For the next year, this column will mark The Western Producer’s 100th anniversary by taking a deep dive every week into a past issue of the paper.
One of the big stories in the Jan. 28, 1965, issue was about a significant wheat sale to China.
The Canadian Wheat Board was reporting that the Asian country had placed an order that could total 27 million tonnes.
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president James Bentley said the large sale of wheat to the communist country as well as to Canada’s more traditional customers resulted in total wheat and flour sales of nearly 60 million bushels by the end of the crop year.
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He told a meeting of the CFA that farm cash income for 1964 was expected to reach record highs of $3.5 billion and realized farm net income of $1.63 billion.
However, Bentley’s remarks didn’t remain cheery for long.
“While these figures do give grounds for encouragement, the income position of many of our farmers is far from satisfactory,” he said.
“The fact is that the prices that farmers receive for their products has not kept pace with the rise in the cost of things that modern farmers use in their production program.”
He also said that while the western Canadian crop was substantial, grades had suffered severely from prolonged wet weather that delayed the harvest.
The story that received the biggest play on this issue’s front page, oddly enough, was the death of Winston Churchill.
The former British prime minister is still seen by many as one of the saviours of western civilization during the Second World War, despite the inevitable warts that have appeared during the last 80 years.
One can just imagine what he was thought of only 20 years after the war ended.
The Producer ran a cartoon, photo, column of famous quotes and a story about his funeral on the front page with a headline that said, “World mourns loss of old warrior.”
The editorial was also devoted to him and his legacy.
It was a nice sendoff.
