and passion helped change
the nature of Ontario agriculture. Always
in the forefront of the latest farming
techniques, he experimented with large
horsepower machinery by hitching two 70
h.p. tractors together, giving them four-
wheel drive with articulated steering. He
was one of the first farmers to realize the
potential of S.P.F. (Specific Pathogen
Free) or minimal disease hogs and one of
the first to hop on the continuous corn
bandwagon.
On a broader level, Davidson was a key
member of the provincial committee ap-
pointed in the late 1960's to investigate
farm income. From there he spearheaded
the campaign for a general farm organiza-
tion to give farmers a unified voice. Not all
his campaigns succeeded - but when he
believed in a cause, he believed fervently.
Then, in the fall of 1970, crossing Hwy.
#4 to his cornfield, Davidson was struck
and killed by a car. At his memorial ser-
vice, the sentiments of those attending
were similar - what Malcolm Davidson had
accomplished in his 36 years, many peo-
ple never accomplish in a much longer
lifetime.
"Never before in Ontario farm history
has one man made such a deep and
lasting impression in so short a space of
time," wrote his friend, John Phillips,
editor of Farm and Country.
Jane Davidson who married Malcolm
one month before they emigrated to
Canada says that her husband came to
farming as a chosen profession.
Malcolm told her "When I was just a
youngster I decided to be either a doctor
recalls that he studied soil maps, climate
charts and real estate statistics, then nar-
rowed his choice down to the Exeter -
Clinton area. "After renting a Kippen-area
farm for a year everything came together
out here," Jane says of their Brucefield
area farm. With his same meticulous plan-
ning, (before his death) Davidson had
"It had been said so many times
that he was ahead of his time.
It would be far truer to say
the rest of us
are lagging behind."
and heal
them."
Since his father believed one of the
countries with a real future was Canada.
Davidson worked summers during his stu-
dent years on Canadian farms.
After taking a degree in agriculture at
Cambridge. Davidson spent a year at the
Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph,
as a special student in "academic farm-
ing", says Jane. He studied economics,
always one of his interests, farm manage-
ment and picked up some revolutionary
new ideas on agriculture in the process.
When it came time to actually farm,
Davidson displayed the same logic and
planning that was his hallmark. Jane
THE RURAL VOICE, DECEMBER 1983
people or a farmer and feed
planned his
1980's.
Even in his early years of farming,
Davidson made waves. As former O.F.A.
president Gordon Hill, farming a few miles
west in Varna says, "I'd heard about this
crazy Englishman, you know, who didn't
realize that, in Canada, a lot of things
didn't work. So he just went ahead, did
them and made them work."
cropping schedule into the
"Davidson
was a 'voracious' reader,
who subscribed to Canadian, U.S. and
British farm journals, even taking a
speedreading course so he could absorb
more ideas on the latest farm tech-
nology", says Hill. After 10 -hour stints in
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