The Rural Voice, 2000-02, Page 3Editor: 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
Looking ahead at spring planting
With weather like we've had, it's
hard to know what kind of photo to
put on our cover. Dig out the snowy
scenes, like the one on our cover, and
who knows if it will look out of place
by the time it reaches your home. Use
a less -wintery picture, and we're sure
to get a dump of snow the day we
mail the magazine. Maybe meteor-
ologist Jay Campbell can have some
idea in his report in the news section.
One thing this open weather has
done is to put spring planting even
more in the minds of farmers. With
that in mind, Mery Erb does his usual
pre -planting roundup of the issues
crop farmers can look at this year.
From the debate over biotechnology
to farm sizes, Mery looks at the
issues affecting farmers this spring.
Should you plant biotech seeds
this spring or not? It's a question
many farmers are trying to figure out
as the anti-GMO backlash spreads
from Europe and Japan to buyers here
in Canada who want to be able to
export their product. Dermod Mark,
of OMAFRA's market development
branch spoke on the issue at the
Grey -Bruce Farmers' Week in
Elmwood. We've got his thoughts on
this critical issue.
All this comes, of course, when
low prices for nearly all crops have
farmers wondering how they can
make a profit this year at all.
OMAFRA Soil and Fertility
Specialist Keith Reid provides tips on
"Manage on meagre margins".
Sometimes when times are tough
like now, it's tempting to look back
through rosy glasses at the "good old
days". Sandra Orr reminds us that
those old days were not always good.
She recalls the time when delivering
the rural mail meant freezing days in
sleighs and cutters.
As well this month, we've got
information from beef day at Grey -
Bruce Farmers' Week.
In her recipe column, Bonnie
Gropp looks at that versatile
favourite, cheese with no less than 1 I
different ways to use good old
Canadian cheddar. Patti Robertson, in
her decorating column, deals with
ways to make a rented space seem
like home. Rhea Hamilton Seeger
gives advice on planting trees that
will survive in your environment.0
Update
More than just advice
In our feature on the closing of OMAFRA 's county offices last month, some
people suggested they didn't use the local offices much anyway. I wonder if they
realized all the work local OMAFRA advisors do besides give advice.
When I attended Grey -Bruce Farmers Week, for instance, I was struck by how
low profile OMAFRA people were, yet how much work they did. In the two days
I attended (beef and crops days) there were only a few speakers who actually
worked for the ministry. On the beef day, for instance, true to beef cattlemen's
independence, most speakers were leading beef producers themselves — yet
behind the scenes OMAFRA staff were working hard. Not only were two Ag
Reps, Bruce's Pat Kuntz and Grey's Jack Westlake, taking registration, setting
up equipment and generally doing what was needed to make things run
smoothly, but beef specialist Doug Dickie had provided slides and helped some
farmer -speakers prepare their talks. And that doesn't even count the work that
may have been put into helping design the program or contact guest speakers.
It's the same at such events all over the province. When the Competitiveness
seminar for the pork industry was held in Shakespeare in November, for instance,
Perth Ag Rep John Bancroft was among those scurrying around making
everything run smoothly.
OMAFRA management has redefined the ministry's role as the transfer of
technology and feels this can be done by telephone and internet. Perhaps that will
handle the information but what will happen with all the other things OMAFRA
field staff has done for farmers?0 — KR