The Rural Voice, 1988-08, Page 80BRUCE
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
519-364-3050
• The Rural Voice is provided to Bruce
County federation members by the BCFA.
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
OPINION:
The Voice of the People
SHAPING THE FUTURE
It seems that the summer of 1988 is
destined to be remembered as the season
of extremes. While much of North
America suffers the worst drought in
decades, some localities have been hit
with floods and crop -damaging hail.
Here in Southern Ontario, the mercury
has been up and down like a yo-yo. One
week record-breaking heat, and the next
unprecedented cold, and even some
troublesome late June frosts.
The markets have followed suit.
While not quite as wildly erratic as the
weather, commodity prices have made
headlines too. To sum it up in one
headline, "Grains Skyrocket, Beef and
Hogs Bomb." The range of these fluc-
tuations is nothing short of incredible!
Weaner pigs were quoted at one-half the
money they fetched 12 months ago. The
cost of a tonne of grain corn came very
close to doubling in the space of four
weeks.
In the midst of this fantastic chaos
sits the farmer. While he is renowned in
all of society for his stubborn strength of
will and tenacious independence, a year
like this must surely bring the farmer to
recognize the painful reality of his own
predicament. In the summer of 1988, it
seems that no creature on this earth was
ever more vulnerable to powers far
beyond his own control or comprehen-
sion.
I wonder how many of us perceive
this fact and, if we do, how we respond
to it. Do cash croppers see themselves as
mere pawns in a high -finance game of
multi -national grain companies and
commodity traders? Does the small
beef feedlot operator realize that where
the price happens to be when it's time to
sell cattle can do more to make or break
him than all the management decisions
in a year?
Some people would say "that's fine,
Note: Each month this page
will contain an item of opinion
on some current farm issue.
We would like to know what
YOU think. If your opinion
differs from the one you have
read here, or if you support our
view, call the office at 464-3050.
we choose to farm because we like to
gamble." But I suspect that the ones
who lose out, who can't hang onto the
monetary roller coaster and end up los-
ing their farm, would opt for more sta-
bility and less risk if they had to do it
over. The ironic part is that we have
the ability to bring stability into agricul-
ture again. No, we can't control the
weather, but we can have financial secu-
rity. Other groups, far less powerful
than us, demand, and obtain, what they
want. We produce the one thing men
and women can't live without: collec-
tively we have incredible power.
United, we can decide what we need, ask
for it, and it will be ours! United. Ah,
there's the rub.°
Respectfully Submitted
Bruce County
Federation of Agriculture
Public Relations Committee.
BRUCE COUNTY FEDERATION OF
AGRICULTURE MEETING, JUNE 27
A report to the meeting by the OFA
Regional Directors included two major
issues.
The Waste Management Committee
of the OFA asked the OFA to endorse its
recommendations. These included the4
Rs; reduce, re -use, recycle, and recov-
ery of energy.
The second issue related to the FCC
and its ability to make demands on live-
stock, inventory, or implements for
payment of loans. This is not permitted
in Alberta. As a crown corporation, the
78 THE RURAL VOICE
FCC must treat everyone equally across
Canada.
Wilson's tax reform will not be
making many of its proposed changes
thanks to the lobby efforts of the OFA.
The 1989 Convention theme is
"Your Link to the Future."
The public relations committee will
be conducting an opinion survey early in
July. It was reported that the Bruce
County Council is planning county-
wide reassessment and restructuring.
The Bruce federation will schedule a
local MP or MPP at each meeting until
all members have been met.
Some discussion was held concem-
ing the Elgin County resolution that
"people in rural communities withdraw
their bank deposits as a form of protest
and deposit the money in alternative
institutions."
It was agreed that banks generally
are treating farmers shabbily, not lend-
ing deposits back into the community,
and doing rural communities a disserv-
ice through centralization.°