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the HERALD Wednesday September 25 Community Page Diversity of farming in Halton Hills showcased By LISABOONSTOPPELPOT The Herald Prom pumpkin patches to green fields town region and school board councillors and staff saw the diversity of farming in Halton Hills on the Agricultural Advisory Committee s annual farm tour Thursday Over So people representing the Town of Hills Halton Region the Halton Board of Town of Halton Hills councillors Joe Hewitt left and Robert right who represent the rural residents of Hills chatted with the Halton Agricultural Advisory Committee HAAC president Linda centre at a market gardening farm Thursday owned by Dave and Claudette Taylor The councillors Ms and several other Halton residents were at the farm which was one stop on HAAC five farm tour of ferent farm operations in Halton Hills Photo New youth director named at Christian Reformed Church By Lisa Boonstoppel Pot The Herald Youth and youth education is something Tim is has and knows a lot about It s only natural he was chosen as the Georgetown Christian Reformed Church new youth and education director He s years old holds a teaching certificate a Master of Arts in church education and has led several youth groups No wonder when church leaders were searching for a candidate to share the pastoral duties of this burgeoning church with resident pastor Rev Paul Stadt they chose Mr Mr Luimes has the kind of training and gifts we were looking for said the church s main pastor Rev Stadt who has been the sole pastor of the church since the s second pastor Rev Bert Slof left in September of last year to go out west Much of Mr Luimes experience with youth came from growing up with six siblings Williamsburg near Ottawa There he attended Christian grade school went on to public high school and dec to earn a teaching degree at n College a Christian college in Grand Rapids Michigan Almost four years later he had his teaching degree and decided to immediately enter a seminary to train in youth ministry I d enjoyed people said Mr While I was in Ottawa I heard about this course in youth ministry from a pastor there and I knew it was what I wanted to into He had already been leading youth groups at the Christian Reformed Church he at tended at Williamsburg He admits he never really wanted to be a minister It scared me to think I would have to come up with wonderful sermons week after week I also think Its an incredible burden to be a minister because you are the per son everyone comes to with their problems and you re also con sidered the administrator of the en tire church he said For him working with youth and education is the perfect op portunity His position at the Georgetown CRC involves teaching six youth elders how to relate and educate youth along with teaching two chur ch school classes and being an ad visor to all youth groups and education programs In the little while he been in the Georgetown community and the church hes found the many youth s he s dealt with have a strong commitment to the Christian belief This church has been most won and very encouraging in the sense that a lot of young people here have not lost their faith They still have a solid commitment to the Christian way of life he said But he said there needs to be changes in youth ministry Youth ministry needs to become highly relational he said People within the church should realize young people need to build a relationship with them on a per sonal level to understand that being a Christian isn phony Once that relationship is established youth will feel free lo go to that person without doubt Youth are more receptive to that kind of approach than what the previous church approach which I term the brainwash approach he continued Young people today don accept that type of approach anymore He believes the same changes need to be made at the adult level Adults need to share their con to get help through their struggles and to grow in faith But people are too embarrassed to talk about problems in their life other than things like medical problems Things like alcoholism and family strife aren t often brought out into the public but really that is what the church is there for for people who are hurting people who need a sense of Christian love For now Mr Luimes is evaluating the present youth programs at the church which in volve 250age J 25 Mr said anyone who wants to talk to him about anything should feel free to call him at 877 9389 Tim is Georgetown Christian Reformed Church s new Director of Youth and Education a position he well trained for given he has a Masters of Arts degree In Church Education has a teaching license and has worked with youths life Herald Photo Education and travelled to five farms in HIUs learning about sod fruit market gardening cash crop cattle export and dairy farming Our aim is to get people out to the farm to gain a better per on what is Involved in a farm operation said president Linda of Ac ton We want to give them a per spective of the investment and dollars involved in farms she said such as the investment in a cattle export operation like Valcor Export Ltd owned by Albert Cor mier one of the stops on the farm tour Exports is one of four operations Mr Cormier owns and operates in Halton Hills He also has Farms 2000 a dairy farm Genetic Services a consulting service to farmers by contract on health breeding and promotion and sales and Modern Sires an international sire program based in France which was established in 1980 exported approximately head of cattle and embryos last year to France Germany Holland and the United Kingdom The business also does all the con exporting and sale of em bryos breeding females and bulls for cooperatives Rash Mohammed the region s Commissioner of Planning and Development was on the tour and said he was also impressed with the way some farmers have gone after new markets to make a profit Were talking about niche agriculture here he said They re using their land to produce a product for the larger urban market He also referred to another farm on the tour a cash cropping and market gardening operation owned by Dave and of RR3 Georgetown Instead of relying on traditional cashcropping these people have found a market for pumpkins and squash he said Agricultural land can be preserved if farmers adjust to the circumstances of the market I realize there are many problems in the agriculture dustry but I believe agriculture will continue to be a valuable industry in Region Mr Mohammed concluded But Claudette Taylor said she isn so sure I don think we 11 be seeing a new generation of farmers she said It used to be the son took over from the father and the farm was passed down but nowadays young kids can t afford to start up With the price of land and equip ment they won t get any return for their product She admits she and her husband faced the same problem and that why several years ago they decided to get into market gar dening to supplement earnings from their cashcropping operation The couple has 24 acres of sweet corn one acre of cherry tomatoes and fields of pumpkins squash and gourds The produce is wholesaled through the Ontario Food Terminal Their cashcropping operation in volves 200 acres of hay which is sold to horse farms locally and in the United States and 170 acres of grain corn 100 acres of seed oats and 400 acres of soybeans We realized we couldn t put all our eggs into one basket so we decided to diversify she said Another Hills couple decided to try a completely dif ferent type of farming when they realized raising Angus beef cattle profitable Nelson and Linda Shaw of RR Milton decided to go into sod far ming We wanted to try and find something in agriculture that might possibly make some money said Mrs Shaw The couple has acres in sod and they re now in their fourth year of business Since sod has a 20month cycle the couple are only in their second year of cutting but say the business is going well The first year was really good we thought we were on a roll but business has been off this year It just starting to pick up again said Mrs Shaw They supply sod to com and also lay sod for new homes construction companies and the Ministry of transport Other farms on the tour such as Andrews Scenic Acres at S Milton use marketing techniques to try and raise profit levels while Bir- at 2 Georgetown strives to have an aboveaverage producing herd The farm owned by George and Verna Bird and sons already has cows producing well above provincial average During the tour town and regional councillors also learned about farmers concerns said Ms Many farmers are concerned about severances The potential for problems is so great We want to keep development away from the farms she said Connected to development is water usage Without water farmers can do anything If 20 wells start taking water from the same aquifer the farmer gets his water from in a dry season he could have no water which means no crops But she said she confident the region will listen to the concerns of when considering develop ment and praised the region for having such a committee to work with councillors on farm related issues Hydro introduces milk reclaimer Ontario Hydro has introduced a milk heat reclaimer rebate pro gram to help dairy farmers reduce their water heating costs by up to 50 per cent If farmers start add up the amount of hot water they use in the dairy barn they 11 be quite surprised at how much thev II save by using a reclaimer says Graham Henderson Ontario Hydro s Senior Supervisor for Agriculture Available commercially for the past 12 years a milk heat reclaimer costs between and 500 depending on make and size Currently to per cent of Ontario 9 000 dairy farmers own reclaimers To encourage energy savings Ontario will pay a rebate to any On tano dairy farmer who buys and installs an eligible model bet July 1 and June 30 every milking dairv farmers must heat a large amount of cold well water to to clean their milking equipment This water heating accounts for per cent of all electricity used in the dairy barn and it adds up to a lot of money For instance Jt costs at current electrical rates to heat gallons of cold well water to for a single cleaning If cleaning occurs twice a day the farmer pays 3 00 a day in hot water heating costs or over a year Normally milk is piped from cows directly to a milk cooler which cools the milk from cow body temperature and expels the milk s natural heat into the air A milk heat reclaimer captures in an outer shell the milk s heat as it is expelled by the milk cooler This heat is used to heat water in an inner tank to This warm water is then supplied to the ex water heater to be heated