Who's on First
by David Morris

Selecting the Number One corn grower in Ontario could be a hotly contested issue. There’d be lots of nominees and candidates, and endless debate about the criteria. It’s a question we’d never resolve. However, we do know who the Number One member of OCPA is. Fifteen years ago, before the days of the mandatory check-off, people had to sign up to become members of OCPA. The first envelope opened on the day that process began belonged to Laurie Cox from Huron County.

As Laurie recalls, being the first member of OCPA was something that happened more by chance than by design. In those days, Laurie, with the help of a full-time hired man, was running a much larger operation than he is today. Most of the grain he produced was fed on the farm to feeder pigs and laying hens. Like many young farmers of that time, he had large debts and even larger stress, especially when he was having to pay 19 per cent interest.

“My neighbour, Evert Ridder, was actively selling memberships in OCPA, and he invited and encouraged me to join,” says Laurie. “I thought it was time that we had such an organization for corn growers, so I signed up. Those were tough times for young farmers getting started. There didn’t seem to be anyone who had the interests of the farmer at heart. We needed help and we weren’t getting it from either level of government. Growers of other commodities seemed to be doing better at getting support by cooperating through marketing boards or associations than corn growers were doing on their own.”

Laurie is still growing corn today, although on a much smaller scale than in 1983. He describes his operation as being very basic and ordinary. Because he now works off the farm as an electrician, and is also active on township council, he says it’s hard to find the time to experiment with innovations. “I’d like to be able to try some new things and I kind of envy those who have the time to do that,” he says. However he does appreciate that with the smaller operation he feels a lot less stress than he used to.

Laurie now farms on his own (with a bit of family help) and crops about 300 acres of corn, soybeans, winter wheat, barley and hay. He stores his winter wheat on the farm, but corn and soybeans are delivered directly from the field to a nearby elevator for storage. Because some of Laurie’s land is not suitable for cropping, even for hay, he also keeps 30 beef cows and uses this land as pasture.

His tillage system is still based on the mouldboard plow and his rotation is simple – two years of soybeans, followed by winter wheat and then corn. He also likes to put corn in after hay when he is having to break a field up. Much of the soil on his home farm is clay loam, but some rented land is gravelly sand. The day I talked to Laurie, he had just returned from picking stones – being Number One doesn’t exempt someone from drudgery.

Laurie does intend to switch some of his acreage to no-till in the future. “Quite a few of my neighbours are using no-till and I’ve been watching their progress,” he says. “I think my yields are slightly better than theirs but the difference is not economic. With my size of operation, I can’t justify changing machinery just to go to no-till. I’m waiting until my current equipment starts to wear out. When I have to replace it anyway, I’ll get a no-till drill for sure.”

What roles does he see for OCPA in the future? “If I had a really good crystal ball, I might be able to tell you what the concerns will be,” he says. However, he did add that the association must continue to remind both senior levels of government of the importance of safety net programs that fit the needs of Ontario farmers. (Editor’s note: Some issues just don’t go away, do they?) He also wonders if OCPA will have to become more active in gathering and reporting information about input prices and markets. He feels it is important that corn growers have access to independent assessments about input performance and products and is concerned that OMAFRA isn’t going to be able to provide the same level of service it has in the past.

Laurie acknowledges that he has not played an active role in OCPA since signing up. However, he is still very committed to the organization and is pleased with what it has accomplished over the past 15 years. He thinks that OCPA has been a very effective voice for corn producers, especially in relation to the safety net programs. “OCPA has been very effective at making the voice of Ontario farmers heard, when otherwise we might have been overlooked in favour of the West,” he says. “I don’t think we would have seen the programs we have without OCPA. When we needed support, OCPA was there.”

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