Times-Advocate, 1988-08-17, Page 27SOIL PIT - Brent Kennedy of OMAF explains how soil pits have been used to check root development during the
Tillage 2000 experiments. The tests determine the effects of no -till planting on crop growth.
i -eft
ter. iR
One foot in the
rrow' by0.4,
-No more Super Centres will- be
built in Ontario this year.
The Weston Group; .largest of
Canada's chain food stores, has not-
-publicly admitted it but -the Super
Centres flopped. The huge store in
Kitchener, near where we live; has
• now been taken over by Zchrs and
the space is about half the original
size. Zellers has taken the other
half. • •
It was not too long ago I was de-
crying the clout that the two super
food chains --Dominion and the
. Weston Group --- had over food
•shoppers in Ontario. The domina-
tion of these two chains was not in
favor of the. consumer, i said, and
predicted dire things. •
Any food produccr.who could not
get his/her product into one of these
chains would be forced out of busi-
ness because those two companies
controlled more. than half of the
province's supermarket business.
•
It got so had that the Ontario Fed-
eration of -Agriculture -instigated an
inquiry. The buyers of. the big
elating knew tbcy .tnatcl producers-by-
thc short. hair. They squeezed sup-
pliers forrebates, discounts and oth-
er allowances. •
We who were writing about it
called diem kickbacks and we were
chastized for it but that is what they
really were although even the gov-
crnment inquiry had problems get-
ting anybody to admit it.
But things -sure have changed.
Dominion ha, bccn dismantled by
Conrad Black. ' It is no .longer a
threat to anyone. A revolution is
underway.
M. Loeb- Ltd., . the company
which owns or controls 1.G.A. is
expanding.• .1 read reccntly.that two
new stores have opened in London
and a third will open this fall. An
I.G.A. store will open in Cam-
bridge soon; in. fact, perhaps two
more. in Cambridge.
u.-,...,..r,...bo, far ...p:e lw.... Iw.. 0.+wl•it .�
• M. Loeb and the Oshawa Group
are in the same corporate bed and
Oshawa owns.thc Dutch Boy and
Towers stores as well as Food City.
This chain has been aggressive
and wonderfully competitive. It has
to he because the old Atlantic & Pa-
cific Tea Co., -- the A & P -- has •
come to life again with some stores
under new names. The most impor-
tant - is the Super Fresh name.
Watch for more of these stores to .
challenge the established chains'
And yet another name has Tome
into Ontario: The blucnoscrs:.
around here -are glad to see it be-
cause. they know. that Sobey's,
which dominates Nova Scotia,- are
sneaking in Guelph and company
officials have conceded that three or
four more Ontario -.sites arc being
explored.
"Kien there is Super Carnival, run
by Burnac Corporation of Toronto.
Two supermarkets have been opened
in Hamilton and another in Scarbo-
rough. The president of the compa-
ny has said Ontario is an open map
. to. them.
This outfit, I have heard, loves to
start price wars. They arc fierce
competitors and -this can only lead
to bargains for consumers.
And 1 haven't even mentioned the
"two" local chains, Zchrs and
Kncchtcls, -although Zchrs is really
part of the Weston empire. These
two chains with headquarters in the
heart of southwestern Ontario have
been •providing great competition.
and quality products for years.
I bleated about tic two big chains
•a decade ago and was dead wrong in
expressing fears that two companies
could become so powerful they
would put all others out of business
and then charge whatever they want-
ed for their food.
it did not happen and the consu-
mer is the lucky one because the
competition is keener than ever.
We're perfectly located
to handle your crop
‘‘hen it's time to market your crop. you'll Lind all
the services. facilities and expertise sou need are
close -by at Cook's. We go out of our $A•ay to give you
the best possible prices. terms and options to make
all your harct.work pas otf.
When it's time to deliser your crop make Cook's
your destination
"Where you can trade
with confidence"
[Mace o G..oro 0967) MC
262-24[110 • Centralia28-6661 229-8986
•
Walton
527-1540
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CEMA hires new
general manager
-OTT:\\VA The Canadian Egg
Marketing Agency's(CEMA) Board
of Directors is pleased to announce
that Gerry Gartner has.been hired as
General Manager of the Agency.
Mr. Gartner brings with him an
extensive background in agriculture
Ile was ,Manitoba's Deputy Mini-
ster of Agriculture from 1983 to
Jan uary of this year. From -1979 to
1982; Mr. Gartner held the. same
position in the Saskatchewan -Gov-
ernment.
11 r. Gartner has more than 25
-years cxptriencc in agriculture and
Inas also been the Director of many
• crown corporation boards.
He is originally from Saskatche-
wan where he grew up on a livc-
s:ock farm. Hc graduated from the
University of \Visconsin in 1970
wilh a Ph.D: in Agricultural Eco-
nomics.
His work at-CEMA begins Au-
gust 8,-1988.
The General •Manager's position
was, left vacant after the resignation
of Gib Shouldicc was accepted by
the Board in March and became cf-
lective July 31, 1988.
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RE: BACK -TO -SCHOOL SAVINGS
circular distributed this week.
'Boys' Jacket 8-16, $31.99
(Illustrated Hem) Is NOT avail-
able for sale.
We regret any inconvenience to
our customers.
Your Kitchen
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Gerrie Glenn Inc.
111 Queen SL,
Hensall 262-3529
Times -Advocate, August 17, 1988
Page 13A
No -till system essential
1101 -MES VILLE Soil conserva-
tion techniques have proven them-
selves successful in tests through-
out Ontario, including Huron
County, and methods of no -till ag-
riculture are likely to prove them-
selves a standard practice of farming
rather than. environmental experi-
ments. This was the message
brought to arca fanners on Thursday
at a day -long seminar at the farm of
Murray and Roba Lobb. -
Representatives from the Huron
Crop and Soil Association, the
Ausablc-Bayfield and Maitland Val-
ley Conservation Authorities, the
ministry of agriculture and food and
the ministry of natural resources
sponsored the "Conservation Day
to highlight experiments in soil
conservation and to discuss tech-
niques used to make the most of
no -till farming.
Brent Kennedy of OMAF offered
information on the Tillage 2000
program conducted.by the ministry.
The program put conventional and
conservation farming techniques
side by side in various experiments
across. the province to identify dif=
icrences and weaknesses of the sys-
tems.
He noted that U.S. data on soil
conservation techniques have sug-
gested the best hybrid seed to use in
no -till -methods is usually the same
hybrid a farnicr would choose under
conventional farming. }Iowevcr,
Kennedy said this has not been
proven in Canada and a farrner
should experiment with hybrids to
find what works best in his soil.
Kennedy also mentioned that one
of the main concerns with no -till
agriculture is root depth, but he
demonstrated with a pair of soil pits
dug on Lobb's farm that corn crops
tared equally well in tenth tilled and -
non -tilled rows. Ile urges farmers
to buy probes to test for soil com-
paction problems. If found, then
tillage should be conducted to the
exact depth required and followed up
with a fibrous, deep -rooting crop.
One of the main causes of com-
paction problems is manure, ex-
plained Kennedy, simply because
the tankers crush the soil under
their extreme weight.
Robert Traut of ole ABCA point-
ed out annual acceptable soil loss in
any given field is usually -three to
five tons per acre, about the thick-
ness of a credit card. This .is the
rate at which subsoil is converted
into topsoil.
Certain crops are better at provid-
ing -the soil with the organic matter
it needs for breaking down subsoil.
Wheat, according to Traut, isappar-
cntly far better than corn crops. in
this instance.
Karen Switzer -House spoke to the
crowd gathered in the machinery.
'shed"-after"lunch about the global
implications of soil conservation.
She said that with the recent
drought, conservation farming has
bccn on many minds more than
ever before, but the drought hasn't
been without its share of jokes.
CO.OP
""Rte Americans have solved the
acid rain problem," said Switzer -
Howse, "They've done •away with
the rain."
Since agriculture became produc-
tion -oriented in the post-war era
with the advent of chemical fertiliz-
ers, Switzer -Howse said_ concerns.'
with wind and soil erosion of the
1930s disappeared. This -has started
to change in recent years.
She noted the present goal is
"sustainable agriculture": the con-
ccpt of farming on a long-term ba-
sis. •
Switzer -Howse explained the
U.S. method for encouraging no -till
farming was to point out its fuel
savings rattler than its conservation
benefits, but she noted Canadians
arc more aware of soil degradation
problems • after a Senate report
proved the problem docs exist in
Canada. •
She stated _government support
forno-till be.rcquired..
Even Crop insurance programs dis-
courage conservation techniques be-
cause insurable "traditional agricul-•
Lure" prevents deviations into no -
till methods. • -
"The crop insurance people are at
least" now .listening to some sug-
gestions," .said Switzer-I"Iowse, -
who said she is also encouraged -by •
the interest shown by the pre .ent
federal government's commitment
to conservation agriculture.. Brian
Mulroney made a rare appearance. at.
an agricultural meting to announce.
a S75 million soil.-conservatioki
program. Because this program. re-
quires joint input froin the provin-
cial level, it now awaits Ontario's
commitment. But the -interest is
growing.
"The government recognizes the
most important part of any pro-
gram, is awareness," said Switzer -
1 iowsc, pointing..out conservation
begins with -the larriers. •
You are the ones who. actually
'have the ability -and capability to
protect the soil."
While fanner: economic diflicul-
ties have niade progress towards
conservation even slower because
of -the cost of expensive new equip-
ment, but Switzer -Howse stated
every Canadian has a vested interest
in better farming because everyone
cats.
- "\We've got to think of. the long-
term management and the long-
term health of our soils," she con •
-
ctuded. - -
Clinton Potruff,.. a Paris area
farmer, addressed the. audience on •
his experiences as. a conservation
farmer. He •sold his plough in
1976 due to his concerns with his
soil erosion problems, cspeclaity
on fields that had been planted with
corn for 15 years. .
From the very -first year, Potruff
noticed slihigher yields using -
no -till inetliods.
singno-till.nnethods. -
\Vlii1e giving technical informa-
tion on his refinement of his no -till-
-techniques in Brant County, he
pointed out that with fewer passes
of his fields under the no -till sys-- -
tem- , he has been .able •to farm a
larger acreage.
A folk singer is a person who gets rich
singing about how wonderful it is to
- b('• poor.
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welcome
Bill Atthill as our
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Bill Atthill
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