The Rural Voice, 1998-01, Page 31
R.V.
Editor: Keith Roulston
editorial advisory committee:
Bev Hill, farmer, Huron County
John Heard, soils and crop extension
and research, northwestem Ontario
Diane O'Shea, farmer, Middlesex Cty.
George Penfold, associate professor,
University of Guelph
Gerald Poechman, farmer, Bruce Cty.
contributing writers:
Gisele Ireland, Cathy Laird, Wayne
Kelly, Sarah Borowski,
Mary Lou Weiser -Hamilton, Ralph
Pearce, Susan Glover,
Bob Reid, Mervyn Erb, Darene
Yavorsky, Peter Baltensperger, Sandra
Orr, Carl L. Bedal, Kevin Shillinglaw
marketing & advertising sales manager:
Gerry Fortune
advertising representative:
Merle Gunby
production co-ordinator:
Joan Caldwell
advertising & editorial production:
Dianne Josling
Anne Harrison
laserset: with the Macintosh LC
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
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should be accompanied by a stamped, self-
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accept responsibility for unsolicited
manuscripts or photographs, although both
are welcome. The opinions expressed here-
in 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 1HO, 519-523-4311
(fax 523-9140). Publication mail
registration No. 3560 held by North Huron
Publishing Co. Inc. at Goderich, Ontario.
The Rural Voice makes every effort to see
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Rural Voice office within 30 days of
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Behind the Scenes
New ways, old ways
There's a song that says
"everything old is new again". That
could be a theme in this month's
issue.
As Dr. Sid Pobihushchy, director
and president of the Fredericton
Direct -Charge Co-op and of Co-op
Atlantic told the recent annual
meeting of the National Farmers
Union, farmers have a choice: either
perpetuate the status -quo or play a
vanguard in moving to a new
paradigm. Farmers must take control
of their economy and produce an
alternative to the status quo, he said.
An example could be the work
done by the producers who formed
the Farm Fresh Poultry Co-operative
which opened a processing plant in
Harriston recently. Not content to
wave goodbye to their product when
the truck pulled out the lane taking
the chickens for processing, these 35
farmers have anted up $20,000 each
to buy a plant to process their birds.
They're part of a new breed of co-ops
through which farmers commit
themselves to the idea of further
processing their farm products. We
talked to some of the people
involved.
There was a time when most pigs
were raised in straw -bedded pens.
The heavy workload of cleaning
pens, however, limited the number of
pigs a farmer could keep. Liquid
manure systems made clean-up easy
and the number of hogs a farmer
could look after swelled.
But Jack and Marg Kroes decided
they felt best raising their pigs on
straw, and they've designed a new
finisher barn that minimizes the work
load. They're slowly filling up their
900 -head barn with the litters from
their farrowing operation, pigs they
think will be happier and more
productive in their new barn. They
aren't criticizing other farmers, they
insist, just taking a different road that
suits their independent nature.
Our Profit$ section this month
deals with farm and financial
management. How does a young
farmer find the money to get into the
business? How do you plan for the
day you want to leave farming?
These arc two of the issues we deal
with.
Arthur Kirkby adds a humorous,
yet helpful guide to how to select a
lawyer.
Bonnie Gropp has chosen recipes
this month for sandwiches — with a
difference. The recipes have an
international flavour from Mexican
fajitas to French country sandwiches
to Bangkok pork wrap.0
Comment
We went the extra mile(s)
Not all our readers got their December issue of The Rural Voice on time
because of the postal strike, but a large number did, thanks to hundreds of
kilometers of driving by our dedicated staff.
The 15,000 copies of the December issue of The Rural Voice were due to be
mailed out the day the strike hit. Through efforts of staff at Signal -Star
Publishing, which printed the magazine, we were able to dig out copies for many
of the small post offices which remained open during the postal strike. Our staff
tried to get your magazine to those post offices if possible (through confusion we
didn't get some of the magazines we sought). We then sent our four staff
members in different directions to try to hit as many post offices as possible.
Our thanks to all the post office staff who welcomed the magazines with open
arms. Many seemed excited to have some work to do during the strike. Thank.
too to the rural route drivers who delivered whatever mail they could get.
To any members of the postal union who read this, we can understand your
frustration with a bureaucratic employer, with having wages frozen for years and
the fear of downsizing, but the victims of your strike, such as most farm
customers and our staff at The Rural Voice, also worry about their futures. They
earn much less than you do and your strike made their futures less secure.0 —KR