The Rural Voice, 1987-11, Page 33NEWS
start programs that he calls "bad for the
industry," like the Ontario Farm -Start
program for "suckers who'll go broke
down the road but in the meantime are
going to produce a lot of cheap food for
the nation."
Don't necessarily let go of the idea
of farming, Ireland advised the students,
but get a good education first.
Brian Hall of OMAF described the
ministry's role, and noted that the
county offices have two bosses: govern-
ment and farmers.
Brenda McIntosh summarized the
organization and role of the Debt Re-
view Board, which has 18 members, all
of them farmers except for one retired
banker. An additional 250 staff serve as
panel members and fieldpersons.
The board, McIntosh explained,
"brings together people who sometimes
haven' t talked for months or even years"
and is dealing with problems five and
even ten years old.
Paul Klopp stressed that when farm-
ers suffer, rural communities suffer, and
cited an American study showing that
every time six farm families are lost, the
nearby town loses one small business.
The solutions, he said, are cheap
credit and supply management.
Tony McQuail offered a different
perspective, noting that agricultural
problems in North American today are
"part of a global social crisis" that the
individual farmer can't influence except
through his farm organization or poli-
tics. Modern, industrial agriculture, he
said, "is primarily based on fossil fuels,
and can therefore consume more energy
than it produces." Once upon a tine, he
added, farmers had to produce more
than the farm consumed.
The result of this imbalance has been
"a great deal of community, social, and
environmental damage."
The alternative for the individual
farmer, he said, is to "reject the indus-
trial assumptions of agriculture" — the
idea that "you've got to get big" — and
"move to a more ecological style based
on renewable and local resources."
"I think if we do it right we can build
an agriculture that regenerates itself... in
a way that goes on forever."
For the students at Central Huron
Secondary School, it was quite a course,
and all in the space of an hour.0
REABURN ELECTRONICS LTD.
Making Communications Work
in Your Business
• FM Radio Systems
• Marine Electronics • Wireless Alarms
SERVICE TO ALL MAKES & MODELS
R.R. #3, Parkhill
Standard 519-238-5358
Communications
FOR PEOPLE WHO
TAKE THEIR FUN
SERIOUSIY�
Serious snowmobilers know
what they want. And Yamaha's got
it. With power to spare.
If you want to get the most out
of your winter riding, consider a
Yamaha.
Seriously.
YAMAHA
We make the difference.
LLOYD'S
SMALL ENGINES & REPAIR
Atwood
Hwy. 23 N.
519-356-2639
NOVEMBER 1987 31