Times-Advocate, 1981-01-28, Page 16i
•
Page 16
Times -Advocate, January 28, 1981
Huron farm and home news
Centralia to offer weather and leasing courses for farmers
Centralia College will be
offering a one day program
on Tuesday, February 3 to
aid farmers in the in-
terpretation and application
of weather forecasts. Course
content will include tem-
perature and precipitation
and relating local barometer
readings to area weather
maps.
Short range forecasting
techniques are part of the
program and time will be
spent on practical ap-
plication.
A one day course will be
offered at Centralia College
on Thursday, February 5 to
discuss leasing
arrangements for farmers.
The agenda will include crop
sharing, cashland leases.
machinery leasing, share
milking and other forms of
flexible lease arrangements.
The course is aimed at
those getting started in
farming or farmers whose
business is expanding.
Hog Stabilization Payment.
The Agricultural Stabiliza-
tion Board has paid out
about $26 pillion so far un-
der the 1979-80 federal hug
stabilization program an-
nounced last May
Aoout two -um -as of the
25.000 claims submitted by
hog producers in Canada
now have been processed.
Claims are being processed
in the order received. •
The Board expects total
payments to be about $46
million. Incomplete or in-
correctly completed forms
and other administrative
problems have caused
delays in payments, says
Archie Gratton. head of
operations and planning for
Canada's Agricultural
Stabilization Board
Follow-up phone calls or
letters to obtain more in-
formation. . have been
necessary in many cases.
Gratton. stresses that
"proof of sale” documents
and carcass weights of the
hogs must accompany
claim.
The stabilization payment
of $2.46 per underweight
applies to market hogs sold
between April 1st, 1979 and
March 31st. 1980. The
payment is being made on a
maximum of 5.000 hogs per
farmer. but the average
Canadian hog producer sold
less than 200 hogs in 1979-
1980. The average carcass
weight was about 1t+5 pounds,
making the average
stabilization payment per
hog about $4.00.
Application forms are still
available from the
Agricultural Office, Clinton.
D.S. Pullen,
Agricultural representative.
Zone 2 sheep
producers meeting
Proposals for reallocation
and representation of zones
to the Ontario Sheep
Producers Association will
be discussed at the Zone 2
Sheep Producers meeting to
be held at the Agricultural
Office, Walkerton, on
Saturday, January 31 at 1:30
p.m.
All Huron County sheep
producers should plan to
attend.
D S. Pullen,
Agricultural representative.
Use the best fuel wood
The initial step towards a
wood pile that yields dollar
savings in home heating is
recognition of tree species
that are high in heat content.
Topping the list in BTU's
per air dry cord are the
hickories, oaks. maples,
elms, beech, ironwood and
white ash. Canada's sugar
maple with its dark grey
bark in one of the best for use
in a wood stove. This wood is
high in heat content, low in
resin pockets and forms a
glowing bed of lingering
coals that have few or no
sparks.
A near rival in heat
production is the beech with
its smooth, silvery grey
bark. Not to be overlooked is
the ironwood, an excellent
source of heat. The tree has
tough, heavy wood and thin
shaggy brown bark which
clings tightly to the trunk in
long narrow strips, and is
easily rubbed off.
Another fuel prospect is
the white 8sh. It has a dark
grey bark with interlacing
ridges and fissures that form
a diamond shaped pattern,
looking like the tread of an
old tire.
At the lower end of the
scale are soft woods such as
hemlock and white pine,
spruce and cedar. These
burn quickly, produce
numerous sparks and short
lived ashy bedsof coals.
There is also much heat
loss in weathered wood, eg.
BROOMBALL ACTION — Ian Sweet takes a swipe at the ball during Thursday's broomball
game between students and teachers at South Huron Districh High School. Joe Fulop is the
goal tender and Arndt Vermaeten and Bill Johnston are behind Sweet, T -A photo
He plants
Pioneer and Asgrow.
Test results prove the
complete performance
of Asgrow corn
h y r i d s. Check Your 1981
Ontario Hybrid Report)
Your As9 seed
row dealer.
LORNE BALLANTYNE
R.R. 3, Exeter 235-0577
CR
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SEED
CORN
ROBERT STONE JOE MILLER
R.R. 3, Exeter R.R. 1, Dashwood
235-0375 236-4765
BOB SPENCE
R.R. 6, St. Marys 229-6667
COOKS, DIVISION OF GERBRO
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262-2410 262-2410 229-8986
co.o
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Plumbing, Heating
and Electrical supplies
available.
HENSALL DISTRICT CO-OP
Brucefield Zurich
482-9823 236-4393
Hensall
262-3002
From time to time. this
column has lambasted the
major food chains in this
province for having too
much clout.
Less than half a dozen
chains control the greater
share of the food dollar and
there is little an individual
tarmer_can do about it.
For -example. Canadian
growers had a bumper crop
of apples last year. 18 per
cent larger than in 1979 and
20 per cent higher than the
tive-year average. Growers
were doing everything in
their power to sell their
crops. The age-old law of
supply and demand made
prices plunge. in spite of the
fact that a commission sets
prices in Ontario.
Farmers tried extra -
stringent culling to the point
where their produce was
graded even higher- than
those set by the federal
agriculture department.
Many growers did this. even
when they did not have to.
just to get their best produce
to market.
It didn't help much.
Some supermarket chains
marked up Canadian McIn-
tosh apples 100 per cent. For
instance. one chain sold
McIntosh apples for $1.28 for
a three -pound hag.
The farmer who grew
those apples received less
than 65 cents.
The chain refused to lower
its retail price to help out the
hard-pressed Canadian
grower. But and this is the
clincher that same grocery
chain was offering imported
Granny Smith apples for 98
cents a pound. Not only that,
the same chain put the im-
ported apples in refrigerated
shelves and bumped the
McIntosh apples to an island
where the'warmth eventual-
ly made them deteriorate in
quality
Mind you. Canadian
farmer. can he criticized for
lack of foresight and conser-
vatism Apple growers spent
,less than $1 million all
penis: Canada in promotion
and advertising. Florida
citric: growers spent $49
million in Canada.
But the figures are
enough to make the point:
chain food stores have
tremendous clout.
.,••• ••• rxpirc Ved to, B,K.''oii•. ,+Jake 8, tem.,. Oji hle217
More evidence" Okay. Roy
Misk of Canada l'ackers
Ltd.. Canada's largest food
precessing company. made a
deal with the largest food
chain in Canada. Dominion
Stores Ltd. That super-
market chain got exclusive
rights to market a new line
of frozen chicken products in
return for a promise to
promote those new products
in advertising.
Food processors and food
growers don't jump when a
supermarket shouts. They
say: How high?
That's how much control
the chains have in this coun-
try. They can give the nod to
certain people who have no
other choice but to give
them exclusive control over
the sale of a product.
Statistics for last year are
not complete but in 1987,
chain stores controlled more
than 60 per cent of every
retail food dollar spent in
Canada. That percentage
cannot go any place else but
u The chain stores have
more dominance in Ontario
than any other province with
73.1 per cent of the market.
To make the figures more in -
intriguing, the survey I'm
quoting came from Maclean -
Hunter Research Bureau
and the figures do not in-
clude co-operative stores.
On the Prairies and in the
Maritimes. co-ops
proliferate and they do not
report their food sales in
such surveys.
In other words, although
not really chain stores, the
coops are a big part of sales
and may he the only hope
left to combat the clout of
the major food chains.
Just another brief exam-
ple A beet grower not far
from nry home town made a
deal with a local chain store
to sell his beets. They were
special beets: no chemical
fertilizers or pesticides were
used All was well when
beets were relatively
scarce :As soon as beets
were available in plentiful
supply he was told his beets
withered - the leaves – too
quickly Ile explained they
were organically grown;
that Other beets are
chemically sprayed to pre-
vent wiltinh No matter. The
deal was cancelled even
though the supermarket got
a 100 per cent markup.
The store got as much
money to take the beets in
the back door and ring them
through the cash register as
the grower got to plant, fer-
tilize. nurture, pull, clean.
bunch and deliver them. And
take the risk of selling them
Ito a supermarket chain.
1 Is it any wonder farmers
complain"
Is it any wonder they are
screaming foul on that re-
cent inquiry into com-
missions and kickbacks by
food chains in Ontario?
1(10 not happen to be one of
those who believes that farm
marketing hoards have too
much power. it's the chains
that have the power.
PHONE
238-4934 236-4321
FARM SUPPLY LIMITED
HPSSPON
FARM
SALES & SERVICE
2:2:14401PAIRS NEW IDEA
IA AM.rx.lewr.,•
Pre -Spring Special
10% Cash Discount
on all Parts and labour
15% Discount
on Tilliage Parts
From Feb. 1, 1981 toMor 31, 1981
FREE Tractor Pickup within 25 mile
radius if work order is `100.00
more.
CaII now for appointment
236-4934 or 236-4321
Interest Free on new
& used tractors to May 1 /81
or
dead trees, nor will you be
getting full heat producing
capabilities from cordwood
that has been stored for
several years. The highest
heat intensity is obtained
from wood that has been cut,
split, stacked and dried
under cover for one year
prior to its use.
S. Bradshow,
Engineering assistant
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Sherwood ( Exeter) Ltd.
18 Wellington St., Exeter 235-0743
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It's not to late
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Keep warm in
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Cool in
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Building Supplies
CENTRALIA
FARMERS SUPPLY
Open: Mon. - Fri. 8-6 Centralia
Sat. 8 - noon Phone 228-6638