Keeping Up With The Times
By David Morris
|
Gerry Prentice
is continually on the look-out for ways to improve his operation. Gerry
operates a cash crop farm near Wainfleet, in the Niagara Peninsula. With
the help of two hired men, he crops about 1,200 acres; planted to corn,
soybeans and winter wheat. They also “In my own case, for example, almost all of my corn and all of my soybeans are Roundup Ready. It’s made life a whole lot simpler. I always add something to provide some residual control, so I’m not relying only on the Roundup. A little bit of atrazine goes a long way, at very little cost per acre. Most of my fields were sprayed only once this year and the weed control has been excellent,”declared Prentice. |
 |
Although new to
the OCPA Board, Gerry has a long history of participation in the activities
of OCPA, both at the local level and as a delegate for his region to the Annual
Meeting. He has also served on the Board for the Ontario Soybean Growers. “I
was hesitant to go on the Board”, he says. “I have to confess that
I’m at an age where I should be thinking more about retirement than taking
on new things. However, a
considerable number of people approached me about letting my name stand and
so, I have agreed to act until the new grain and oilseeds organization is formed.
Besides, farmers never really retire. Each fall, by the time you get through
harvest, there’s always a sense of relief that it’s over and you wonder
why you put yourself through it all, but come spring, you get excited again
and begin thinking about all of the things that you’re going to do this
year,” says Prentice.
As an OCPA Director, Gerry serves on the Safety Net Policy Committee and the
Grain Trade and Market Development Committee. He brings an interest in a variety
of issues to the table, ranging in scope from the local to the global. Locally,
for example, he is concerned about the amount of damage inflicted on crops by
wildlife. “It’s a big issue in this area,” he says. “The
Ministry of Natural Resources has introduced wild turkeys into this area but
won’t acknowledge the significance of the damage that they do or accept
responsibility to compensate farmers for it. It doesn’t make sense to me.
OMAFRA staff tell us to be more efficient, but at the same time, another arm
of the government is doing all it can to encourage the spread of animals that
destroy that efficiency. I’ve seen fields where as much as 10 percent of
the crop has been lost to Her Majesty’s livestock! MNR turns these things
loose, and then, expects the farmers of Ontario to feed them for free. Something
has to change here,” asserts Prentice.
At the national level, Gerry notes the continuing need for safety net programs
to better protect growers from the impact of subsidy programs in the USA. “It’s
usually referred to as The Farm Bill”, he says, “but it should more
properly be called The American Consumers’ Right to Cheap Food Bill. I
get annoyed by all of the talk in the media about the ‘high’ price
of corn. In 1980, I got about $ 4.00 per bushel for my corn. Today, I’m
getting $3.75. Back then, oil was around $30 a barrel - today it’s over
$80. Twenty seven years ago, you could buy
a pretty good tractor for about $45,000. Today, you’d have to add another
$100,000 to get something similar. How can anyone say that the price of corn
is ‘high’? It seems to me that the media is trying to make the case
that the consumer is being taken advantage of by farmers and agri-business.
To me, it seems like the consumer is still getting a free ride. The consumer
has no idea that out of the $ 4.39 that they pay for a 700 gm box of corn flakes,
all I get is 11 or 12 cents. In this country, it appears that the government
expects the farmer to subsidize the consumer’s standard of living,”
Prentice emphasizes.
Gerry acknowledges that the learning curve for new directors is quite steep.
“I’m still in the learning phase of the process. Some of the other
directors have been working on these issues for years, so there is a lot of
background information that one has to catch up. Nevertheless, I can honestly
say that the group of individuals around the boardroom table are all highly
dedicated to the corn industry. They devote a lot of time and effort for the
betterment of the corn growers of Ontario and I’m proud to be a part of
it,” concludes Prentice.
