The Rural Voice, 2005-02, Page 3About this issue
Of seed and water
Seed — it's the source of all farming. Even if you make
your living from raising hogs or chickens, your livelihood
depends on feed that began as seed.
Farmers have been collecting and planting seed for
thousands of years, gradually improving the characteristics
over succeeding generations to meet their needs. In the last
century seed breeding became a commercial enterprise
rather than a part of a farmer's skills. Hybrids, then genetic
engineering brought new traits to the seed planted by
farmers, but also increased costs.
Currently there's a controversy about proposed
amendments to Plant Breeders Rights legislation with some
people claiming it will impede the ability of farmers to
keep and plant their own crops while the seed industry
claims it will actually imbed in the legislation the right of
farmers to keep and plant seed for their own use.
Meanwhile a handful of people want to sever their ties
with the commercial breeding companies and go back to
open -pollinated varieties, feeling they are more adaptable
to local conditions and provide superior nutritional values.
We have a wide-ranging article delving into some of
these issues.
Seeds can't grow, of course, without water, but water is
becoming a much more complicated issue than simply
being essential to plant growth. Plants can thrive even with
water polluted by bacteria but humans can't and the deaths
of seven people in Walkerton because of E. coli in the
drinking water has led to an increasing number of
regulations farmers must deal with. While most farmers are
still focussed on nutrient management planning, on the
horizon is source water protection. How will this effect
farmers? We spoke to several people to find out.
It's the time of the year when farmers (and farm
reporters) can attend meetings every day of the week.
Among the informative events is the Grey -Bruce Farmers
Week with a list of speakers on different commodities for
five straight days. We have reports from crops day and
from beef day, including presentations on profitable
alternatives for farmers marketing cattle.
February marks Heritage Day in Canada and Rhea
Hamilton -Seeger talks about heritage varieties of plants in
her gardening column.0
Update
Handing down the farm
Succession planning, discussed in our article last month
on helping the next generation get into farming, was on the
agenda two different days at Grey -Bruce Farmers Week.
Despite all the talk about the need for planning on how to
transfer the farm, not many fanners seem to be listening,
according to John Uren, a farm succession specialist from
St. Marys. He cited a University of Guelph study that
found only two per cent of farm families have a succession
plan. Worse, only 15 per cent have an up-to-date will.
"There are way too many wills still in place that were
created when couple's first had kids," Uren said. He
remembered being involved in one horror story where the
will said the son operating the farm had to buy out his
brothers and sisters at fair market value within six months
of the parents' death.
Estate planning is a process, not an event, he said,
advising families not to be afraid to review and revise their
succession plan as circumstances changed.
Parents need to realize that younger people in their
operation have other opportunities than running the family
farm while the younger generation must realize the need of
the parents for security. Parents can't afford to lose a
gamble that their kids can run the farm and start over again
at age 65, Uren said.0
'Rural Voice
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Pearce, Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Janice Becker, Larry Drew
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