The Rural Voice, 2000-11, Page 31FARM TOY, SPORTS CARD,
TEDDY BEAR, DOLL, GIFT & CRAFT
Show & Sale
Sat., Sun., December 2 & 3, 2000
in Seaforth
10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Info: 519-527-1790 or 519-522-1300
one gallon of ethanol. By 1999 it cost
$1.25'U.S.
"1f you want a vision for this
country, how are we going to survive
when we run out of fossil fuels?"
Surgeoner asked. "We're driven right
now by energy in the ground. How
do we start to look to sustainable,
renewable energy. We in agriculture
can provide it."
At the same time Canada has
made a commitment to reduce
greenhouse -gas emissions by 2007
by six per cent of 1990 levels —
we've actually increased by 13 per
cent since then. Using fossil fuels
means taking carbon dioxide from
millions of years ago and putting it
back into the atmosphere. "But if I
use ethanol, if I use biodiesel, I'm
using last year's carbon dixode,"
Surgeoner said.
"Can we create a new system
where we go from Chemical Valley
at Sarnia, based on chemical fuel in
the ground, to Carbohydrate Valley
at Chatham where we use corn and
soybeans as the oil that fuels a new
kind of industry?"
Canadian farmers think of their
competition as being American and
European farmers but perhaps it is
Saudi Arabian oil prices, Surgeoner
suggested. "If that oil get consistently
above $25 a barrel we can start filling
that gap."0
OFA's Neil Currie
delivers
fighting speech
Neil Currie, OFA's general
manager, delivered a fighting speech
Admission: S4.00 daily
www.c4thagsociety.on.ca over 10 yrs.
News
when he addressed the annual
meeting of the Huron County
Federation of Agriculture in Varna,
October 12.
"Agriculture in this country today,
and in this province in particular, is
in a state of siege," Currie told and
audience of 130.
"Our exports have skyrocketed
but farm incomes have remained, at
best, flat for decades."
The Canadian government went
much farther in cutting support for
farmers than the World Trade
Organization agreement stipulated,
Currie said.
There has been urban
encroachment on farm areas and the
knee-jerk reaction of the provincial
government has been to set tougher
standards for farmers. The proposed
standards "seem at first glance, to
have the potential to regulate each
and every decision that you will
make every day when you run your
business."
Currie said he is often asked by
farmers "Do you think there is some
kind of plan to do away with
agriculture?" He said he has to think
about that but then he won't concede
that government has the ability to
plan.
But there is a new book in the
U.S. that suggests America should
simply give up the business of
farming because there is more money
in developing the land and importing
food from the third world, Currie
said.
The way to overcome this kind of
thinking is for agriculture to have its
own vision in this province and this
country for five years from now, 10
years from now and 20 years from
now "and what the hell are we going
to do to make sure we get from here
to there."
"We don't have a vision, but we
have to build one," he said.
And despite the diversity of
Ontario agriculture with specialized
dairy and poultry and swine and beef
and crop associations, building that
plan for the future is one thing that
all farmers can rally around to work
together on, Currie said.
In this OFA is a critical machine,
he said. "It's a big machine.
Sometimes it's a really slow-moving
machine because of its size, but we
have the critical infrastructure with
which we can work. If we can
communicate a ... vision for the
future of agriculture and (if) we can
get the machine moving in that
direction then nobody will be able to
stop us. Because we will be the only
ones with a plan, and people will
have to listen."
But it will take more than getting
the 43,000 members of OFA on side
with the plan, it will be
communicating it to the general
public, he said. "We have to make
them care. We have to make them
want to buy Ontario products. We
have to get their support for our
message."
Charles Regele, R.R.I, Dublin
was acclaimed as the new president
of the Federation of Agriculture.
Regele succeeds Pat Down of R.R.1,
Hensall who held the post for two
years.
First vice-president is Neil Vincent
of R.R.3, Wingham. There is a
vacancy for second vice-president.
Victor Roland, R.R.1, Gorrie was
NOVEMBER 2000 27