The Rural Voice, 1992-03, Page 48GREY
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.
FARMERS CONTINUE TO WEATHER THE STORM
The big storm back in January had
many people talking about March of
'47. Not being old enough (by a long
shot) to remember that event in history,
I quizzed people who were old enough
to remember. Many people talked
about being stranded for days, huge
drifts blocking thc roads, and how hard
the wind blew. A popular story was
how people were able to step over thc
telephone wires and sit on top of thc
poles! But they took it all in stride,
knowing that, after all, spring wasn't
far off. 1f this storm had comc along in
December it would have made for a
long wintcr.
I could see a parallel in all this with
thc plight of modem agriculture. In the
past, if things were bad people told
themselves not to worry, this won't last
long. And mostly they were right. You
could always see the light at the end of
the tunnel. Lately that Tight seems
terribly faint, if it is there at all. Virtu-
ally every commodity price is at his-
toric lows with no real improvement on
the horizon. Even the supply -managed
commodities are looking over their
shoulders.
Sure, there have been price peaks,
but if you look back 10-20 years the real
price that the farm received has steadily
declined. People can only weather a
storm so long before their will to go on
is destroyed; so it is with agriculture.
Most people forced to quit for financial
reasons did so long ago. The people
who are left are in it for the long haul but
they arc getting tired: tired of being
taken for granted; tired of hand-outs
called OPPIP, OFFIR, GRIP and all the
rest; tircd of being told to get efficient.
But, mostly, sick and tired of supplying
the consumer with cheap food. While
the bloated government bureaucracy
and most other sectors of the economy
get their six per cent pay increase per
year, hog farmers received a six per
GCFA Directors' Meeting
Thursday, March 26, 1992
OMAF Boardroom, Markdale
8:00 p.m.
Members are welcome to attend
44 THE RURAL VOICE
cent increase over the last ten years!
And so it goes. For agriculture, the
storm continues to blow as more and
more farmers disappear beneath drifts
of disgust. But maybe this is the best for
those who do remain. I have heard it
said that the reason farmers have no
power is because there arc not enough
of us. I suggest that the reason is that
there arc too many farmers. If Ault
Dairies had to buy their milk from ten
dairy farmers instead of 10,000, my
guess would be that those ten farmers
would be telling Ault a few things they
ANNUAL MEET THE MEMBERS
MEETING
& TOMMY COOPER AWARD
Saturday, April 11, 1992
Rocklyn Community Centre
Dinner 12:00 noon
are not saying now — a rather uncom-
fortable thought for the consumer but if
the present situation continues, not
unthinkable. Don't limit this idea to
milk; if a handful of producers con-
trolled all the corn in Ontario the price
of corn flakes would really get silly.
Spring is only a couple of months
off and things will start to move again,
but I am afraid the storm, like the one in
'47, will get worse before it gets better.
submitted by Brian Milne
GCFA 2nd vice-president
DIRECTORS' SEMINAR
FOR GREY/BRUCE DIRECTORS
Thursday, March 5
9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Holy Family Church Hall, Hanover
Registration fee $5 — includes lunch
To register, call 364-3050 by February 27
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 Allan Kinney
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 Wayne Caughill
St. Vincent Wayne Cramp
Sullivan Emile Hachey
Sydenham Lloyd Mitchell