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The Rural Voice, 1991-04, Page 3I general manager/editor: Jim Fitzgerald editorial advisory committee: Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County John Heard, soils and crops extension and research, northwestern Ontario Neil McCutcheon, farmer, Grey County Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty. George Penfold, associate professor, University of Guelph Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty. Bob Stephen, farmer, Perth County contributing writers: Adrian Vos, Gisele Ireland, Keith Roulston, Cathy Laird, Wayne Kelly, Sarah Borowski, Mary Lou Weiser - Hamilton, June Flath, Ian Wylie-Toal, Susan Glover, Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Peter Baltensperger, Darene Yavorsky, Sandra Orr, Yvonne Reynolds marketing and promotion: Gerry Fortune advertising sales: Merle Gunby production co-ordinator: Tracey Rising advertising & editorial production: Rhea Hamilton -Seeger Anne Harrison Brenda Baltensperger laserset: with the McIntosh Plus printed by: Signal -Star Publishing Goderich, Ontario subscriptions: $16.05 (12 issues) (includes 7% GST) Back copies $2.75 each For U.S. rates, add $5 per year Canadian Assav1nn All manuscripts submitted for consideration should be accompanied by a stamped, self- addressed envelope. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited manu- scripts or photographs, although both are welcome. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. Edi- torial content may be reproduced only by permission of the publisher. Second Class Mail RegistrationNo. 3560. The Rural Voice, Box 37, l0A The Square, Goderich, Ontario, N7A 3Y5, 519-524-7668. BEHIND THE SCENES by Jim Fitzgerald General Manager/editor They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but as I enter the mid point of my fourth decade on this beautiful planet, I'm beginning to doubt that and other old beliefs I once held dear. For instance, my 13 -year-old son recently convinced me to go downhill skiing with him. He had learned to ski very quickly during a school trip and he thought I should be as equally adept at picking up this terrifying habit. Although I play a little pick-up hockey in the winter, old-timers' slow -pitch baseball in the summer, and the occasional game of squash, I'm not much for sports. So to me, sliding down a steep hill while standing on two boards strapped to one's feet seems close to lunacy. Well, we went to a nearby ski hill, rented all the necessary equipment, paid the tow charges, and I signed up for an hour's lesson. Now downhill skiing isn't a poor man's sport, as it cost us about the equivalent of a hopper full of corn (as most farmers know all too well, a $2.80 bushel of corn doesn't go too far these days, in fact you'd be lucky to buy a bag of taco chips with it) before you even begin to slide. I was absolutely terrified. All I could think of were all those injuries of the past two decades suffered while participating in "recreational sports." The fractured leg from motorcycling, the broken hand from bicycling, the ripped knee cartilage from sliding into second base, the torn shoulder ligaments from hockey, and the two cracked ribs suffered last fall while playing soccer in the back yard with the kids. However, my young instructor was very patient, and by the end of the day, I was going up the tow rope by myself, making turns, and using ski poles. I only "wiped out" once and I'm proud to say I still have all my body parts intact. It was an exhilarating experience and I may even try it again. Similarly, farmers in Canada may have to learn a few new tricks as well in dealing with goverment and the public in the future if they want to stay in business. I was always under the assumption that growing and processing one's own food was a motherhood issue. Didn't everyone believe that buying the food your neigh- bour grows was good for you and the country too? Apparently not any more. The media is full of reports that cross-border shopping trips into the U.S. have sky -rocketed enormously, with groceries being one of the principle items Canadians are buying. Because some food items, like dairy and chicken products, are considerably cheaper in the U.S. than here, there is a growing awareness among our consumers that Canadians are paying far too much for food. And once a consensus builds in the general public for opening up the borders, the pleas for the three per cent of those involved in agriculture will fall on deaf ears. That's why rumblings coming out of the federal government are frightening. In their 1989 document on agriculture re- form, "Growing Together," they told farm- ers that the first of four pillars of reform of agriculture is "market responsiveness and self-reliance," but this could be a threat to the traditional farm belief that, although farmers are independent and would rather make their living from the market -place, they generally look to the government for help when they are hurt by unfair econo- mic policies of other countries. In a recent speech to the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Agriculture Minister Don Mazankowski hinted that the time has come for greater self reliance saying "the question we have to ask ourselves is how much is enough? How much government influence should there be in the agriculture sector?" In a world of unfair subsidies and free trade, does this mean that consumers will demand cheaper imported food rather than pay domestic producers higher prices because of higher input costs? If so, then is this a market signal to farmers to not grow any food here ? Should farmers get out of the business? And has the Gross Revenue Insurance Plan (GRIP) been brought in to buy off the farm vote for the Tories in the next election, only to be abandoned in their next term as too expensive, as has the white bean tripartite plan? Farmers must band together and speak as one voice during the next two years under the Conservative government or they'll end up the same as the passenger pigeon — extinct. s * + It is with great sadness that we bid adieu to two great friends of farming and The Rural Voice, Sheila and Merle Gunby. Following the sale of the magazine a year ago, Sheila retired and Merle stayed on as an advertising representative. Sheila recently accepted a one-year posting as executive assistant to the publisher of the Grenadian Voice newspaper, and they left Canada on March 28. The Gunbys will be enjoying them- seves on the tiny, lush, tropical island of 110,000 people, located 12 degrees from the equator, 85 miles northeast of Vene- zuela, while we can look forward to suffering through another winter. I know their many friends wish them the best and perhaps we might have a report on the problems that farmers down there are having with growing bannanas, coconuts , and spices.