The Rural Voice, 2001-12, Page 31
R. Y.
Editor & Publisher: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Bonnie Gropp, Ralph Pearce,
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Janice Becker, Andrew Grindlay,
Mark Nonkes, Larry Drew
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
advertising representative:
Merle Gunby
production co-ordinator:
Joan Caldwell
advertising & editorial production:
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Behind the Scenes
Hard work and good deeds
We have two stories this month
about determined, dedicated women.
Harriett Ellicott may have a small
farming operation but the folks at
Agricore have learned it wasn't wise
to make her angry. Following the
drought of 1998, Ellicott and many
other Grey and Bruce County farmers
bought forage crop insurance in 1999,
but they were amazed and furious
when they received no payment
following another drought that
summer. Adding to the frustration for
Ellicott was the computer simulation
in the crop insurance final report that
showed she should have had more
than 80 per cent of her normal crop
(payments kick in below 80 per cent)
when she knew she got only 66 per
cent of a normal crop. She went to
work to find out how the crop
insurance simulation could be so
wrong, and started a process that's
not over yet. We've got her story and
the story of the other farmers in the
two counties who are fighting to try
to get a forage insurance program that
actually works.
Meanwhile in Perth County,
Francine Peeler has spent the last 15
years rescuing animals, whether
abandoned horses or cats and dogs
left at the side of the road. In all she
estimates she's helped 400 animals.
It's the time of the year when
people can't wait to get their
snowmobiles out and roaring along
the trails. This year, however, there
are some differences. For one thing,
to cover the cost of liability insurance
that has gone up more than 600 per
cent, there is a new, higher trail
permit fee. For another, Bill 101 is a
new provincial bill designed to
regulate safety on the trails, giving
police the same powers on trails that
they have on the open road. It can
mean, for instance, reckless
snowmobilers can lose their licence
not only to operate on trails, but to
drive their cars.
Also this month, everybody likes
the idea of food safety, but the
regulations to safeguard food
preparation can be a different matter.
When the Grey -Bruce, Owen Sound
Health Unit issued a "church letter"
about preparing fundraising dinners,
huge concerns were raised about the
future of these events. The Health
Unit says it doesn't want to stop the
dinners, just gives the information it
wants to have groups understand and
make use of as they prepare meals.0
Update
Managing cedar
In what one organizer termed as a "surprise", about 34 people turned out to a
seminar in Wiarton, November 3, to learn more about management of cedar
woodlots.
The seminar was planned after a great deal of heated debate over a couple of
years because of the cutting of cedar bushes on the Bruce Peninsula. The idea
was to provide some light to replace the heat of that debate. Given the
controversy, some organizers figured there might be up to 100 people present,
said Craig Todd, Bruce Resource Stewardship Network Co-ordinator.
But what the audience lacked in numbers, it made up for in the quality of the
questions and discussions, Todd said. A panel of speakers, including Jim Eccles
of Lands and Forestry Consulting, whose cedar management tips were featured
in our October 2001 article "Cropping the Humble Cedar", answered some
thoughtful questions on managing a cedar bush. A high proportion of those
present, a survey showed, owned substantial acreages of cedar. People came
from the Bruce Peninsula in the north to the Durham area in the southeast.
Evidence of the fact that these were serious woodlot managers came from the
fact some panelists actually negotiated contracts with landowners at the meeting.
The Stewardship Network still wants to help enlighten seasonal property
owners who were conspicuously absent so they plan a second seminar next
summer.0