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The Citizen, 1992-12-02, Page 11THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2,1992. PAGE 11. Blyth council buys new, custom made \ Speaking of Farming Give a piece of Community... A Gift Certificate snowblower By Keith Roulston By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot Blyth council has authorized the purchase of a new $2,200 snow­ blower for the roads department. At their Nov. 24 meeting, council unanimously agreed to purchase a seven and half foot custom made Smyth blower which features a replaceable cutting edge, a 20 inch auger, extra braces and heavy-duty chain. They also agreed to purchase a $120 cylinder for the hood deflec­ tor of the snowblower. "Custom built ones are the way to go," stated Road Superintendent, John Rinn. "I don't recommend the used ones." He provided councillors with a list of prices for two used, five new and four custom-built snowblowers as was requested by council at the Nov. 10 meeting. Prices for used snowblowers ranged from $1,100 to $1,500; new from $2,000 to $2,600 and custom built from $1,735 to $2,800. Reeve Dave Lee helped Mr. Rinn compile the prices and suggested council purchase the custom-built one. "If you buy a commercial one, the first thing you'd have to do is spend extra money rebuilding and reinforcing it," he said. Council hopes the snowblower purchase will eventually save the village money by decreasing over­ time hours. Mr. Rinn explained that with a larger snowblower, road employees can use it to clean snow-piled street comers. This had previously been done with the snowplow but is time-consuming and expensive as two men are needed to operated a snowplow. This year, Mr. Rinn said road employees will cut corners and plow straight through town to save time. "We'll know more next year on how we can plan less overtime and try to save money," he said. The village's old snowplow will be kept and used for cleaning side­ walks, said Mr. Rinn. An open mind might be profitable Skepticism is part of the makeup of farmers. So, sometimes, is stub­ bornness. While these can be good traits at time, keeping an open mind might lead to more profits. Farmers are being bombarded with information every day on how they are supposed to be able to do their job more efficiently and some­ times it would be better if they didn't listen. There are times, though, when farmers are apt to reject things just because they don't want to believe what's being said. The reaction to the research of University of Guelph economist Dr. Peter Stonehouse that said organic farming might be more profitable is an example of how people just don't want to hear things. From the Ontario Com Producers to some cropping "experts", the condemnation of Dr. Stonehouse's research was quick and brutal. Dr. Stonehouse admits his research sample was too small to ensure the results were accurate. The sampling was also spread too far across the province to have similar conditions for all the growers compared. Yes, there should be skepticism over the findings when they are based on such a sparse sampling, but instead of just rejecting the find­ ings, perhaps farmers would do well to try to get more information. There are many things we have rejected over the years that came to be accepted years later. I remember the first time I heard Norman Alexan­ der speak to a Huron County farm group about soil conservation. He showed slides of the devastation caused by poor cropping and tillage practices including shots from the air that showed the amount of soil going down our rivers. There didn't seem to be many farmers at that meeting who believed their own eyes. The reacted as if Mr. Alexander was some kind of environmental nut. Today, of course, we recognize him as a leader in soil conservation and realize that without soil, farmers aren't farmers. Who knows if the growing number of organic farmers might be simi­ lar leaders of a movement of the future, not throwbacks to the farming ways of the past as many see them. There are a lot of bright people at meetings such as the recent Ecological Farmers of Ontario meeting in Ethel. And there's something that rings true about Dr. Stonehouse's find­ ings. He showed that the highest profits came from organic farmers, the next best from reduced-tillage farmers and the poorest from convention­ al farmers. On the same day I heard Dr. Stonehouse speak, I also heard Ralph Ferguson, MP. from Lambton-Middlesex speak on his Compare the Share document. His graphs showed a flat line for prices for nearly all farm products in the 1980s while retail food prices had increased sharply. If farm prices remain stagnant or actually go down, as Ferguson pointed out, and input costs keep increasing, how are farmers supposed to increase their margins. Many have tried to do it by farming more and more land, or building a bigger and bigger bam, trying to make up the losses on volume. But the arithmetic just isn't working. As long as prices stay flat the only way farmers can really hope to make money is by cutting costs. No-till and organic farming both aim at that. That doesn't mean all farmers should rush out and switch to organic farming next spring but it does mean that farmers would be smart to think, investigate and keep an open mind for all the possibilities to make a profit. for The History Of West Wawanosh to be published in 1993 Price s35.°° plus postage of s5.°° if necessary Available from: Joan Armstrong, Clerk-Treas. Township of West Wawanosh RR#2 Lucknow NOG 2H0 (519) 528-2903 Lois Walden Treasurer of Committee Box 511 Lucknow, Ont. 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