The Rural Voice, 1992-05, Page 53PERTH
Matt Crowley, President, R.R. 1, Gadshill NOK 1J0 393-5716
PCFA Office 229-6430
CountyFederation o Agriculture NEWSLETTER The Rural Voice is provided toh farmers
_f 9 in Perth County by the PCFA.
FEDERATION OUTLINES POSITION TO MPs
The Perth County Federation of
Agriculture held their annual meeting
with the Members of Parliament on
March 28 at Gravelridge W.I. Hall.
Dr. Harry Brightwell, MP and Alice
Heersink, representing Karen
Haslam, MPP who at the last minute
was unable to attend, gave updates
and information on several topics.
The following are the topics which
were discussed.
Changes to Farm Building Code
Farmers are concerned about
changes to the Farm Building Code
requiring graded lumber. We fail to
see the necessity of this change since
original farm buildings were built
with lumber grown on the premises
and are still standing today.
Durability has more to do with
construction methods than with
materials.
Ms. Heersink informed us that
discretion has been given to building
inpsectors to approve ungraded
lumber for some buildings. There
was some concern that some building
inspectors did not have the
knowledge to approve or reject the
lumber. Also the interpretation
would be different from one inspector
to another.
Farm Tax Rebate
Once again we hear rumours of
changes to be made to the Farm Tax
Rebate program. The fair tax com-
mission report has been in govern-
ment hands for some time now. If
changes must be made they must
address the unfair property tax
system, not the rebate program.
Changes to the Farm Tax Rebate
will be announced pending Cabinet
approval according to Ms. Heersink.
Ethanol
We were pleased to hear the an-
nouncement that Ethanol fuel will be
receiving the necessary tax break to
allow it to be competitive. With the
environmental advantages of using
Ethanol we hope it will prove to be
even more economically advanta-
geous than it has been calculated to be.
Regulations for Small Abattoirs
Once again it appears govemment
regulations are treading on small
business. This small industry may
not seem important in the large urban
scale but in the country side they arc
a very important ally. Not only do
they process product for the farmer's
own use, but help farmers sell value
added produce directly to the
consumer.
If you kill only for personal use
there is very little pressure to meet
standards, Dr. Brightwell told us. If
you are custom killing then you re-
quire a rail for processing, wash-
rooms, and hot water for washing
knives. Some of the other regulations
are flexible depending on the
individual situation.
Trucking Regulations (PMCVIP)
The new Periodic Mandatory
Commerical Vehicle Inspection
Program has been a real boom for
mechanics, but places another
hardship on farmers trying to get their
production to market. The rules
apply the same for a farmer with less
than 300 miles annually, as it does for
the commercial trucker covering
300,000 miles annually. There may
be some minor infractions to clean up
in the farm trucking area, but these
rules are like killing flies with
dynamite. It should not seem
unreasonable to allow farm plated
vehicles some special consideration if
they remain within a small radius of
the home farm.
Labour Relations Act
Farm labour needs are unique to
most other industries. Because of the
seasonality of the cropping process
and the variable working hours
required in harvest, it is difficult to
afford high quality help at the present
time. To saddle agriculture with new
industrial wage rules will make the
problem in agriculture even more
intolerable. The added paper work
and wage benefits are just more costs
which are impossible to pass on.
Ms. Heersink stated that these
new rules would only affect "Factory
Farms", not "Family Farms". She
also said that the final report is due in
May 1992. One question from the
directors that could not be answered
was "What is a factory farm as
opposed to a family farm?"
GATT Negotiations
A successful agreement is abso-
lutely vital to the future well being of
Canadian agriculture. A breakdown
in the present Uruguay round of ne-
gotiations would be extremely dama-
ging to most if not all parts of Cana-
dian agriculture. Farmers have been
hurt by the lack of effective GATT
ruleson agriculture. We hope our
negotiators might still come up with a
successful agreement in the near
future.
Dr. Brightwell felt a decision
would not be made until next year at
the earliest.
Our Farm Environmental Agenda
This is a bold new step in environ-
mental planning. If each farmer
develops an environmental farm plan
and lists his key opportunities for
environmental enhancement, this
should greatly aid in having
government programs developed
which are most beneficial. We feel
with the support of both levels of
government this is a very realistic
goal.°
MAY 1992 49