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Times Advocate, 1989-07-19, Page 14Page 14 Times -Advocate, July 19 1989 CN promises continued rail service New terminal • opens Makes humans look small Hensall Co-op manager Earl Wagner (leffy and board chair- man Peter Boersma are dwarfed by the huge equipment used to unload the recently opened fer- tilizer/grain terminal at the Hen - sail location. Aerial view - The Hensall Co- op's $1.7 million fertilizer/grain terminal comprised of four stor- age domes and a 200 -foot radial stacker are clearly shown in this shot taken by the Co-op. Ploughman's Folly it was called and I do not even know who wrote it. It was a book owned by my fa- ther and he read it at least a dozen times. Some parts of it, he re -read many more times. It was a book about how not to till the soil and it was written more than 50 years ago. In essence, the author said plowing was for the birds, the sea- gulls, in other words. The writer_ maintained that it was folly to plow the land as deep as the traditional methods. Too much val- uable topsoil blows away when plows arc used in spring and sum- mer. If these practices continue, the author said, the topsoil around the - ,— fl dozen years. Few people paid much attention to the book in those days but in re- cent years, the.no-tillage method of agriculture is becoming more popu- lar. Too many of us have seen the topsoil in our window sills and in our streams and rivers and lakes not to heed the warnings. Yet the farmers stubbornly insist on the same old ways of preparing the ground. If agriculture does not change, the public outcry will force some changes. It stems to me that too many farmers do not heed the wamings.I visited three farms recently. One, a successful dairyman, had a barn floor almost clean enough. to eat off. The barnyard was enclosed and titejnanure nibs wee ,,;,, c9111(1'notleach easily into i; small stream more than 200 yards away. (Oops, I should say 182 metres. I think that is correct.) He was even quite proud of a new building of concrete block in which all his. chemicals were stored and the used containers were also stored. Another dairy farmer within spit- ting distance had an open manure pile. In addition, the cleaning water from the milking shed found its way into a nearby drainage ditch. It has been said that much of the phosphorus still getting into the Great Lakes comes from milking parlors. The next farm, a few miles away, Linos ate app•*c ltd by Rob r.ott.. Ewalt No ftm.+a Ont Nae 1C1 was a beef operation. All livestock except a few calves were on pasture. The manure was almost non- existent but some of the cattle were standing knee-deep in a stream. And cattle do not defecate lit one corner of the field. They were obviously using the stream. These three may not be typical; in fact, the first one is probably more than the other two. The harsh truth is; though, that too many farmers pay little or no attention to the environment. The latter two -- and I am projecting here -- probably do not calibrate their sprayers. They probably apply excess amount of chemicals under the stupid philoso- phy that a little more will do more "g' . cn-, is actuality; it does a lot of harut. - - I have been the first to castigate HENSALL - The official open- ing of the $1.7 million fertilizer/ grain terminal at the Hensall loca- tion of the Hensall and District Co- op brought a promise from a CN spokesman that rail service to the village is guaranteed "for many years to come". Tony Heuman, manager of spe- cial projects for the CN, made the commitment at a ribbon -cutting ceremony on July 12. He admit- ted the railway was considering closing the line between the Clin- ton junction and Hyde Park before being approached by Hensall Co-op manager Earl Wagner. Wagner in- formed the railway officials of the Co-op's plan to build a new storage facility at the Hensall site to in- crease rail traffic as part of a bid to preserve rail service in the area. "Earl surprised me with his won- derful plans...This facility is the finest, of its type in southwestern Ontario, and probably the design and construction is the best in Can- ada", Hueman said. Wagner noted that everyone bene- fits from the addition. Fertilizer costs will be reduced because of di- rect delivery. The commodity is handled less than at a port facility, keeping quality higher. All ship- ments come directly from the man- ufacturer or the mine. Each dome is 124 feet in diameter and 62 feet high, with 12 -foot con- crete side walls. The four have the capacity to store 30,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer in winter, spring and summer and 900,000 corn at harvest time. The domes are filled by a 200 - foot radial stacker that moves from dome to dome. Unloading isdone with a John Deere loader equipped with a six-yard bucket which can load tractor trailer units in less than 10 minutes. The bucket has an au- tomatic digital weighing device which lets the trucks load within 100 kg of their legal load.limit. Joining Wagner and Heuman in the opening ceremony, were Hensall Reeve JimRobinson, electrician Harold Knight, Dan Wallis repre- senting Southwest Tractor, London, Cecil Arnold of C Arnold Convey- ors, London, Jim Knight, v/p of Sub -Con Industrial Group, Erin, Gord Lavis, Lavis Contracting, Clinton and Peter Boersma, presi- dent of the Hensall Co-op board of directors. The opening was combined with the annual Customer Appreciation Day. About 1,700 people feasted on roast pork, hips of beef, cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, chocolate milk and ice cream pro- vided by the Hensall Co-op. Carving the pork - Richard Erb and helpers cooked three whole pigs for the Hensall Co-op's annual Customer Appreciation Day barbecue. Diligent carvers are (left) Chris Vandervies, Dave Erb, and Hensall Co-op directors Jim Papple and Evert Ridder. chemical companies over the years for selling material that contami- nates. But chemical company officials state bluntly that chemicals in groundwater are caused by people -- mostly farmers -- who mishandle their products. Environmental laws are getting tight. Consumers are getting more sophisticated. Governments know that more rules and regulations will help clean up the environment. All those forces will combine in the near( future to force a greater awareness of this oblate spheroid called earth. Farmers who do not practice good 1111ekvvv ;%f'M 74— ence. If they do not clean up their ?rt._ someone else will do it for them. • Cook's Crop Handkg1am. We're ready when you are, at6locations.. This fall, bring your crop to the experts at Cook's. We can handle a broad range of vehicles at 6 convenient locations, making crop delivery fast and easy. In addition,- we have 12.licensed white bean satellites. Our cleaning, drying and storage facilities are ready to serve you. We offer competitive prices, plus marketing expertise to help you get the most for your crop. You can count on the people at Cook's for fair grading, honest weights and friendly, personal service. We've built our reputation on it. Part of the Cook's Crop Input Ram (frons left to right): Tim Hiltz Atwood Plant Foreman 3 years with Cook's Brian "Buck" Glanville Hensall Assistant Branch Manager 14 years with Cook's Jamie Hackett Kirkton Branch Manager 1 year with Cook's Division of Parrish & Heimbecker. Limited Hensall (519)262-2410 • Centralia (519) 228-6661 • Kirkton (519) 229-8986 Walton (519) 527-1540 Amberley (519) 395-3601 Atwood (519) 356.2292 Licensed White Bean Satellites: Beechwood: Glencoe Grain & • Seed Company Becton: Simcoe District Co -Operative Bomholm: Fra -Laine Farms Ltd. Burgess•ille: Homeland Grain Inc. Dashwood: Harold Schroeder Milling Co. Ltd. Dublin: Dublin Feed Mill Ltd. Kerwood: Glencoe Grain & Seed Company Maxville: MacEwen Grain Inc. Milverton: Topnotch Feeds Ltd" Parkhill: Glencoe Grain & Seed Company Stouftville: St. Lawrence Grains limited Trenton: Renton Grain Elevator* 'Division of Parrish & Heimbecker.-ljmited + WHEAT ARLEY .-.CANO.LA WE ARE READY TO RECEIVE YOUR 1989 * WHEAT * BARLEY * CANOLA * TWO RECEIVING PITS • HARVEST SERVICES AVAILABLE CONTACT PETER ROWNTREE VARNA GRAIN WE ARE READY TO RECEIVE YOUR 1989 VUR EAT *'BARLEY CUSTOM COMBINING AND TRUCKING AVAILABLE For more information call BEV HILL . 233-7908 VARNA 233-3218