The Citizen, 2003-10-29, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2003.
China changing rapidly, ag federation told
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
China is changing so quickly that
what you know about the country
today may be outdated in a year, two
farm leaders who visited the country
earlier this year told the Huron
County Federation of Agriculture’s
annual meeting Thursday.
John Greig and Teresa VanRaay,
Huron County residents, said
Canada’s ambassador to China
advised participants of their
Advanced Agricultural Leadership
Program class who visited China to
use their knowledge of the country
within a year because by then it
might be out of date.
“Chinese people are better off than
five years ago and much better off
than 10 years ago,” said Greig, a
Wingham-area native who is now an
editor with Ontario Farmer.
VanRaay, a former McKillop-Twp.
resident who now operates a hog
operation near Dashwood with her
husband Martin, said there is so
much construction in China’s cities
that the “national bird” of China is
now the building crane.
The new prosperity is not being
distributed evenly, the speakers said
with urban residents probably
having yearly incomes of $4,000 to
$5,000 while some rural residents
make less than $100. China has
plans to move more than 200 million
people from farms to cities.
Despite having a 1.3 billion
population, China is actually a net
exporter of food. “It will be an
agricultural competitor for us
eventually,” Greig said.
China organizes its farming and
food production differently than in
Canada. In Beijing, one dairy was
having a hard time getting higher
milk quality from the hundreds of
small producers with one or more
cows each. The solution was a
communal milking parlour that can
milk hundreds of cows from
different owners under more ideal
Henry gets award
conditions.
The distribution is also unique
with 10,000 pedicabs, each with a
small cooler, serving two milliop
homes.
Dairy is an area where China sees
room for growth. If poor rural
families can get one dairy cow they
can greatly improve their lot in life,
Greig said.
As well, China has discovered that
its children are not growing as well
as their Asian neighbours.
“I felt very tall in China,”
VanRaay said, but the next
generation is getting taller.
Average annual consumption of
dairy products in China is 11 kg.
compared to 215 kg in Canada.
Greig, VanRaay and their
classmates visited a Chinese and
Canadian dairy research project farm
factory where the cocoons of silk
worms are individually unspun to
provide the silk. Farmers grow the
mulberry leaves on which the silk
worms feed.
In Shanghai they visited a
wholesale market through which
goes 80 per cent of the food for the
city of 13 million people.
Much of the food for markets like
these comes from small plot holders
of an acre to an acre and a half.
A lot of the people in cities shop
daily for their food and enough food
for an individual meal is packaged in
a container. The AALP class
participants found everything from
insects to snake included in the
selection in stores.
In China there are amazing new
public buildings but nearby are
rundown, underserviced slums.
By Keith Roulston
Citizen publisher
Henry Damsma of Clinton,
designer of websites for both the
Huron and Ontario Federations of
Agriculture is recipient of the 2003
Huron County Federation Award.
The award, for outstanding
contributions to agriculture, was
presented at the annual meeting of
the Federation in Seaforth,
Thursday.
In presenting the award Wayne
Hamilton recalled Damsma came to
the Federation several years ago
offering to design a website. Later
he also volunteered as
communications technician for
OF/*, where he was known as “the
compu'.er guy”. He also served as a
provincial director to OFA.
Damsma helped organize the
“electronic tractor demonstration”
to pressure the federal government
to listen to farmers’ concerns over
the Agriculture Policy Framework.
The mass e-mail petition crashed the
e-mail system of Parliament Hill.
More recently Damsma reinvented
the Huron Federation’s site
(HCFA.on.ca) as a comprehensive
source of agricultural information
from local, provincial and national
sources.
“Most days just before daybreak
you’ll find him at his computer
updating the site,” Hamilton said.
In accepting the award Damsma
said he had “no words” to express
his surprise. He thanked his family,
including his wife Deb whom he
called “a computer widow.”
with 1300 dairy cows. The project is
taking modem Canadian genetics to
China.
The class visited a tea plantation
where some of the bushes, grown on
terraces, are more than 100 years
old. They also visited a silk worm
Many of the slums are being
bulldozed, however, to be replaced
by huge modern apartment
buildings, Greig and VanRaay said.
BUY? SELL? TRY CLASSIFIED
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November 10th
Rides available to polls —
Here’s the beef
As always it was a good turnout of hungry diners to enjoy
the delicious homecooked fare at the Walton Hall beef
supper on Friday night. (Vicky Bremner photo)
^e-E\®c Neil Rintoul
for
Councillor
in
Wawanosh
Ward
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357-2208
YOUR SUPPORT ON NOV. 10
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call 887-6289
Notice is hereby given to the Municipal Electors of the Municipality of Central Huron that since
more candidates have been nominated to each of the following offices than the number required to
fill such offices, therefore voting will take place at the time and place stated in this notice for the
purpose of electing the holders of such offices.
DEPUTY REEVE - (One (1) to be elected at large)
COUNCILLOR EAST WARD - (Three (3) to be elected)
AVON MAITLAND DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
East Central Trustee - (One (1) to be elected at large)
REGULAR POLLING DAY - Monday November 10,2003
Voting will be held Monday, November 10, 2003, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the following locations:
EAST WARD - (Formerly Ward 2 Township of Hullett and Ward 3 Town of Clinton)
Central Huron Secondary School,"Gymnasium"
165 Princess Street, Clinton
WEST WARD - (Formerly Ward 1 Township of Goderich)
Holmesville Community Centre
180 Community Centre Line, Holmesville, ON
ADVANCE POLL #1 - East and West Wards - All Polls
Saturday, November 1, 2003 between the hours of 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
A Central Huron Municipal Office, 23 Albert Street, Clinton.
ADVANCE POLL #2
Saturday, November 8, 2003 between the hours of 12:00 p.m.. to 5:00 p.m.
A East Ward Pol) - Londesboro Community Hall,
282 King Street East, Londesboro, ON
A West Ward Poll - Holmesville Community Centre,
180 Community Centre Line, Holmesville, ON
Please check the Voters’ List at the Municipal Office to ensure your name is included. Information
re Qualification of Electors and Voting by Proxy is available at the office of the Municipal Clerk,
23 Albert Street, Clinton, Ontario, (519) 482-3997, any normal working day between the hours of
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. and also during the Advance Poll on Saturday, November 1, 2003 from
12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.