Quackgrass ad
To the Editor:
Monsanto’s latest ad reads something like this: “Let’s say you’re going to the planet ‘Quackgrass’ and you can take only one herbicide along. Which one will it be? You’ll face all kinds of weed dangers on the planet ‘Quackgrass’ but you need only one herbicide … .Roundup herbicide.”
The message sent by this ad, in my opinion, borders on the insane.
Who in their right mind would want to go to the planet “Quackgrass,” try and spray it to death, then turn around and seed what – 87-cent barley?
Read Also
Topsy-turvy precipitation this year challenges crop predictions
Rainfall can vary dramatically over a short distance. Precipitation maps can’t catch all the deviations, but they do provide a broad perspective.
Any intelligent farmer would rather choose to bale it and use it as feed for his/her own livestock or sell it without having to try and “kill” anything.
Monsanto’s image is already tarnished and this ad doesn’t improve on it one iota.
Monsanto needs a few lessons on how to “clean up” their own act. Ironically, their latest Roundup ad just doesn’t do it.
– B. Leppky,
Togo, Sask.
Rail service
To the Editor:
I hope you can still publish this. We were still harvesting and I could not take time off to write a letter sooner.
I would like to comment on some of the specifics of Mr. Tellier’s speech to the Regina Chamber of Commerce.
He stated that market forces should determine costs for hauling grain. Why? Perhaps, because in monopoly and near-monopoly situations like our railroads, market forces produce inflated, non-competitive prices.
He spoke of the need for accountability. He then said it is all the Wheat Board’s fault.
If he really believes in accountability, he should have told us how he is going to make his railroad accountable for the efficient, timely delivery of grain. How will he make it accountable for performing this task at fair, competitive prices?
How will he ensure that if delivery is not timely, that farmers do not bear the cost?
He stated that grain should be treated like any other commodity. That is not correct.
The railroads have to purchase the cars used for hauling other commodities.
Many of the grain rail cars were provided at no cost.
The cost of hauling grain should be less because inputs are less. The entire grain handling system is a mess and if Mr. Tellier’s speech is any indication, the people running the show have no interest in making it more efficient.
– Ron Purdy,
Moose Jaw, Sask.
Elevator closure
To the Editor:
The UGG grain company is as mad as a March Hare! How do they get away with destroying farmer’s assets paid for by farmers over the years?
The Harptree elevator is but one example of their madness, and actually refusing to sell it to the farmers that paid for it in the first place, is a gross insult on top of injury.
With elevators and railways destroyed, who do they think will be farming?
Farmers can build buffalo bins?
Unfortunately grain does not keep as well in concrete as in wood structures. Is that why they want the farmers to deliver drier and drier grain?
They don’t even sell the elevators for salvage. Is this not destroying all initiative in our so-called great nation? I expect that farmers’ support of UGG will be falling off. …
Losing the farmer’s trust is an unpardonable sin and the UGG is guilty. The Wheat Pools are also on this swampy road. If it works, don’t wreck it!
– Paul Kuric,
Vega, Alta.
Need study
To the Editor:
Citizens for Environmental Responsibility and Public Disclosure is a recently formed group of Lethbridge and area residents.
We are young and old, workers and business people, students, homemakers and professionals, and persons concerned about public health and the cumulative effects of the proposed hog slaughtering plant.
Lethbridge and area residents were given the impression by City council and the administration over the past four months that an environmental study would be done.
Alberta Environment recently advised that an environmental study had not been planned.
This came as an unpleasant surprise to the people of Lethbridge and area.
During some ten days, from about Sept. 22 to Oct. 2, over two thousand residents of Lethbridge and area sent letters to Alberta Environment.
These persons asked that an environmental study be done prior to Alberta Environment giving final approval to build the hog plant.
We believe this to be a reasonable request.
These letters represent a broad cross section of our community.
About a quarter of the letters are signed by individuals who are students and faculty at the Lethbridge Community College and the University of Lethbridge.
This response from over two thousand persons is strong evidence that the people of Lethbridge and district want an environmental study completed before Alberta Environment gives final approval to the hog plant.
Among these more than two thousand persons are some who support the building of the hog plant, some who are opposed to it, and some who are neutral.
Nonetheless, they all hold the common belief that an environmental study should be done.
They believe that the cumulative direct and indirect effects on water, air and public health in Lethbridge and surrounding area must be determined and made public.
– Jim Penton, Spokesperson
Citizens For Environmental Responsibility and
Public Disclosure,
Lethbridge, Alta.
Demurrage
To the Editor:
After reading Harold Hansen’s editorial in the Producer, “Farmers always pay,” I think a good way to solve this problem is to put the $15 million on all the taxpayers’ backs of Canada, especially the MPs, the railroad, the coastal workers and all members of the Wheat Board.
After all, why should someone who is only two to three percent of the population have to pay demurrage payments when one should think that when you dump the grain at the elevator and receive your cheque, it’s not to be your grain anymore?
But, amazing as it may seem, when it gets to the ports and there are problems, all of a sudden it’s the farmer’s grain again, and when everyone else along the line is done dipping their fingers in the pot to guarantee a good income, we get what is left ,which isn’t much.
Solution at this point, make it everyone’s grain in Canada. Not just a small number of people who have no control over anything they handle from buying to selling.
– Ken Fordice,
Galahad, Alta.
