The Rural Voice, 2002-11, Page 34Ag News
Controversial resolution calls for caps
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to extend the program for one year
and Knight urged those in attendance
to consider applying for funding if
they had a project which might
qualify.
Out -going President Charles
Regele thanked his executive and
membership for their support during
his two-year term. He asked the local
Federation to continue to lobby for
enhanced market supports. He said
that one of the highlights of his time
as president, was his work "with the
nutrient management bylaw working
group in the attempt to develop a
bylaw for the whole county."
Stanley Township farmer Wayne
Hamilton was recipient of this year's
award for outstanding contribution to
agriculture in Huron. He was cited
for what Regele called "the
uncounted hours he devoted to the
Huron Federation." His continuing
work on safety net issues was
specifically noted.
In her keynote address Johns
thanked the local Federation saying
the members had done a great deal to
bring her up to speed on the issues.
Johns stated her ministry had been
working hard over the summer on the
regulations related to Bill 81. She
said that although the time lines for
implementation had been relatively
quickly established the next
regulations would be harder to set.
Johns promised to continue
consultations with the farming
community specifically mentioning
such items as winter manure
spreading and minimum distance
separations.
According to the minister, Justice
O'Connor's report on the Walkerton
tragedy meant that enforcement
officers under Bill 81 would be the
responsibility of the Ministry of the
Environment. She went on to say that
the ministry has agreed to hire
officers with a farm background.
She admitted however that she
was not always pleased with the
work of environmental enforcement
officers as it related to farming and
promised, "... to keep my finger on
30 THE RURAL VOICE
the pulse of that issue."
The minister touched briefly on
several issues before her ministry.
She said officials were working to
deal with problems the Supreme
Court had identified with the
government's approach to
agricultural labour, as well as the
continuing issues surrounding
support payments and transition
funding.
She wrapped up her remarks by
saying, "The more I deal with the
farm community the more I realize
that it is vital to produce a plan for
farming in Ontario in the future."
The final act of the meeting was to
debate several resolutions. Hydro
One came in for criticism and a
motion was passed asking that they
be required to develop plans to
protect rural communities. A similar
motion was aimed at the natural gas
companies.
Another motion was passed
asking that the OFA lobby Bell
Canada to stop using the 911
numbers in directories and return to
the practice of providing rural route
addresses in directories.
The resolution, which sparked the
most energetic discussion of the
evening, concerned the
implementation of a system of
graduated support programs and
NISA payments distributed
according to the size of the farm
operation. The motion suggested this
would allow the distribution of
funding so that the maximum number
of farmers. communities and
organizations could be maintained.
Hamilton in supporting the motion
said, "We are losing farmers at an
alarming rate and we feel a graduated
system will help stem this problem."
He ended his presentation by
stating, "If we continue on the road
to the commercial farm we will see a
reduced level of support to fewer
larger farms."
It quickly became apparent that
this method of helping small farmers
was not accepted by all.
Pat Down expressed the view that;
"Caps have never worked in
organizations that have tried them."
Others stated that they felt the motion
would pit large and small farmers
against each other. After several
minutes of lively discussion the
resolution was passed.
Johns expressed some surprise
concerning the resolution. She said,
"It is an interesting dichotomy that
this resolution should come out of the
Huron Federation. This area has
some of the largest and wealthiest
Ecosystems only bend so far
speaker tells Grey farmers
Ecosystems have great ability to
tolerate stress, a consultant on water
and the environment told the annual
meeting of the Grey County
Federation of Agriculture, but once
the stress causes something to
change, it may take a long time to get
things back to normal.
John Westwood, an environmental
consultant specializing in water
issues told 75 people at the October 4
meeting in Markdale that some
people think you can push nature to
the limit, then if something goes
wrong, back off a bit. But if
something happens it is very hard to
take it back, he said. He compared it
to a situation where someone turned
off the oxygen in the room for 10
minutes: they can turn it back on but
by then everybody is dead.
The good news for Grey County
residents is that they have some of
the best drinking water and some of
the highest quality life in its streams,
Westwood said. That's important for
people all over southwestern Ontario
because Grey is the recharge area fo:
aquifers from which well water is
pumped and from which springs feed
streams over a wide area.
Grey's water is clear and alkaline
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