The Rural Voice, 2000-01, Page 3R.V.
Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
John Heard, soils and crop extension
and research, northwestern Ontario
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Gisele Ireland, Lisa Boonstoppel-
Pot, Bonnie Gropp, Ralph Pearce
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Carl L. Bedal, Janice Becker,
Andrew Grindlay, Sarah Caldwell
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
advertising representative:
Merle Gunby
production co-ordinator:
Joan Caldwell
advertising & editorial production:
Dianne Josling
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Behind the Scenes
Of cuts and competitiveness
It's called looking on the bright
side. The press release announcing
changes to the OMAFRA that
included shutting down many county
offices was headlined: "OMAFRA
strengthens focus on agri-food and
rural priorities".
The press release began: "Changes
being made to the delivery of
programs and services at the Ontario
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and
Rural Affairs will better position the
organization to support a competitive
agri-food sector and rural commun-
ities now and in the future, Minister
Ernie Hardeman announced today."
Do farmers, particularly those in
the counties that will lose their
county OMAFRA offices agree
there's a brighter future ahead? We
talked to farm leaders as well as
OMAFRA professionals in looking at
where OMAFRA is headed at the
grassroots level.
Competitiveness is a theme heard
over and over these days, both in
farming and the general economy. On
December 1, a year to the day after
the gigantic rally at Queen's Park
protesting disastrously low pork
prices, a huge turnout of pork
producers turned out in Shakespeare
to learn how to be competitive under
today's conditions. We have stories
from that meeting.
We also learn more about new
organic standards from the annual
meeting of the Ecological Farmers
Association of Ontario at Linwood.
How well do you study your
financial statements? There are some
real indicators of the financial health
of your farm hidden in those figures.
Mary Jane Combe, Business Manage-
ment Specialist with OMAFRA at
Vineland Station recently spoke to
farmers telling them how to spot key
figures that can help them better
manage their farms.
When things get darkest, whether
because of bad numbers in your
financial statement or just because of
the short winter days, you can always
give yourself a lift watching the
birds. Many farmers have taken up
the hobby of feeding the birds and
bringing colour to winter days. Sarah
Caldwell talked to some experienced
birders about how to attract birds to
your backyard.0
Update
New technology gets a chance
The ongoing debate about large hog barns and safe disposal of the liquid
manure from the barns (most recently dealt with in our October issue) got a new
twist near Walkerton recently when council of the Town of Brockton gave
permission for Tom Fritz of Fritz Concrete in Chepstow to erect a new 3,000
weaner barn to be built along with a composting facility.
A somewhat similar proposal had been turned down earlier near Kincardine
after council there rejected Fritz's plan to build two 2,500 -head sow barns with
manure treatment facilities. Council later agreed to allow Fritz to build one
2,500 -sow barn but insisted it have traditional liquid manure storage.
The move by Brockton council will require some changes to the municipality's
Nutrient Management Bylaw, but officials felt should be allowed to go ahead on
an experimental basis.
The composting facility will mix the liquid manure with straw, cornstalks,
leaves and other organic material to create the compostable material. The plan is
that the resulting compost could be pelletized and sold.
Experiments carried out at Ridgetown College using a similar process were
reported on in our issue of September 1998. Researchers there reported the
finished compost contained levels of nitrogen similar to liquid manure but in an
organic form which releases its nitrogen more slowly than non-organic nitrogen.
The compost would be easier to export off the farm and composting would kill
weed seeds and harmful bacteria, they said. The process of composting is
relatively odour -free and the finished compost is virtually odourless.0