The Rural Voice, 1992-02, Page 46GREY
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
519-364-3050
• The Rural Voice is provided to all Grey
County Farmers by the GCFA.
This column is directed to all those
persons and, in particular, politicians of
all levels of government, who were
approached in the early '80s to help
solve the farm crisis.
The message then, as it continues to
be, was that should the base industries
in Canada — forestry, mining, fisheries
and agriculture — not prosper, then the
rcst of society would be the poorer for
it. Our problems in agriculture are
fourfold:
1) interest rates have reached the
stratosphere compared to our return on
our investment;
2) no new research and development;
3) no new entrants into the industry;
4) no policy or direction in which our
purpose or goals would be into the '80s
and beyond.
It is some ten years since the reces-
sion — or should we say depression —
has been with us in agriculture. We
have mended, patched, repaired and
made do with less than state-of-the-art
equipment, much to the dismay and
demise of the equipment dealers. Pri-
mary agricultural producers have, at
the same time, continued to produce a
much more wholesome and abundant
product with yet an aging and mindset
work force. This also has not been good
for the Canadian economy. The contin-
ued draining and deterioration of base
industries to pay for service sectors of
our country, not to mention the federal
and provincial debts, has, in my opin-
ion, come to an abrupt end.
Never before in history have so
many companies closed or, worse yet,
moved to more hospitable climes, just
to come back to compete ever more
effectively. Agricultural expertise is
about to make the same move, for East -
em Europe is about to open up to a
skilled, productive and efficient sector:
food producers. They need and want
food.
The solution to the problems out-
lined above would have been to invest
that one dollar in our base industry back
42 THE RURAL VOICE
WE TOLD YOU SO!
in 1981, for now, in the case of agricul-
ture with its 1x7 economic spin-off and
the employment of some 20 per cent of
the work force in Ontario, the cost of
solving the problems (welfare, unem-
ployment) has risen to $7.
The farmers of Ontario reiterate:
"We told you what would happen if you
should continue on your path. We have
offered solutions and were shunned.
We again come forward to say we have
10 years' experience in coping with the
economic reality and have the solutions
to enable this country to prosper and
feed itself."
Farmers have identified your prob-
lems in the past. Can you afford to
ignore us any longer?
Respectfully submitted,
Ken Furlong,
1st vice-president, Grey Federation
GCFA Directors' Meeting
Thursday, February 27
OMAF Boardroom, Markdale
8:00 p.m.
Members are welcome to attend
Grey County
Federation of Agriculture
County Executive
Past -President Lom Eccles
President George Black
First Vice -President Ken Furlong
Second Vice -President Brian Milne
Executive Directors
Karl Chittka, Elmer Scarrow, Allan Kinney, Lloyd Mitchell
Regional Directors
Grey North Jeff Torrie
Grey South Karl Braeker
OFA Exec Liaison
Tony Morris
Township Presidents —1991-1992
Artemesia Bob Brassington
Bentinck Shirley Veen
Collingwood Terry Carscadden
Derby John Verdonk
Egremont Steve Hodges
Euphrasia Randy Woodhouse
Glenelg George Black
Holland Arnold Oliver
Keppel -Sarawak Stuart Bergstra
Normanby Kim Lennox
Osprey Vacant
Proton Maria Pastink
St. Vincent Wayne Cramp
Sullivan Emile Hac hey
Sydenham Lloyd Mitchell