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The Huron Expositor, 1965-06-17, Page 3• A • Tht • A Farmer Reside James Eckert, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Eckert, of McKillop, recently returned from a trip through Europe and Russia as one of a party of Canadian busi- nessmen, has recalled highlights of the tour in the following story. Mr. Eckert lives 4n Nia- gara Falls. HOLLAND The mission's first European stop was Amsterdam, Holland, which was the transfer point for Russia. However, in that there was approximately a one - day stop over 'a special meet- ing to discuss the general situa- tion in holland as It related to, industry had been arranged. Involved in this all -day session were: Zwanenburg Company; Van Wgenberg Company; The Central Bureau of Fruit and Vegetable'Auctions of the Neth- erlands; and a representative of the Canadian Embassy. In general it was pointed out to the mission that 21 per cent of the population of the Nether- lands was employed in agricul- ture; that a great deal of pro- duction yas similar to Canada; SMITH' SUPERIOR *FOOD MARKET* SPECIALS FOR Thursday, Friday and Saturday tes TOILET TISSUE. • • • 2 Pkgs. 440 Shirriff's — 12 -oz. Pkg. INSTANT POTATOES—Mashed • • 570 Kellogg's CORNFLAKES • • •'• 2 12 -oz: Pkgs. 550 Maxwell House INSTANT COFFEE • •10 -oz. Jar $1.35 Rose Brand RELISHES , 3 12-oz.,Jars 690 • Sweet Green Corn, Hot Dog, Hamburg Kraft BARBECUE SAUCE"— '• •16 -oz. Jar 4/0 With Basting Cup Lynn iACIIIIYES or BARTLETT PEARS 2 15 -oz: Tins' 390 PRODUCE California Sunkist ORANGES—Size 180's • • • .3 Do. 1.00 Home -Grown 'FRESH BEETS • • • • • 2 Bunches 290 Home -Grown RADISHES or GREEN ONIONS 2 Bunches 1 50 SEE LONDON FREE PRESS THURSDAY FOR .ADDIT1ONAL_ SPECIALS . mith's Phone 527-0990 Free Delivery HOSIERY - SPORT SHIRTS . TEE SHIRTS Handkerchiefs - Wallets - Billfolds and a host .of other Gifts for that Popular Guy of His Day ! Finest Selection of Father's Day Cards by Coutts - Hallmark and Rustc rift 10c - 15c - 25c - 30c — GIFT WRAPPINGS — Check Our Up -to -Date, • RECORD BAR We have the Top Tunes! NEW RECORDS EVERY WEEK LARON 1 Seaforth's 5c to $1.00 Store Stationery - Gifts OPEN FRIDAY NIGHTS (, and that' Holland was a heavy exporter of food products with particular emphasis an cheese, frozen'and canned fruits, and an extensive line of -pickle pro - duets. It was indicated that steadily Increasing costs of labor and a limited labor force could cause serious problems in the food in- dustry in- the coming years. In fact, the importation of farm labor from other countries was already becoming common- place. Controlled Auction System The long established (189 agricultural • marketing syste used in Holland called "Vel ings" was evaluated during th meeting. A Veiling, which is a auction system including perm anent premises and facilities, responsible for the movemen of all farm products (with lim ited exception) from the 'far into production or distributio Veiling services include th control of uniform packagin quality, warehousing facilitie to insure continuity of suppl the fixing of minimum raw pr duct prices (based on a seve year average). It should b stressed on this latter poin that the minimum price is fix at some 20 per cent lower tha the cost to the producer. Thi provision has been included a a means of preventing over -pr duction at thefarm level. All bidding at the Veiling i carried on by the so-calle "Dutch -Clock" system. A larg dock` faces the bidding floo and indicates a full range o product prices from high to low The clock is set at the highes price and gradually drops t the lowest price. The clock i stopped when' a bid is receive at the indicated price. If th minimum set:price can , not b obtained for any product, tha product is destroyed. All products. handled -by ,th Veiling g .goes through a corn plete inspection. If this produc is destined for export it re ceives two further inspections The first of 'these inspection is carried out at the exporters warehouse and the second in spection is carried out at th frontier before ' it is permitte .to move into a foreign. country This detailed attention to ex port product is insisted upon a the only means of protectin the high integrity demanded o the' government in- the expor field. Processor Position Strong In the field of retailing i was evident that Holland wa experiencing a similar develop ment pattern in the tLS. an Canada. The number of reta elements is, for example, de clining. In 1933 Holland ha 37,000 retail stores and thi number had eroded to 23,00 in 1964. Some 20 per cent of the re tail volume is being handled by chain groups with 80 per cen of the distribution still in the hands of independents. However, there are two fac tors at the retail level that dif fer drastically from presen Canadian practices. First, all manufacturers in sist that product at retail must be' marked up. by 15 per cent This gives retail a net revenue of six per cent. Secondly, to enforce this con- cept, all manufacturers have formed themselves into' groups. These, groupings- consist of complementary companies such as a fruit and vegetable can- ner, a "tonfectionery manufac- turPr, a baking organization, a dairy company, a tea and cof- fee company, a meat organiza- tion and so on. -The loss of one label to the retailer, say through underprising, automatically re- sultin the loss of all of the labels Of that particular group. It 'should be stressed that ike companies, that is two ruit and vegetable.. canners ith similar products for ex- mple, can not align themselves ith the same overall industry roup. This concept obviously .goes long way in protecting the osition of the individual food ompanies, discourages the de- elopment of retailer labels, nd unquestionably will protect he long term positibn of pri- ate foodlprocessing companies. ° RUSSIA The mission visited two food rocessing facilities while in the .S.S.R., a meat packing plant n Moscow and a baking organ- ation in Leningrad, Time -was Iso spent in inspecting some etailing operations. The meat packing plant in oscow was, reported as being he largest meat operation in ussia. This plant employs 000 workers, functions on a 4 -hour sehedide, and daily pro- uction was estimated at 1,000 ns of finished products. The verage worker in the plant eceives a salary of about $115 anadian) per month. The mission felt that there as nothing new in the way of quipment or production tech- que being employed in this 13eration. In fact, the general eling was that, in this area of deavor, they were far from hieving . the efficiency expect of both ,Canadian and, U.S. eking plants. In cattle production many of e animals being used, have eviously passed through milk oduction.. However, the stan- w1 ,f a w g a p c v a t v p U iz a r 8, 2 d to a r (C w e ni b fe en EIC ed pa th pr pr dPrd# 04.beth hogs, a d,„OleeP I i° --i,;, " $ ani?CaXed 'te mere aPplegOilato Canadian Standards, The mission also felt that rim, plant sanitation procefiut* would probably not have sas fled Canadian. Food. and Drug, ,and Department of Agriculture standards. Poor Agricultural Pattern Agricultural efficiencies in, Russia also appear to fall well' below the Canadian norm. Solne, 40 per cent of the active mu- lation are employed in agrieul- ture. This labor force produces 50 per cent less on double the acreage of U.S. agficulture. In the U.S. only eight per cent of the active labor force is em- ployed, in agriculture. From 1940 to 1963 agricul- tural output per hectar has dropped by about 13 per cent and it was felt that a similar pattern might exist in process- ed production. On the subjectof agriculture it was indicated to the mission (by a group outside of the U.S. S.R..) .that some three per cent of the Russian farms are still owned by -iaividuals ,and -that these farms are handling ap- proximately 50 per cent of Rus- sia's agricultural production. If. this is correct, it can only mean that the Russian farm collec- tives, which control 97 per cent, of the .land, are doing a most ineffective job.. However, with .the suggestion of a liberalization program on both the farm and secondary ,levels—the return bf the land to the farmers, and the adop- tion,of a modified profit system in industry—the production of this segment a the Russian economy could take on new and vigorous life. Limited Consumer Choice A Russian food store wa's vis- ited in Moscow and the mission received two distinct impres- sions. First, that the Russian consumer has no brand choice. In fact, Dr. Gagnon suggested that about the only choice the Russian housewife appeared to have was "not to.• buy.". Second, that the retail price of feedstuffs (in relation to an average monthly income of $115.00) was extremely high. Some examples of this price structure were: butter, $2.06 per pound; fresh fish (carp), $1.15 per pound; 10 eggs, $1.65; pasteurized milk, 20 cents per pint; chocolate bars (7 ounces) $1.56; coniPOund jams, 92 cents for 20 ounces; salted herring, 88 cents per pound; chicken, $1.15 per pound; ice cream, 35 cents for 31/2 ounces. - The mission was much more impressed with the visit paid to the confectionery and..,biscuit factory in Lenihgrad. This -was a large 'Unit -employing 2,000 workers. However,. much old equipment was in evidence and many of the operations were semi-automatic as against fully automatic practices in North America. Although a minimum expo- sure only was allowed the mis- sion, they were left withthe distinct impression that a great deal yet needs to be accom- plished before th' Russians ap- proach the standards of per- formance and efficiency consid- ered the norm in the U.S. and Canada. SWEDEN The bulk of fh'e mission's time in Sweden was Spent at, tending a series: of• meetings in Stockholm. This country is probably the. most highly so- cialized of all the Western dem- ocracies. About .26 per "cent of the country's total industrial production is going into export. However, constantly rising sal- aries and costs of government are pushing prices to an ex- tremely high level. So high. in fact, that some informed sourc- es feel that a great deal, of the Swedish export business- will be highly vulnerable to competi- tion from 'other countries m the very near future. Farm Units Declining ' To evaluate the agricultural performance of the .notintrY, meeting was held with the Swe- dish Farmers .Purchasing and Selling Association. This grOUP has an estimated 142,400 farms in its membership, As in North America the number of fermi units is declin- ing. Farms are disappearing at the rate of 5,000 , per year. The average Swedish farm has two to four hectares of land devoted to agricultural-- pro- ducts and about WO hectares in woodlot. On an average the farmer gets about 25 per cent of his income 'from his wood - lot and the balance from his agricultural acreage. The dairy herds of the coun- try are diminishing and being replaced with beef cattle. The average dairy herd in Sweden is seven cows. An average of 2,000,000 hogs are handled each year. Poultry production is on, the increase and the raising of sheep, and lambs, once in de- cline, is again starting to em- erge more prominently in the farm economy. Investment= • by the average farmer in his, operation is about $21,000. This is double his in- vestment at the end of World War II. Swedish agriculture is heav- ily subsidized by ,the govern- ment and is increasing produc- tivity at the rate: of two per cent per year. DENMARK Of 'all of the countries visit- edby the mission, Denmark made the Most significant im- pression. Agricultural and food export plays a major role in the economy of the country,and secondary industry has become the central economic fact -of -life in the last 10 years. Although .a reasonable degree of socialization is evident, this concept is. not as highly evolv- ed as it is in Sweden. The co- operative organizations a r e highly competitive with private enterprise -and the total econ- omy is advancing at a rapid and 6healthy rate. • Rapid Agricultural Growth Agriculttire is very highly de- veloped with about 73 per cent of the acreage being devoted to farm production and 19 per. cent to forestry. • Once again a steady decline to farm population is evident. In 1939 'about 309,000 people were involved in agriculture. By 1963. the farm work forte had dropped "to. 86,000. This, of course, has been accomplished through increased mechaniza- tion on the farms. As an ex- ample of this, some 13,000 trac- tors were, in Use. in agriculture in 1944. By 1963 over 125,000 tractors were.in use on Danish farms. Since 1960 agricultural pro- duction has increased by 50 per cen,t, and at the present time two-thirds of all agricultural production is going into ex- port. • The concept of the co-opera- tive in Denmark is different from that of many countries. .In the first place, the govern- ment is in no way responsible for co-operatives. They function under, the same handicaps as private enterprise. No Danish co-operative ,is permitted to be- come a limited operation. This means that if a co-operative col- lapses the farmers are liable for the total loss. . Strange as il may sound. it • was at the insistence of the Danish farmer that this policy was adepted. It was their con- tention that :such a structure would make other and every member vitally interested in the operation and policy atti- tudes of his co-operative and in the final analysis, make the co-operative movement more successful. At the present time 94 Danish co-operatives are hand- ling 90 per cent of all milk de- livered to dairies, and 88 per Dowson Family Members, Celebrate The Dowson family gathered Sunday afternoon at the home of Mr. and .Mrs. John Dowson and Glen to honor several an- niversaries and birthdays of family members. The main celebration of the' day was the 25th wedding an- niversary of Mr. and Mrs. ,Geo. Dowson. Mr. and Mrs. Dowson were married in Clinton on June 15t 1940, and have one son, Gary. Seated at the main table with the bridal couple were their son, Gary, Mr. and Mrs. John Dowson, parents of the groom of 25 years, Mr. Glen Dowson, who was grooms- man at his brother's wedding, and Mr. Pat Kennedy, of Gode- rich. The table was centred with a beautifully decorated cake and candles. After a delicious turkey din- ner the couple were presented with a wall clock and silver tray.' Mr. and Mrs. Dowson fit- tingly replied to the presenta- tion. John Dowson, Sr., George Dowson and Pat Kennedy en- tertained with musical selec- tions in the evening. Also_ celebrating anniversar- ies and,,preSentedMth eorsag-,. es were Mr. and Mrs. Earle Tip- ping,. nee Marion Dowson, June 15; Mr. and Mrs. Ken Caldwell, nee C*Preen Dowson, June '15, and Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Dow - son, June 13. Celebrating birthdays were Kelly a n d Mark Caldwell. daughter and son of Mr. and Mrs.Ken Caldwell, on June 13 and '1 lthi Other family birth- days in .June are: Mrs. Cecil Dowson, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Con- sitt and Mrs. Earle Tipping. Those attending the celebra- tions were: Mr. and Mrs. Har- old Dowson, Mr. and Mrs. Ce - dl Dowson and Sharon, Mr. and Mrs. Bill Consitt and fam- ily and Mr. and Mrs. Bill Dow - son and family, all of Varna; Mr. and Mrs. Earle Tipping, Danny and David, of Sarnia; Mr.' and Mrs. Ken Caldwell and family, St. Thomas; Mr: and Mrs. Douglas Dowson, Exeter; Mr. Bruce Betties and Mr. Pet Kennedy, Goderich. • KIPPEN Mr. and Mrs. Ray Consitt and fancily and Mr. and Mrs. BOA. Hell and family spent the week id:at Ohesley Lake Catnp. cent of all, slaughtering is, done' COrOPIto A very high Ilegree. of auto,-- zilation ia-apparently evideat in most banish food., processing plants. In many companies more technical employees are numbered on the payroll than production workers. FRANCE The final stop of the mission was Paris. There were over 3,000- exhibits at this fair and the group reported being fav- orably impressed with the Que- bec display. Some trips were also made throughout the city for the pur- pose of inspecting French re- tail outlets. The self-service concept is well established in the French stores, although it was reported to the mission that the French housewife is still adjusting to this type of re- tailing. All self-service outlets have counters and a great Many of the shoppers still go to the counter .for their requirements rather than 'picking thein up from the self-service displays. Two other obvious differenc- es in the retail outlets. in Paris were :the extensive display giv- en dairy products, particularly cheese, in comparison to North American practices, 'and the fact that wines and spirits were available in these stores. 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