The Goderich Signal-Star, 1977-02-10, Page 26la
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. The first time I met him wa' at a -meeting of milk pr
ducers in. Perth. County.. And Perth County is well-knovgn
for dairy nrodnnta
controversi
He was asked to speak in the 0$ddle of a
topic: / establishing milk pooling whereby
duced was pooled 'and actually belonged to the
Marketing Board when it left the farm gate.
It was In 1965 andthe milk business in Ontar
shambles.. He entered that meeting hall when
in the air made it crackle. He displayed an inc
amount of patience and understanding among doze
al,
11 milk pro=
tario Milk
was in a.
lid tension
ible
of
irate farmers.
Through it all, with an air of calm deliberation and per-
sistence, he stuck to his guns.
As a result, the dairy, producers in Ontario were on their
way to almost a decade of prosperity. .
His name is George MtLaughlin, the articulate dairy
farmer from Beaverton who retired in January as chair-
man of the Ontario Milk Marketing Board.
Because he is articulate, he made his points coolly and
calmly with a quiet recital of the facts as he saw them.
I watched him on a number of occasions come through
various battles. Most o them he won. Some, he,lost. But
there is no doubt about t: he won the war to bring order
out of chaos for the milk business in Ontario.
IHe was appointed.. by the province in 1965. He establiShed
e'pooling of milk, the rationalization of farm -to -dairy
transportation and offered industrial milk producers a
program of graduated entry into fluid milk markets. -
He served three years as theappointedchairman and
then was elected by his peers to serve two additional four-
year terms, Which is an indication of the esteem he won
in the early years.
He is known as an honorable man. As far as I know, he
has never broken a promise. In addition\he has never been
a vengeful manjlthough, in the early years, he had good.
. reasons to carry.a grudge.
4Weid br lib
'nowt EMiN sf.. E1nws. Qnl."+N
I was unable to attend the annual meeting of the OMMS
in January although Haynes Davies, the man in charge or
press relations for the board, sent me ap invitation I`
would like to have been there to listen to George McLauggh .,.-
Iin's last speech as c14irman of the board. He said a few
thingswith which I heartily agree. He suggested that dairy
producers should get down to seriously : thinking about;
allbwing other ingredients to be mixed with dairy products
The industry has stubbornly refused -to.allow any mixing -_
except for an experimental case where vegetable and LL
animal oils were mixed to produce a "butter" that was
part margarine.
But no mixing in other products has been allowed by the '
industry. As a result, M. McLaughlin maintains that the
dairy industry has lost about half of the table spread market,
the cream market and the topping market. Other prod-
ucts — substitutes — have taken over so that today you can
buy a coffee whitener or a topping that looks like real
whipped cream but certainly.doesn't taste like it. '
Mr. McLaughlin suggests. that dairymen take a look at
combining the best features of both the real thing and the
Substitutes to provide consumers with a product they
can afford that will .taste as good as the real thing.
"The dairy industry should be prepared for an aggressive
approach to new products, new blends and new uses for
dairy products," he told the producers at.,the ainnual..meet-_.
ing in his final speech.
"Let us make some aggressive decisions for a change.
Decisions °imply readership and leadership .implies risk.
put let us risk the leadership which will assure that the
dairy industry does not really become as obsolete as some
try to convince us it is already."
Strong words they are.
But that isexactly what farm organizations need today:
strong wards from strong leaders such as George Mc-
Laughlin.
The milk board will miss him and so will all farmers in
Ontario.
Farmers can become labor managers
"A good farm employe • worked for anyone else and
without any responsibilitye its may not see things the way an
an.. employee looking for 's employee would. But good
new employer," saysJerty\" labour management- -is.. • .not
Krauter, Farrn Labour , something a person is born
Training Coordinator, for the with - it's a skill that can be
Ontario Ministry: of learned. And a skill that may
Agriculture and Food.. be more important than the
wages paid. A recent study
Mr. Krauter will be con hb)wed that farm employees
ducting ai, Farm Labour usually' change jobs for
Management Workshop for reasons,other than wages.
farmers at Centralia. College- Farmers who hire farm
on Tuesday, February 15. ' workers are urged to attend
With farms becoming larger the workshop on February
and more specialized, the 15th. The program will cover
farm family may find they employee recruitment,
need extra help to get the training, . working conditions,
work done and to get some authority and responsibility
time off themselves. as well as maintaining em-
ploye• e records. Farm wives
However, many farmers
are reluctant to"hire someone
to help them. There are the
problems of finding a
rel' ble, competent person,
pay g a competitive salary,
pro g housing, .-keeping
ext records and so on, For
the orker there's the image
of "hired man" and its Tack of
status in the farm com-
munity.
If a reliable farm work
force is to be developed, it
must start with the employer.
Most farmers have never
CLAY —
Silo Unloaders
Feeders
Cleaners
Stabling
Leg Elevators
Liquid Manure Equipment
Hog -Equipment
BUTLER —
Silo Unloaders
Feeders
Conveyors
FARMATIC —
Mills
Augers, etc.
ACORN —
Cleaners
Heated Waterers
ZERO —
Bulk Tanks
Pipeline i Parlour
Equipment
WESTEEL-RO.SCO
Granaries
B E L -' Hog Panelling
Lt I1RY'FARIYI sySTnMs"
RR 1, Kincardine, ,trIo
t
Plaint SOS -11
•
are welcome.
The workshop starts at 9:30
a.m. in Huron Hall at Cen-
tralia College, Huron' park.
•
For further information or
to register for the workshop,
contact: Doug Jamieson at
Centralia College, 228.6651.
FOR YOUR
PROPERTY INSURANCE
SEE
MA/COW MATHERS
General Insurance Agent
NOTE ADDRESS AND: NEW PHQNE .NUMBER
4s WEST ST. GODERICH 524-7878 f
Moembersre t1'i"an S5 f E
m'` t'oin i
political party Canvei
herRoy , 'ork
e to ;
TtootQ hono rte i
prestntodei►.t of r,the, Y Ont
Federat on of Ag1 ilitL
Two bus loads, ,from yHu
e
and Perth v
make
weather.
The evening"w€ s.bill
"roast" of Gordon*H'
was treated to di
roasting as well as O. k
praise ..
Roy Jewell, wel `known'
farm broadcaster
Gordon would be remem-
bered for "smarteningup the
Federation of Agriculture at
a time when it wasgettingfat..
and lazy." •
"He was a politician's
politician. He used the gloved
fist when it was necessary;
but not often. He's the. kind of
guy who could have been in
politics for years and never k
been found out."
Federal Minister of
Agricultture Eugene Whelan
told the Audience that Gordon
had better luck than he had
had in his endeavors.- . ----
"He set out and changed
the Federation of Agriculture
to his liking and I'm still
working like hell to change
the Liberal party."
Mr. Whelan referred to
Gordon's favorite hobby of
fishing, saying that Gordon
never . concerned himself
about fishing seasons.
"He hadthe exact same ,
attitude towards politicians.
No real season was out of
season for therm".
Everett Biggs, provincial
deputy minister of
agriculture, said Gordon had
been abrasive and -irritating
to, politicians at Queens
Park, "which is probably a
good.thing."
"Gordon has taken the
Federation of Agriculture:
from itS lowest point' in
,history to , possibly its
highest," he said.
Mr. Biggs presented the
retired OFA president with a
pen set on behalf of the public
service of Ontario. The pen
was "specially treated" he
said so that Gordon would
only think good thoughts and
write good things about the
govergment front now on.'''
Rumours that Mr. Hill'
might run for a political party
were mentioned by provincial
treasurer, D'a rcy McKeough:..,;
eVA,
TF
,$s
d ip anlY9i;
�verparty'ltets # m'
9xac.ty ,what t1
eMcKeough said it
suit him fine if Gordon
his ,p, warned
aiE dots that if. he joined: any
t ., Patty tartyhey werebut
already ;.
prepiared• ' {z
,•Oar little cry will be
,Hill 'a he said.
xae Maberly .from
o- "81'1n131 laix;Nova Scotia paid :-
to Mr. Hill on half of
aniadian . Federation of
�Agxlculture — -
"There have been times we `:.
didri'teagree, but we always
knew where we stood -witlii.
you."
"Gordon is one of the
•greatest farm leaders this
"country, ; has ever seen;" .he
said. "At the riskof offending:;
;some people, I want to sarwe
think you're one hell of a
guy;
George McKeg, pro sous
chairman of the Farm
Products Marketing Board of
• which Mr. Hill was a 'mem-
ber, noted that. Gordon had
always been a radical.
"His philosophy was to,
-raise- .=more hell and --less
wheat.,,
• But Gordon Hill got the last,
word.
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•
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"ONTA.HIO'.S
fM-iTF
"tNES"r AATER
Monday;'february 14.1477
at 8:00 p.m.
Lucknow Legion•HalI. Orders
Speaker's
You're invited to hear Dr. Jack Tanner of the Crop Science Department, On-
tario Agricultural College. His topic will be "Agriculture,19yto 1990"
Special
Corn Herbicidcial e- as well as discussing Green will
eCrossato introducing for field bean weed
control.
Refreshments will tie served. Come and bring a neighbourl.
k
n
th
rc
TI
u.
nc
in
g
d
m
e
ei
ak
co
11
th
l
er
• Dyfonate has continued to prove its effectiveness year after year
for the control of rootworms.
• Dyforlate.is easy to use. A free-flowing granular which does not
excessively wear out application equipment. pnett. t
• Cut costs witJ'i economical=Dyfonate.
• -No objectionable oder probleml:
This season, use eonomiceil; a fetttve "
fonate
Always follow
tons carefully.
T.M. of Stauffer el'emicel'Ceapeny: U.S A. •• $
- ....
+rS
In farmifigiyouhave to is k after
your own retirement No one is going •
to do it for you.
f.. 'So next tune -you're near a Bank
of Commerce, pick up our SMART
book.
_ It shows you how you .
can ;Invest money it1 a f
Commerce Rem_ t
_..r'i...
Save Money And Reduce
At the Commerce we eal
. SMART
It's one more. Commerce
Service that cadhelp"
j Aid after all, that
rile Comme ce
zt Cominer,
`SCrvlces--t
'.you with L
tress o fat
rlr
it'd ltd a
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44