The Rural Voice, 1993-05, Page 31
i
R.V.
Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
John Heard, soils and crop extension
and research, northwestern Ontario
Neil McCutcheon, farmer, Grey Cty.
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Adrian Vos, Gisele Ireland, Cathy
Laird, Wayne Kelly, Sarah Borowski,
Mary Lou Weiser -Hamilton, June
Flath, Ian Wylie-Toal, Susan Glover,
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Darene
Yavorsky, Peter Baltensperger, Sandra
Orr, Yvonne Reynolds, Carl L. Bedal
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
production co-ordinator:
Tracey Rising
advertising & editorial production:
Anne Harrison
Dianne Josling
laserset: with the Macintosh Classic
printed & mailed by: Signal -Star
Publishing, Goderich, Ontario
subscriptions: $16.05 (12 issues)
(includes 7% GST)
Back copies $2.75 each
For U.S. rates, add $5 per year
Changes of address, orders for subscrip-
tions and undeliverable copies (return
postage guaranteed) are to be sent to The
Rural Voice at the address listed below.
Canadian
Magazine Publishers
Association
All manuscripts submitted for
consideration should be accompanied by
a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The
publisher cannot accept responsibility for
unsolicited manuscripts or photographs,
although both are welcome. The opinions
expressed herein are not necessarily those
of the publisher. Editorial content may be
reproduced only by permission of the
publisher. Published monthly by The
Rural Voice, Box 429, Blyth, Ontario,
NOM 1 HO, 519-523-4311 (fax 523-9140).
Publication mail registration No. 3560
held by North Huron Publishing Co. Inc.
at Goderich, Ontario.
Behind the Scenes
The grass is greener
Spring is sprung
The grass is rizz .. .
... and hopefully the alfalfa and
clover with it.
It's time for the greening of the
countryside and a time to look at the
number one crop in the province:
pasture and forage. This month's
issue focuses on that aspect of
agriculture that is getting renewed
respect as farmers recognize the
value of soil building.
Ontario's Community Pastures
have been home to thousands of head
of cattle over the years and the
managers of those pastures get a
unique view of pasturing cattle. June
Flash this month takes a look at the
Community Pastures in Bruce and
Grey.
The difficulty today with
rejuvenating tired cropland with
forage crops is that many farmers
don't keep cattle or sheep which need
the hay or pasture. For cash crop
farmers, however, recent alternatives
have arisen. In Bruce County,
Canadian Agra's alfalfa cubing plant
provides an opportunity to gain cash
from growing alfalfa without having
to feed it through animals.
Fences are an integral part of
pasturing animals and they haven't
always been so easy as today's
electric fencing systems. The
remnants of a pioneer fencing system
can still be seen in some parts of the
country in the form of old split -rail
fences snaking across the landscape.
Carl L. Bedal this month takes a look
at the history or those fences, and the
art of building them.
The provincial government has
promised to take a look at the role of
property tax in a "fair" tax system.
The result is the Fair Tax Com-
mission that is holding meetings
across Ontario. One group in Grey -
Bruce is making sure that the unique
problems of rural areas are brought
before the Commission. Cathy Laird
writes about the Grey/Bruce
Taxforce.
Back in February we had a story
about plans for the "A Slice of
Huron" demonstrations, designed to
teach school children where their
food comes from. The demonstration
was held in April and we have photos
and information on its success.0
Update
It was a year ago that the excitement over ethanol production took off in
Ontario when United Co-operatives of Ontario announced it would pioneer sales
of gasoline containing ethanol at its gas bars across the province. In the May
1992 issue, we featured a story on Commercial Alcohols Inc. at the Brucc
Energy Centre where the UCO ethanol was being produccd.
Since then there has been a great deal of excitement about ethanol in the
farming community. Various ventures are being examined in different parts of
the province. Eastem Ontario is advancing plans while one large co-op in south
western Ontario is looking at the feasibility of a plant. Canadian Agra is
discussing adding an ethanol plant at its industrial park at the Bruce Nuclear
Power Development that would produce 100 million litres a year using corn
production from a huge area of farmland.
But while ethanol from corn and other grains are the obvious choice for
farmers, others are looking at different sources for ethanol. Stake Technology
Ltd. of Norval and Bio-hol Developments of Downsview have joined forces to
investigate the technical and economical feasibility of producing ethanol from
some of the millions of tons of waste paper Ontarians discard every year. The
consortium, according to a bulletin from the Ministry of Energy, is looking at a
plant at Kincardine that would make 50 million litres a year.
Others say grain ethanol is a dead end: that experience in the U.S since the
early 1980s shows that the cost of grain -based ethanol is so high that it will never
make up more than 10 per cent of fuel. The future, they claim, is in ethanol
derived from the breakdown of cellulose in such things as native grasses. It's
cheap enough, some scientists say, to be a real, complete substitute to gasolinc.0