The Rural Voice, 1988-07, Page 75GREY
44610th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1 P9
519-364-3050
• The Rural Voice is provided to all Grey
County Farmers by the GCFA.
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
WHO'S WORKING FOR YOU? THE OFA, OF COURSE
Can you imagine the state of agricul-
ture if there were no Ontario Federation
of Agriculture? The OFA executive,
regional directors, field staff, county
and township executives and members
are all out there working for you.
This past winter and spring they
have been extremely busy with impor-
tant farming issues. These issues are
concerns of all farmers regardless of
commodity groups or size of farm.
There was a dilemma this past win-
ter concerning our local credit unions
(refer to the March 1988 issue). Since
then, the Grey County Federation of
Agriculture has taken these concerns to
the OFA and the banking legislation has
now been changed to assist farmers who
wish to deal with credit unions. Could
you have done this as an individual?
Another issue concerning all farm-
ers is the proposed OFA Revision to Bill
83 — Right to Farm Legislation, which
will enable us to farm under normal farm
practices. This is not to exclude the
application of innovative technology.
The OFA has had considerable input
and has proposed several revisions that
will give the farmer better protection
under Bill 83. Could you have done this
as an individual?
The waste management issue is a
major concern and the OFA supports
and promotes the 4 Rs program: 1. Re-
use, 2. Reduce, 3. Re -cycle, and 4.
Recovery of energy. Agricultural land
is the dumping ground for all garbage,
both urban and rural. Garbage dumps
are one of the major pollutors of ground
water.
The OFA supports the following
recommendations:
1. THAT OFA strongly promote
Energy From Waste (EFW) plants, and
that separation of re-cyclable materials
be an integral part of these plants.
2. THAT OFA continue to support,
research, advocate, and promote all
methods of reducing the need for land-
fill sites with the ultimate goal of elimi-
74 THE RURAL VOICE
nating land -fills.
3. THAT OFA support the use of
composting of bio -degradable materi-
als.
4. THAT consultation be main-
tained between the OFA and the Minis-
tries of Agriculture and Food, Environ-
ment, Energy, Municipal Affairs, Natu-
ral Resources, and any other organiza-
tion as necessary.
5. THAT stringent air -emission
standards for EFW plants be adopted
and enforced by the Ministry of Envi-
ronment, incorporating, and upgrading
to, the latest technology available.
6. THAT all ash from EFW plants be
disposed of in a safe manner to protect
the environment effectively.
7. THAT the Ministry of Environ-
ment have all below -standard land -fill
sites investigated and that effective
remedial action be taken.
8. THAT all new land -fill sites be
designed with state of the art technol-
ogy.
9. THAT dependency on agricul-
tural land for land -fill be minimized.
10. THAT no industrial or house-
hold garbage, until processed under one
or more of the 4 Rs, be land -filled.
11. THAT federal and provincial
governments recognize the need for,
and make available, greater funding for
capital costs of waste management proj-
ects. Energy from waste plants must
receive the same level of financial assis-
tance as provided under the financial
assistance program of the Ministry of
Environment.
12. THAT the Ministry of Environ-
ment make it mandatory that all Waste
Management Steering Committee
meetings be public and that two mem-
bers of the Public Liaison Committee be
full members of the Steering Commit-
tee.
Become an OFA member and help
the OFA promote these recommenda-
tions on the waste management issue.
The above are three of many problems
that the OFA is dealing with.
Problems in agriculture don't go
away. Join the Federation of Agricul-
ture and come to your township and
county meetings and help protect your
livelihood and future in agriculture. It
would do your heart good to see all the
work and effort that local farmers put
into the federation. Farmers working
for farmers certainly holds true.
See you during our county canvas
July 26, 27, and 28. Join the OFA,
become a member. We need your sup-
port.°
Agnes Diemen
1st V ice -President
REGIONAL
DIRECTORS
NORTH GREY Case Vanderham
R. R. 1, Holland
Centre
794-3561
EAST GREY Clay Schwegler
R. R. 1, Flesherton
924-2770
SOUTH GREY Bill Pullen
R. R. 1, Proton
Station
23-6734