APRIL 2006

Cinderella man

Donald and Joanne Russell were living in Brantford suburbs in a place where all the houses looked the same. Donald decided he wanted to be a dairy farmer. After they took the first step he says they aged 10 years in two. Now the Renfrew family of six (their two youngest pictured above) have been named Ontario's young farm family of the year. Go to story

(Patrick Meagher photo)

 LEAD STORY 

• Parliament Hill rally
  Thousands of farmers from across Canada are planning to march on Parliament Hill for three days in hopes of getting a federally-backed long-term support program to help crop farmers through the tough years.
  Go to story

EDITORIALS 

• Possession is nine-tenths of the law      Although dairy farmers talked about buying Parmalat in Chesterville, they didn't. Some wish they had. It would have given dairy producers a foothold in the processing of their product.   
   Go to story

OPINION 

• So you want your kids to take over the ranch... When are you going to show them how?                                                          One night in 1985 I got a conspiratorial phone call.    Go to story

 ARTICLES 

• Largest rotary parlour in Ontario          The largest rotary parlour in Ontario has been erected at Hillside Farms, north of Brockville.
  Go to story

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• Grain Growers of Canada stand behind science of new gene that prevents seed from growing next year
  After studying the controversial issue of Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURTS), more commonly known as terminator technology, the Grain Growers of Canada have taken the side of science on a case-by-case basis. 
  Go to story

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• 67% say 'no' to terminator, Farmers Forum poll finds
  Farmers are overwhelmingly opposed to using seed with a "terminator gene." a Farmers Forum survey has found. The gene helps produce a higher yield but prevents harvested seed from reproducing.
  Go to story

• Here's what farmers said...                            It's destroying the way the farmer lives. They're invading the food chain. The multinationals are gearing up to increase their profits by taking the money that governments give us (in subsidies)."
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• Kuratli to sell supermarket style hay to U.S. horse owners.
  Arnold Kuratli is an enterprising farmer who had invested in horse hay for export and believes local farmers can benefit from his new marketing strategy.
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• Get United, says beef farmer and former MPP
  Farmers should quit all their organizations and start over with one farm lobby group or they are just going to get more band-aid solutions and end up bellyaching forever, says a dairy farmer and former provincial politician. 
  Go to story

Stories for our subscribers:

• Protestors say spreading of bio solids causes headaches- A group of protesters, south of Hastings, is getting its licks in before farmers start spreading bio solids (or sludge fertilizer) on the fields in the spring. 

• Ontario budget is "shocking," OFA says-  The province's March 23 budget is "shocking" in how it "ignores" a vital sector of the economy, said Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bennett. 

• MPAC gives no justice for farmland property taxes-  What had been described by the Ontario ombudsman as an unjust system of taxation, with thousands of errors, if taking a toll on farm businesses.

• Agricorp faces appeals on hay insurance- Nine farmers from Prince Edward County could be headed to a provincial tribunal to argue that Agricorp, their crop insurance company, broke their crop insurance contract.

• OMAFRA pays thirty bureaucrats more than $100,000 year-  Last year 26 Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Rural Affairs employees earned more than $100,000 a year. 

• 29 Fatalities- Farm Safety Association plays down spike in on-farm fatalities in 2005. 

• The demise of Kamenz pigs greatly exaggerated-  As vice president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) Geri Kamenz us used to the news media.  

• College Classic sales exceeds $100,000-  A team of Kemptville College students, staff, locals producers and alumni, including James Cooper, John Joynt, Greg Holmes, Tessa Dwyre and Melissa Brown helped bring in a total of $102,100 for the thirty-seven Holsteins and sex Jerseys.  

• $20 million eastern Ontario abattoir study will be ready by the end of next month-  Eastern Ontario townships from Prescott to Stirling-Rawdon are backing a feasibility study that could lead to the establishment of a $20 million federal meat processing plant. 

• Douglas Select Sale averages $2,700- The market is back for bulls at evaluation centres. 

  THEY SAID IT:       

"We'll shut down every food distribution terminal in Ontario. There will be bare food shelves in the grocery stores."

-- North Gower crop farmer Dwight Foster, on what farmers will do if the federal government does not introduce a long-term support program. 

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  FARM FACTS:

Number of Ontario farm fatalities last year.......29

Number of Ontario farm fatalities in 2004.......16

Number of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs bureaucrats earning $100,000 a year or more.......30

Top heifer price at Kemptville College Classic sale.......$7,000

Top bull price at Douglas Select Sale.......$4,000

Percentage of farmers against terminator technology in a Farmers Forum poll.......67