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The Rural Voice, 1990-01, Page 43NEWS FARMERS TOLD TO TAKE STEPS TO PRESERVE WATER TABLE LEVEL The groundwater table is being low- ered about one foot every 10 years, Tom Sawyer of the Fertilizer Institute told farmers attending the annual meeting of the Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association recently. The winners of the 1989 Norman Alexander Conservation Award were announced at the recent Huron Soil and Crop Improvement Association annual meeting. They are (from the left). Hugh, Philip, Peter, and Paul Feagan of Colborne Township. The Feagans farm about 650 acres divided among several operations, including dairy, beef, and cash crops. Some of their conservation practices include a large liquid manure tank for the dairy herd and barnyard runoff collection, grassed waterways, tree planting, and conservation tillage. STEWARDSHIP THE TOP PRIORITY: CFFO That supply -management policies are keeping farm families on the land was stressed by Jack vanderKooy, presi- dent of the Christian Farmers Federa- tion of Ontario, at the CFFO's annual meeting in December. VanderKooy also expressed disap- pointment about the failure to get a check -off to fund general farm organi- zations, but he pledged to continue ef- forts in that direction. More funds are needed for research because issues are becoming global and complex, he said. The most pressing faun issue is to improve the industry's sustainability, he added. The priority should be on ste- wardship, he said, and this means gov- ernment incentives for land -banking, erosion control, crop rotation, mixed farming, and the zoning of farm land. INDUSTRY MUST COLLABORATE Farmers arc always complaining that they lack political power and can't get it. They arc wrong. This was one of the messages from Sister Thomas More Bertcls at the an- nual convention of the CFFO. The Wisconsin professor and author used the labour movement as an ex- ample. In the U.S., she said, only 17 per cent of workers are organized, and they know their power. But there is much jealousy between agricultural groups, she said, so it is difficult to get a consensus on policies. Referring to her CFFO hosts, she said that "federation" means the sharing of power, and power is the ability to get others to help you get things done. Relationships in the food industry, she said, arc symbiotic, and food pro- ducers must get rid of selfishness indus- try -wide. Collaboration, she said, will product a healthy agriculture. Entrepreneurs, she added, cannot exist without democracy. Christ did not just stand for poverty, she said. He was born of an entrepreneur, a carpenter. She defined an entrepreneur as one who manages change. You, she said, must take the future of agriculture in your hands. Don't leave it to govcrn- mcnt.0 Adrian Vos Sawyer added that farmers must take steps to increase water absorption into the soil. Not draining wetlands, creating ponding areas, conservation tillage, and using `outlet" tile lines of a smaller diameter were some of his suggestions. Using a picture of an old windmill to illustrate another point, Sawyer asked: "How many of you have seen this or have an old well on your property?" "This is a direct link to the ground- water table," he said, "allowing all kinds of contaminants direct access to the water supply. Unused wells should be filled and sealed." Sawyer pointed to 10 -litre pesticide containers as a major environmental contaminant. "Over 800,000 plastic 10 - litre chemical containers were used last year," he noted. Sawyer suggested that farmers have chemicals custom -applied, or use larger refillable bulk containers. Within three or four years, he added, all containers will be returnable. And save money by triple -rinsing, he stressed. "Rinse once for the banker, once for your children, and once for the environment." Bob Forest of Centralia College, who also spoke at the meeting, reported a large increase in soybean varieties. He said they had 64 varieties under test this year compared to only 16 seven or eight years ago. The yield potential for a soybean variety, he said, should be evaluated on a farm to farm basis. "More and more soybean varieties are region -specific," he said.OMG CHARGES AGAINST COUPLE DROPPED The charges against Owen Sound farm couple George and Azclda Both- well, reported in the December Rural Voice, were withdrawn December 13. Supporters of the couple had mounted a letter -writing campaign to protest the charge of child abandonmcnt laid in November. Azelda Bothwell thanked the sup- porters of the family. "We as individu- als," she added, "do have power as Ict- tcr-writers."0 JANUARY 1990 41