The Western Producer takes a weekly look at some of the stories that made headlines in issues of the paper from 75, 50, 25 and 10 years ago.
75 years ago: Sept. 12, 1940
Farmers of every “political faith” from a 100 mile radius braved teeming rain and muddy roads to attend what was described as the largest mass meeting of farmers ever held in the Medstead area of northwestern Saskatchewan.
H.W. Thomas disagreed when an Agriculture Canada official told a Canadian Cattle Jersey Club meeting in Toronto that there was no place for the breed on the Prairies. So Thomas set out to prove the bureaucrat wrong by placing each of his cows on R.O.P. test as they freshened. Seventeen of them qualified in the R.O.P., several with silver medal records.
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50 years ago: Sept. 9, 1965
Farmers in Quebec’s Lake St. John-Saguenay district drove more than 1,000 tractors on local roads and reduced traffic to a crawl in a dramatic effort to draw attention to their demands for government compensation for crop losses. They originally drove two abreast but eventually obeyed police orders to operate in only one lane.
Slatted floors were touted as one of the newest features in beef housing. Professor F.H. Theakston of the Ontario Agriculture College in Guelph said the system, which was just being installed in Canada, had great potential for reducing labour required when managing manure.
25 years ago: Sept. 13, 1990
Senior trade officials told farmers that the $720 million Crow Benefit transportation subsidy was on the table at General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade talks. The National Farmers Union was appalled.
The Canadian Wheat Board hinted that it might delay wheat sales until later in the year because prices were so low. Analysts said this was probably a good idea, but some farm leaders worried about how it might affect farmers’ cash flow.
10 years ago: Sept. 8, 2005
The introduction of Roundup Ready wheat would cost U.S. farmers at least $94 million a year in lost income because of closed markets, according to a report. Despite the findings, the National Association of Wheat Growers remained convinced that genetically modified wheat would solve many of the industry’s problems. Ten years later, research continues on this elusive product.
As New Orleans struggled to survive in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, American farmers faced a daunting challenge to export crops as the devastating storm shut down key river transport systems and sent trucking costs soaring.
bruce.dyck@producer.com
