The Rural Voice, 2002-09, Page 3About this issue
Beef — big and small
Recent years have seen huge changes in the beef
industry in Canada as much of the cattle finishing moved
west to Alberta and Saskatchewan, yet in midwestern
Ontario the raising of cattle is still a large part of the farm
economy. Donald Shaver is one of those who believes it
should be bigger.
Despite the fact land prices have soared to $5,000 an
acre in some cashcropping areas, Shaver feels there's land,
even in these highly productive areas, that would be better
served as grasslands than ploughed up for crops. And what
happens, the Perth County cattlebreeder wonders, if
droughts continued in Alberta and Saskatchewan where we
have now concentrated 70 per cent of our finished cattle
production? Those are just some of the questions about the
future of the cattle industry Shaver pondered in an
interview in this issue.
Meanwhile the veal industry has been taking many steps
to improve the image of veal production and help producers
deal with current conditions. We spoke to Chris Palmer,
president of the Ontario Veal Association to discuss the
state of the industry and his own operation.
September's the time of year for big farm shows and this
year the region hosts not only Canada's Outdoor Farm
Show at Woodstock but the International Plowing Match in
Middlesex County at Glencoe. We have two stories to
inform you of what to expect at the two shows. In his story
on the IPM, Jeffrey Carter says this will be a critical year
for the show's future, given the losses rung up because of
the dismal attendance at last year's Ottawa -area show.
Drought and water quality are topics of many
conversations these days but does all the talk change
farmers' minds about the value of wetlands? Generally
wetlands on a farm have been something to be gotten rid
of, to be cleared and drained and planted to crops, but could
the long-term value of leaving them to perform their role in
nature actually outweigh, economically, the potential value
from cropping these lands?
Freelancer David Blaney considers the subject in a story
this month.
In keeping with the beef theme, Bonnie Gropp's recipe
column deals with beef recipes. Patti Robertson's
decorating column gives ideas for hostess gifts.0
Update
He was an inspiration
One of the pleasures of this business is meeting
interesting people and getting to sit down and hear them
talk about the fascinating things they do. One of the most
intriguing and inspirational people Rural Voice staffers
have met over the years has passed on (see Andy Dixon's
tree -planting done in People).
Several different editors enjoyed stimulating convers-
ations with Andy Dixon whose enquiring mind continued,
into his 90s, to puzzle over the problem of improving
productivity of growing trees. He wasn't afraid to go
against the experts and in the end many of the experts came
to admire his work and adapt some of his research.
To those of us who are middle-aged, he was an inspir-
ation that retirement doesn't need to mean the end of
productivity. He enjoyed the years when he no longer had
to earn a living, because he had time to read and question
and experiment. He created a whole new career after
retiring from more than 30 years of teaching and inspired
others to take a new interest in trees as a valuable crop,
including collecting figures to prove its economic viability.
Few people live to be 95. Those who knew him may feel
that Andy needed every one of those years to teach us to be
as full of life and curiosity as he was. — KR
""Rural Voice
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