The Rural Voice, 1998-11, Page 48GREY
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
Email: gcta@greynet.net Website: headwaters.com/gcta 519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551
• The Rural Voice is provided to all Grey
County Farmers by the GCFA.
By Bob Brassington
OFA Regional Director
Grey East
Just how fast are things changing
in these times in which we live?
Monumental changes are taking
place all over the world. Big banks
taking over small banks. Gigantic
stores moving into areas all over
and rendering small businesses
impractical, and uneconomical to a
point where they can no longer
justify staying in business, thereby
changing the economy and
character of that town, village or
city. These places change so much
that they are unrecognizable from
what they used to be just a few
short years ago. Far too often the
locals don't stand and fight. Rather
they just look for somewhere
different to do their business.
With the galloping rate that
biotechnology is racing across the
world, I sometimes wonder if
farming will be recognizable, as we
know it now, in let's say 10 years
hence. The germination terminator
technology, with options still to
purchase conventional germinatable
seed is fine with me. However, if
that option should no longer be
there, then I think we should all be
a little more than just concerned,
and maybe we should stand and
fight before it is too late, rather than
just look for an alternative, because
in this case, there just may not be
an alternative to turn to. When we
have Monsanto taking over and
buying out other larger and smaller
companies at the fast rate they are
doing, they are closing doors to us
and vastly reducing any options left
open to us.
Remember how we all flocked to
see the first calf born to artificial
insemination and now it seems like
44 THE RURAL VOICE
Changing times
old hat, but some farmers still own
their own bulls. Remember how
some viewed no -till with
skepticism, and now it is accepted
everywhere you go, but some still
prefer to use the plough.
Roundup -Ready canola, beans
etc. raised some eyebrows, yet we
accepted it as part of the changing
times. But we still have the options
not to buy these products. I, for one,
hope we will always have the
option. We must never lose sight of
the fact that ever since Adam and
Eve, farmers have had the choice to
keep seed from one year to the next,
and that in my opinion, is how it
always must be.
It seems sad to me, but never the
less a fact of life, in these times,
that we are increasingly told what
we as farmers can or cannot do. A
neighbour of mine recently told me
that he was compelled to sell his
dairy cows because the cream he
produced is no longer wanted by
the big creameries. He feels he is
too old to change to liquid milk
production, so reluctantly he sells,
and looks elsewhere for his
livelihood.
These changes are not only
characteristic of the agricultural
industry, but are taking place in all
facets of industry. How many rural
villages have suffered at the hands
of progress? Can many say that no
changes have taken place in their
village in the past decade, and what
of the next decade? In this small
rural village where I live, two
prominent businesses are no longer
in existence. A car dealership was
forced to dose its doors, and they
now have jobs in the big city of
Owen Sound. A longtime gas
station and fuel delivery business is
no longer run by the family who
founded it so many years ago. It is
now run by a larger company
whose office is in, you guessed it,
Owen Sound.
Some rural schools may have to
close. What impact will the closing
of rural schools have, not only on
our children but on the economy,
and the long term future of these
areas?
I know you can please some of
the people some of the time, but
you cannot please all of the people
all of the time. But will there be any
rural people left to please, if we
keep losing the lifeblood of these
communities at such an
unprecedented rate?0
GREY <COUNTY FE
.......................................................
DIRECTORSMEETIN
Thursday, November 19, 1998
8:00 p.m.
OMAFRA Boardroom, Markdale
Members are welcome to attend,
i