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The Citizen, 1991-08-07, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7,1991. Huron study finds little optimism about farming Don Pullen said he'd like io find more optimism about farming as he opened a public meeting on the Huron Study's look at agriculture but he didn't get much optimism from the 30-40 farm representatives who turned up at the Clinton Town Hall Thursday night. Mr. Pullen, former Agricultural Representative for Huron County for the Ontario Ministry of Agricul­ ture and Food is conducting the agricultural portion of the County Study which is taking a compre­ hensive, long term review of the provision of government service in the county. Mr. Pullen has been traveling the concession lines con­ ducting interviews with farm peo­ ple based on an eight-point questionnaire. "I'd like to find more optimism as I go around," he said in his introduction. "I'm finding a lot of pessimism." There are a lol of sectors of agriculture that are not in very good shape economically, he said. He didn't find much more opti­ mism in this meeting as it was mostly a forum for venting frustra­ tion and a cry for help from a pub­ lic and government structure most farm people felt didn't care. The tone was set with the reply to Mr. Pullen's first question about what sort of farm business structure (sin­ gle proprietorship, partnership of corporation) people thought was most likely to enable farms to pros­ per, "I can't see what difference it would make under today's situa­ tion," Mason Bailey of Blyth said. "With today's conditions it's only a matter of time before any operation fails." Some farm operations would just last a little longer than others, he said. Shirley Hazlitt of Benmiller said nobody is looking at the future ownership of land. Forty-six per cent of the farm population is over 55 years of age, she said and there are very few farmers in the younger age group. The middle group, between 30 and 55 years of age, are the biggest producers but they're also the most highly leveraged (most in debt). Farmers can't afford to lum their farms over free to their sons and the sons can't afford to buy the farm even if they have off- farm income. "We should be look­ ing at who will own the land." Bill Gregg, county landowner who used to farm in Halton county said that from his experience in that county, as land goes away from farm ownership it goes away from animal husbandry and into cashcrops. Cash-croppers can tell you "there's no economy of scale after a certain point. At $75 a tonne there's no value in farming 1500 acres." In their frustration, the partici­ pants in the discussion struck out at government and consumers for the problems in agriculture. Peter Westerhout argued that "if you want to change farming, you have to change the attitude of gov­ ernment." He pointed to the loss of the two-price wheat system which had given farmers a higher price for wheat for domestic use and a lower price for grain being exported. "You can't grow wheat in Ontario," he argued. "In five years there won't be a miller in this country." Tuckersmith township dairy farmer Bill Wallace agreed. Dairy farmers were the one farm sector that had been successful in getting its cost of production from the mar­ ketplace, he said, "and the govern­ ment has tried to diddle around with the (pricing) formula." Now, he said, if you received your farm from your father, the pricing for­ mula said you paid nothing for your land and that is worked into the pricing formula. There is an unstated policy to provide cheap food for consumers, he said. Bob Down of Hensall said soci­ ety as a whole must bear the blame for problems in agriculture because people feel they must have their food at the cheapest possible price. They already have the second cheapest price but because they live beside the country with the cheap­ est food prices they felt abused, he said. All sectors of society have to share the economic pie, he said or somewhere down the road Canadi­ ans would end up depending on imported food. "Somewhere down the road somebody's going to have to pay." Some members of the audience felt work must be done to educate the consumer, starting young with agriculture in the classroom pro- ‘ grams but others felt the effort to educate consumers would be wast­ ed: that consumers only care about getting food at the cheapest possi­ ble price. A common complaint about bureaucracy was touched off in many, from environmental restric­ If You Advertise On TV, Meet Your Fiercest Competition. tions on municipal drains and low- level river crossings which farmers felt were ridiculously restrictive. "The people coming out to tell farmers what they must do have probably never seen a farm until they gel there," said Marie Hick- nell, Reeve of Hullett. Mason Bai­ ley told a story of a bureaucratic nightmare trying to get permission to cross a creek on his farm near Blyth. Another farmer complained that while they're strict with other people, the Ministry of the Envi­ ronment and Ontario Hydro seem to have different rules when it comes to dealing with their own spills. Farmers even struck out at the Huron Study itself. "I'm quite upset with the gist of this study", said Mr. Wallace pointing out that jobs in agriculture in the statistics provided included only those jobs on farms but didn't include all the jobs that are created because of agriculture. "Is the county writing agriculture off?" he wondered. Noting the study may be used for restructuring municipal boundaries, he said "the study seems to be saying things have to go to urban centres." Dr. Gary Davidson, head of the Huron County Planning and Devel­ opment office and a member of the Study team said that the study was simply noting it appeared likely there would be fewer jobs in agri­ culture and manufacturing in the continued on page 11 •Business Forms • Brochures • Flyers • Carbonless Forms • Labels A COMPLETE PRINTING^ SERVICE PRINTING IS OUR BUSINESS • Colour Printing • Posters • Letterheads • Envelopes • Business Cards WE CAN DO IT ALL! BLYTH PRINTING INC • I BLYTH 523-9211 When it comes down to watching commercials on TV or visiting the refrigerator for a snack, the refrigerator usually wins out. Your expensive TV spot is wasted on an empty chair - while potential customers are out in the kitchen grabbing a drink or some munchies. Advertise in The Citizen. The medium where people respond to your advertising - instead of avoiding it. For advertising information, call 887-9114 or 523-4792. The Citizen