Mom and dad don't make much of it, but it hurts when the children want no part of the farm business their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents built up with the sweat of the brow. "It's up to him," they'll say if the son shows little interest in taking over the farm; or "She's going in for computers."
But talk to the kids after 20 years of life commuting to glass towers, and they'll confess they can't get farming out of the blood. One farm parent even says he doesn't glamorize the farm life too much for his kids, or they won't want to do anything else.
"There's no life like it" as the army used to say, and the kids whose lives steered them away from the farm will be the first to tell you so. Get a group of former farm kids and city kids reminiscing together. The farm kid will remember the day the cattle got out and dad raced around in his PJs at 3 a.m.; the city kid will remember the day in the mall. The farm kid will remember sweating it out in the hayfields with his siblings all day, and the cool drink in the quiet evening with nothing but the dog, the rolling land, and the setting sun; the city kid will remember the job at McDonald's... in the mall.
Take a nine-year-old farm kid and a nine-year-old 'burbs kid. All in her short nine years, the farm kid has milked cows, ridden horses, gathered sheep, delivered piglets. As for her nine years, the suburban kid has spent most of them in the minivan being driven to jazz dance class, or in front of the Nintendo screen...or hanging out at the mall.
There's a price to pay for a farm family living in the country. Swimming lessons and the library are not around the block. Nor is the doctor, dentist, or emergency entrance at the hospital. And crime statistics show that the country is no longer a place to leave the doors unlocked.
But one look at the real estate ads will tell you that farm life is becoming as valued a commodity along the concessions as $5 corn.
There's never been a better time to start exporting some to the city. With TV screens full of the horrors of teenage and even child crime, and city parents glued to their kids like secret service agents, city families could learn a thing or two from their friends on the farm.
Take 4-H. As the province slowly pulls out the financial rug, the 60-year-old institution is now expanding into urban areas. City 4-H has already been tried in Toronto and Winnipeg, and throughout the U.S, where it is integrated into the school system as an option for kids during the lunch hour. It doesn't have to be a cattle club. There are already Internet clubs, and clubs involving survival skills such as cooking. 4-H leadership camps, held twice a year, would help young people take charge of their lives and say "no" to trouble.
4-H has already taken the word "rural" out of its motto, and has now adopted a strategic plan to become more self-sustaining. For several years, farm and city 4-Hers have gathered in Toronto at "Future Talk" to swap ideas and perspectives.
4-H could be just what the doctor ordered for inner city kids, whose biggest curse is not drugs or crime but crippling idleness.
Success Story
Recently, Dr. Thys Tollenaar's corn improvement studies were
published in the September issue of the Agri-Food Research in
Ontario. He found genetic gains of 1.7 per cent per year for
the 30-year period 1959 to 1988. If harvestable yield gains
were analyzed, which brings in the improvement of stalk
quality, the gains are an even more remarkable 2.6 per cent
per year.
Similar studies have been done with corn in the United States
and Europe. Yield improvements were between one and 1.5 per
cent per year.
A report in the Globe and Mail showed that the efficiency of
industrial productivity in Canada has increased by 1.5 per
cent per year from 1960 to 1990.
When compared to other crops, few can equal the tremendous
progress in corn. Newer developments augur well for crops
where heterosis can be used.
Ontario's farmers are fortunate that the seed industry has
done such a good job. Our system requires that maturity and
yield be known, through testing of three location years in the
environment of adoption. The Ontario Corn Committee steers the
process. Performance trials are published annually of the
hybrids available. Finally, farm potential, soil and
environment become the final test for acceptance by the
grower.
This success story is one of many in Canadian agriculture.
Bob Hamilton
Corn Breeder, Plant Research Centre
Agriculture and
Agri-Food Canada
Mites everywhere
The article, 'Mites take toll on wild bees' in the Dec. 19
issue was factual except on two points.
Mites are not only in the Kingston-Brockville areas but are
now well established in Ontario's fruit growing areas. The two
types, varroa and tracheal, are both fatal to hives unless
treated.
Herb Williamson's statement was inaccurate. Apple pollen is
too heavy to be windblown, so it needs an insect to carry it
from one cultivar tree to another. Research has substantiated
this numerous times.
If Mr. Williamson is still not convinced, I would challenge
him to cover a fruit branch during bloom with fly screen.
Compared to fruit on the other branches, he won't thank the
wind for his pollination.
Some orchards in Ontario are able to produce a commercial
fruit crop without renting honey bees because of feral bees
and hobby beekeepers in the area.
Bees are an excellent investment. As the Michigan experience
has shown, those orchards with bees and those without will
over the next two years in Ontario show a greater difference
in grades. Cut a Red Delicious apple in half and count the
seeds. It could have 10 seeds with proper pollination. If it's
lopsided, with four or five seeds on one side, you can blame
the bees.
In Michigan, the feral bees disappeared and most of the hobby
beekeepers gave up. Even some of the commercial beekeepers
will not put up with the extra work and expense of treating
the hives with miticide and will also give up.
The fruit industry needs the bees and beekeepers need a viable
fruit industry. As long as honey prices stay good and
beekeepers are able to make a little extra with pollination
fees, there will be a healthy bee industry in Ontario.
Henry Hiemstra
President
Ontario Beekeepers' Association
Bayfield
More on atrazine
Regarding the article, 'Atrazine costs out well' in the Feb.
27 issue, it was very interesting. All farmers know some
herbicides are more harmful than others, but most of us can
only guess the amount of crop loss. What I would like to see
is more detailed information on the timing of the different
spray applications.
Edward Bakker
Rigaud, Quebec