The Rural Voice, 1991-12, 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 advertising sales:
Gerry Fortune
production co-ordinator:
Tracey Rising
advertising & editorial production:
Rhea Hamilton -Seeger
Anne Harrison
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BEHIND THE SCENES
by Jim Fitzgerald
General Manager/editor
The stereotypical image of a farmer —
a "hayseed" dressed in green coveralls and
chewing on a straw, while he quietly goes
about doing what some people consider an
unskilled job — is certainly undergoing
some radical changes in the urban press
lately. Out here in the country, we've
always known that you had to be a combi-
nation engineer, animal scientist, horticul-
turalist, veterinarian, mechanic, and econ-
omist to survive with profit margins (or
non -margins) so small that a Bay Street
MBA would have given up long ago,
jumped in his Mercedes, and retreated to
his condominium in downtown Toronto.
In the last four or five years, there have
been some radical changes in the farm
movement, as farmers, mainly through
their groups and organizations, have
realized they have to make their case in a
way that's understandable to the general
public. Instead of waiting for an issue to
becomes a crisis, forcing the government
to intervene, farmers are now asking for
laws beforehand, in a move unheard of a
decade ago. Such is the case with AG
Care, which stands for Agricultural Groups
Concerned About Resources and the Envi-
ronment.
An umbrella organization formed by
10 farm groups, ranging from cash crop
farmers, to flower growers, to the large
farm groups like the Federation of Agricul-
ture and the Christian Farmers, AG Care
represents 45,000 farmers. They have
become a proactive group with a strong
voice, anticipating that farmers have to
clean up their own act first on issues of
pest management, farming practices, food
safety, and the environment. They were
instrumental in prodding the Ontario gov-
ernment to set up a grower pesticide safety
course, which 38,000 of the province's
farmers have taken in the past two years.
They asked for mandatory certification for
farmers who buy, handle, and use sprays,
so that all producers would be aware of the
necessity for proper application of the right
pesticide at the proper time.
So anxious is this farm group to clean
up their own act first, that they have
initiated another new program which was
tested in three counties in November. AG
Care wants to safely dispose of unused, out
of date, and deregistered pesticides that are
laying around in the back corners of barns,
garages, and implement sheds. And as
many of us who are familiar with agricul-
ture know, there is always a little left over
from spraying — part of a bag of this, half
a jug of that — that may not be enough for
another tank next spring. Up until now, it
was too expensive or inconvenient to
dispose of them properly. Either the
chemicals sat forgotten on the shelf like a
potential time bomb, quietly "disappeared"
in the "back forty" in the middle of the
night, or ended up in municipal garbage
dumps.
With co-operation and financial
support from the provincial ministries of
environment, and agriculture and food, AG
Care had arranged for a collection site at
the Centralia College research farm, where
fanners could carefully bring these unused
pesticides on November 20 and 21. There,
a professional waste management firm,
complete with men in white suits and high
tech containers, was to take these pesti-
cides from the farmers, no questions asked,
and safely dispose of them. Unfortunately,
our magazine went to press before the
pick-up was held, but from advance
interest — with over 50 pre -registered —
it looks like it will prove such a success
here, that it will be expanded across the
province, and farmers will prove again
they care just as much about the environ-
ment as their city cousins.
* * *
It is with both sadness and anticipation
that I announce my departure from The
Rural Voice, effective December 1.
Fortunately, I will be still connected with
agriculture in my new position as commu-
nications specialist with the Ontario Milk
Marketing Board. Over the past two years,
with this fine magazine, I have had the op-
portunity to meet many great people in
mid -western Ontario, and have made many
new friends. We have some of the best
food producers in the world, and despite
all the tough times, farmers should always
proudly hold our heads up high.
A new editor will be named shortly.0