The Rural Voice, 2002-06, Page 64GREY
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
Email: grey@ofa.on.ca Website: www ofa on calgrey
519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551
' The Rural Voice is provided to all Grey
County Farmers by the GCFA.
"Attending a club meeting
regularly is the equivalent of
doubling your income." This
assessment of the social capital value
of community/association meetings is
the underlying theme of a recent book
by Robert D. Putnam, Professor of
Public Policy at Harvard University.
"Social capital" is the measure of
the quality of life, both for
individuals and for communities. It
may be a "stretch" when the author
says that "if you smoke and belong to
no groups, it's a close call as to
which is the riskier betaviour," but
one understands the depth of concern
the author has for some fundamental
changes that have taken place in our
society over the last two decades.
Putnam's book, Bowling Alone
uses data that has been collected in
the United States since 1900 and
tracks membership and participation
in many different community groups,
from bowling leagues, recreation
clubs, and church groups to political
parties, professional associations, and
social clubs. Although membership in
groups declined through the
Depression of the 1930s, membership
in associations steadily grew through
to the 1960s, but then started to drop
sharply in the mid-1980s. The
anomaly is ,membership in
environmental groups, which
experienced explosive growth from
1960 to 1995, but then 'started to drop
off.
Although figures. for Canada are
probably not exactly the same, when
I look at my own experience, it does
seem that our attitudes. about
belonging to groups has changed. I
remember my parents belonged to
Farmers can't bowl alone
square dance groups, bridge groups,
drama clubs. My father was on the
library board, the church executive,
and belonged to several business
associations. My mother has
belonged to a bridge club since she
was 13, and at 82 still plays regularly.
Throughout phases of her life she was
active in a Parent Teacher
Association, the Women's Auxiliary
at church, a garden club, a bowling
league.
As a child I belonged to a tennis
club, Brownies, a church group, a
theatre group. Then there was nothing
until I had children when my life
included a school association, church
group, charitable groups,
environmental groups, political
associations, and professional
associations. I have many friends that
I have made through these
associations, but I know many more
people, particularly younger
generations, who do not participate in
any groups. Some may have a
membership in a group, to show
support, but do not actively
participate.
Bowling Alone looks at how
technological changes have affected
our society: the internet, television,
videos, more time spent in cars, cell
phones, take-out foods. Individuals
are not having as much face-to-face
contact as they used to.
When I consider the various
groups to which I belong, they
invariably discuss "falling
membership numbers". It is not that
peoples drop out, but that people do
not join in. This also means that the
average age of members is
increasing; energy levels are
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60 THE RURAL VOICE
decreasing and this affects the output
'of groups. Reading Bowling Alone
has made me think about this
phenomena and how it affects the
community of readers in The Rural
Voice.
The Grey County Federation of
Agriculture recently published
membership statistics for the period
1995 to 2001. Memberships peaked
irP 1998 and have fallen off a bit
since. Still, in every township
numbers are up considerably since
1995. We know there are fewer
farmers with larger operations; this is
balanced by more farmers choosing
to join the Federation of Agriculture.
This year, the Collingwood Township
Federation of Agriculture was
"revived" by farmers concerned
about groundwater levels in their area
and increased demands by
commercial water bottlers. Grey is
the only county federation that has
township federations. As the farming
community addresses issues like
safety nets, nutrient management
legislation, education and health care
cutbacks, I hope individuals continue
to recognize the strength of
participating in the federation.
Farmers know they cannot "bowl
alone".0
— By Peggy Hutchison
GCFA Executive
PLEASE NOTE:
There will be
NO Board of
Directors' meeting
in June
Next meeting
will be
Thursday,
July 25, 2002