The Rural Voice, 1991-09, Page 37today is "deciding on alternatives" and
that infers that there is a choice. "Do I
want to stay in farming or quit?", "Do
I want to grow corn or raspberries?",
etc. These are all alternatives.
Deciding on alternatives really says
you are making a decision — looking
at all the alternatives and making a
choice. To make a decision to solve
the problem of needing to make more
profit, there is a series of steps a
farmer should go through:
• identify the problem (state your goal)
• identify the contributing factors
• identify all alternatives
Using an example of having to
work with an individual you didn't get
along with, you can identify alter-
natives. Some alternatives just won't
work because of people and you. If
you have a job you don't like, you
can't avoid the person, you can't
ignore them. If you have tried all
kinds of alternatives — dividing
projects to minimize contact, etc., and
you are still miserable, you hate to go
to work, you complain to friends, a
choice is still there. Try to get a new
job. In the short run, there are lots of
reasons to not want to do this —
money, new friends, hassles of finding
a place to live, etc., but the choice is
there, and it is up to you.
If you had a 100 acres and were
asked what to do with it, you might
think of traditional methods, such as
changing crops, renting acreage out,
growing organic crops, or marketing
from the farm. Some non-traditional
approaches might be a community
garden, a trailer park, working for
neighbours, school farm or garden
tours, storage, or co-operating with
neighbours. There may be a need to
consider alternatives outside the norm.
The next step is to select the best
solution to meet your goal and solve
your problem — selecting the best
means evaluating. Should you grow
corn? To answer this, you need to ask
yourself what your cost is to produce a
bushel of corn. Who knows? Can you
tell me? Or do you have the use of the
next best thing — the crop budget
averages?
A banker says: "Consider as good
management practices the ability to
plan ahead, and to have a pretty good
idea of which crops or enterprises will
Trade -up & save
on Gallagher
Your old fencer is worth good money when used as a
trade-in on a new Gallagher energizer. Make your
best deal with your dealer. Then trade in an old
fencer, any condition. Gallagher will send a cheque
for your trade in directly to you. See your Gallagher
dealer today because this offer only runs until
October 31, 1991.
wilvos!
..Cj
Buy a M1500 & get $50 for your trade in.
Buy a M800 & get $40 for your trade in.
LT
Buy a M400 & get $30 for your trade in.
Buy a M120 & get $20 for your trade in.
There's a qualified Gallagher Dealer near you:
Belmore Feeds Belmore 392-6522
Boyd's Feed Mill Gowanstown 291-2220
Carson's Feed & Supply Listowel 291-1094
Hills Feed & Farm Supply Clinton 482-7706
Oldfield Pro Hardware Brussels 887-6851
Prior, Tim Brussels 887-9648
Sprucedale Agromart Tara 934-2340
Thompson Feed & Supply Ripley 395-5955
Watson, Bob Cargill 353-5358
Van Sligtenhorst, Even Zurich 263-6208
Lucknow District Co-operative Lucknow 529-7953
Ripley 395-3654
Mitchell Co-operative Mitchell 348-8442
Teeswater District Co-operative Teeswater 392-6862
North Wellington Co-operative Services Harriston 338-2331
Mount Forest 323-1271
You can't beat the
4:ALLOHEI system.
SEPTEMBER 1991 33