The Rural Voice, 2005-04, Page 3About this issue
Ups and downs
Good news is tough to find these days.
A couple of participants in the March 2 One Voice Rally
at Queen's Park were mentioning that people on their bus
were feeling pretty good, on the way home from Toronto,
about the experience of getting together to take the
message of farmers' hardships right to the steps of the
provincial government. Then part way home the word
came of the injunction in a Montana court to block the
expected re -opening of the U.S. border to Canadian live
cattle imports and suddenly the bus went silent.
We've got photos of the rally by staffer Allen Hughes
and follow up on trying to get the message through to
Ottawa and Toronto through MP Paul Steckle and MPP
Carol Mitchell of Huron -Bruce riding during presentations
by farm groups at the Members of Parliament Day
sponsored by the Huron County Federation of Agriculture.
In the hierarchy of cash crops, hay has never been very
high up the list but with so many crop prices at record
lows, suddenly hay has more appeal. Ken Scott of River
Lodge Farms at Teeswater and Don Rowntree of
Georgetown explained how their hay operations worked
recently at Grey -Bruce Farmers Week. We have their story.
Animal welfare issues have changed the face of farming
in Europe, particularly for swine farmers. Though the
effects of a push for greater animal welfare haven't been as
far reaching in Canada, some farmers are designing barns
with the comfort of their animals in mind and research
continues into how to reduce stress for pigs. Dr. Harold
Gonyou of the Prairie Swine Centre spoke recently about
the findings of his research at the Centralia Swine Research
Update.
Modern barns can improve comfort for the people who
work in them as well as for the animals housed in them.
Recently Bert and Susan Buffinga built a bright new dairy
barn on their farm near Blyth. We spoke with them.
In her gardening column this month, Rhea Hamilton
Seeger explores oriental vegetables, how to grow them and
how to use them. Bonnie Gropp's recipe collection centres
on stir -frying and simmering. Decorating columnist Patti
Robertson reveals the beauty of Havana.0
Update
Prices and problems in beans
Unlike many other commodities, producers of white
beans last year didn't suffer a price collapse. That didn't
mean there weren't problems, however.
Speaking at the Huron County Federation of
Agriculture's Members of Parliament Day, Bob
Fotheringham, vice-president of the Ontario White Bean
Board urged farmers looking for a profitable crop this year
and thinking of white beans, to make sure they had
approved, treated seed because an outbreak of anthracnose
last year caused problems in marketing beans. One Ontario
shipper has 30 containers of beans on hold in Britain, he
said, because the cooking process made black spots from
the fungus more emphatic. Even though the processor's
representative approved the beans in Ontario, they were
rejected because of the problems encountered in cooking.
Fotheringham predicted Ontario processors will have to
run the beans through their electric eye sorters multiple
times to reduce inferior beans slipping through.
Farmers planting bin -run seed who end up with beans
infected with the fungus might have their beans rejected
even if they had a contract, Fotheringham warned.
Last September we featured an article on the attempt of
Hensall District Co-operative and its major British white
bean customer Premier Foods to institute a quality control
program from seed to can. Seems like they may have been
just slightly ahead of their time.0
'Rural Voice
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Bonnie Gropp, Carol Riemer, Ralph
Pearce, Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Sandra
Orr, Janice Becker, Larry Drew
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