Limerick inspired
We continue to enjoy your fine weekly newspaper. I noticed the headline on page 1 of your Oct. 14 issue, “Canola’s Big Rebound.”
It led to this limerick, which seems appropriate. Keep up the good work.
I see we’ll have lots of canola
That’s good news for Pense and Arcola
So let’s raise a cheer
In lager or beer
Or even in dear Coca-Cola.
– A. G. MacKinnon,
Bowen Island, B.C.
Read Also
Kochia has become a significant problem for Prairie farmers
As you travel through southern Saskatchewan and Alberta, particularly in areas challenged by dry growing conditions, the magnitude of the kochia problem is easy to see.
Buyers & sellers
Your past issues left me concerned for my farming business markets. On the front page of one issue was a rancher with a sign telling U.S. hunters that “you can’t hunt on my ranch because you will not open your border to our cattle,” or something like that.
… Do we really believe that all our troubles will simply vanish with the opening of the U.S.-Canada border to our cows and all our market troubles are the Americans’ fault?
There are people in all countries who want to retaliate for all perceived wrongdoings. In this case we want the market back and from those whom we perceive as not playing fair. Do you believe they will have any feelings of wanting to co-operate with us and open the market to us if we continually have some of our people poking their fingers in U.S. eyes?
Logic tells me they will simply turn their backs on us more now that we are withholding our hunting rights from them.
We know there are organizations of producers in the U.S. who want the advantages of an export free market but do not want to have to compete in this marketplace. R-CALF USA is one such group. But no country in the world is homogeneous and all of their citizens thinking alike.
There are citizens of the U.S. who do not agree with R-CALF. … We also know of plants which have shut down in the U.S. because there is no live cattle for them to process. Their business was from live cull cattle shipments from Canada. …
What must we do? First we must make our product such that others in this world want to buy it. If they want it, they will buy it.
To do this we must market with one basic concept and that is “give the customer what he wants.” We know that Japan wants all animals tested before they are admitted into Japan. Let’s do it and we might take the market in Japan that the U.S. had and will not serve the way the Japanese have requested. That would relieve some of our excess product.
There must be other countries that would buy our beef with full testing. Then we add extras beyond this. We know we have a better tracking system of our animals than they do in the U.S. and we must make it better so we can track the end product from its origin to the butcher shop….
Third, we must do all of the slaughtering of our product here in Canada….
We can be the best in the world….
– Bob Hauswirth,
Calgary, Alta.
About lobbyists
A recent mailout by a Conservative MP criticizes Canadian Wheat Board directors for hiring a lobbyist and complains about her political connections.
Perhaps the Conservatives are taking advantage of their MP mailing privileges to do a little third party campaigning during this fall’s CWB farmer elections.
Do the Conservatives object to all lobbyists or only CWB lobbyists? Organizations doing policy work in Ottawa know there is real value in lobbying politicians and bureaucrats.
I would be prepared to bet, for example, that railways have recently lobbied our Conservative MPs – the ones complaining about lobbying – regarding rail car ownership. And it appears to have worked.
The Conservative party is not supporting the farmer bid to acquire the rail cars. The railways want them, you see.
A lobbyist putting forward the farmer position on issues like transportation, GMOs and trade could make quite a difference to our bottom line on the farm.
For example, the government of Canada is contemplating discontinuing the government guarantee on borrowings for the CWB. The guarantee provides farmers with security of payment and is a huge financial benefit to farmers at almost no cost to the government of Canada.
A lobbyist able to persuade the government of Canada to maintain the guarantee would, indeed, be worth her weight in gold to farmers.
I think the CWB directors made the right decision when they hired a lobbyist. If the Conservatives want to end the practice of lobbying, I suggest they start by throwing the railway lobbyist out of their offices. They can give us an update on how that went in their next MP mailout.
Can we expect that story from them in our farm mailboxes during the CWB elections?
– Wendy Manson,
Conquest, Sask.
Open the borders
I am a Grade 6 student from Langenburg School. I live in McNutt, a small farming community outside of Yorkton, Sask.
I wrote this in response to the BSE crisis as it not only directly affects my family and me, but it affects Canada as a whole.
Open the borders. The foreign borders to Canadian beef should be opened. The following reasons support my opinion.
The BSE crisis is shattering the Canadian economy. Without it, Canada is losing money, as beef farming is becoming one of our main industries.
There would be more beef. If the borders were opened, other countries would no longer have a shortage of beef products.
Also, ranchers and farmers are losing money. Their livelihoods are being destroyed and families are struggling.
My family and I have been enjoying our beef for the past few months. If the condition of our meat is a concern, the continuing health of my family proves it not only safe but nutritious.
If the borders don’t open soon, farmers may be forced to sell their cattle. There may not even be a beef industry left in Canada.
The foreign borders to Canada must reopen.
– Daniel Rathgeber,
Langenburg, Sask.
Key to future
Once again, Percy Schmeiser has made the 6 o’clock news. He is now claiming yet more damages from his perceived enemy, “Monster Monsanto.”
I was at a garage sale lately when I came across an old science textbook which had been used in Saskatchewan schools in the early to mid-1950s.
The student had neatly written “the 10 fundamental steps to scientific research” on the inside of the front cover.
One of these principles was: “The scientist must always keep an open mind to new frontiers.”
Needless to say, at $55, I didn’t buy the book.
Genetically modified crops are the key to the future. This year in our area, thousands of acres of wheat and durum could have been harvested and stored away perfectly dry had farmers had access to a glyphosate friendly wheat or durum.
Many producers held back seeding this spring, mostly to control wild oats and broadleaf weeds, a practice which has now delayed harvest leaving thousands of acres vulnerable to frost, snow, rain and wildlife.
A GM wheat with a maturity time of 60 to 65 days would solve a lot of problems for growers north of the 49th parallel.
Add to that the possibility of a hardy winter wheat, the versatility of perfect weed control, and the future belongs to those who are willing to explore new frontiers.
As a young lad in the early 1960s, I accompanied my dad at John Deere day in Lafleche, Sask. We were shown a movie of how John Deere forged the first steel plows in an attempt to prevent wet soil from building up on the implement, a problem which had plagued owners of wooden plows.
The Percy Schmeisers of that era were claiming that wooden plows were much better, simply because steel would most likely “poison” the rich Michigan soil.
Intelligent scientists and researchers know very well that if we don’t explore the possibilities of GM crops, and here in Saskatchewan, someone else will.
Why are we willing to give away such valuable knowledge, and to other countries who will compete against us?
With over six billion people on the planet, feeding these people should be placed ahead of archaic beliefs which can only lead to world starvation and economic chaos.
– John Hamon,
Gravelbourg, Sask.
