Deadline for Apni "Mirror" - 31 March, 1995 3 MILFORD HAS ACTIVE FARM FORUM Rememberr the Farm Forum? Farm Forums in Prince Edward County are dis- . Farrington, Willet Walker, Mrs. Allan McCrimmon, Mrs. Alice Bowerman, Donald Walker, Mrs. Donald McCrim- mon, Carson Scott, Mrs. Willet Walker. Centre row, léft to right--Miss Cecilia Salman, Miss Jean McCaw, Mrs. Hilton, Mrs. Carson Scott, Mrs. S. Palmatier. . Miss Cnughey, Mrs. Drewry, Mrs. Don Walker Mrs. Edith Miller. Frnt row--Keith Walker, secretary; Clifford Wal- ker, Join McCaw, Don McCrimmon, Allan McCrimmon. Peussing many topics of great interest and value to the | community. One of the active forums in that at Milford whose 1mncmbers are shown above. The picture was taken at a meeting at the home of the convener, Carson cott. g Back row, left to right---Rev. J. Cantrell, Lec R. - Scott, Mrs. L. R. Scott, S. D. Paimatier, Miss Emma The Farm Forum was a radic this would bring the membership of group and sent by mailto the provin- broadcast from the 1940s to the 1960s. It was sponsored jointly by the CBC, Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the Canadian As- sociation of Education and was broadcast nationwide. The Farm Forum began as an idea of the Hal- ton Federation of Agriculture, in 1941, and was first maintained by farmers themselves with as one newspaper report says "little or no help from the non-farming com- munity.* With the appointment of a field man" in the summer of 1945, the perceived role of the forum, as being either of no value or being simple a pressure group to change legislation unfavourable to farmers, began to change. Although rural communities are sometimes seen as being conservative in their recogni- tion of the role of women, this or- ganization saw the importance of in- cluding women. From 1942 onward, women were encouraged to take an ever more active part in the or- ganization. This was in part because the very active and wei organized Women's Institute into association. The purpose of the Farm Forum was for farmers to get together to discuss immediate probiems but soon expanded to the broad range of topics that was offered by the radic broadcasts, From astartof23 Forums in 1945 the numbers of groups rose to over 1,000 by 1962. County Rallies were held each spring by the executive of the Halton Farm Forums, through its committee formed forthe promotion of the Farm Forum in 1948, Locally, the Farm Forum met every Vionday evening from October to March, at the home of one of its members. They would listen to the radio broadcast, would then break into smailer groups and discuss pre- determined issues or topics and record their conclusions. They would then re-convene and give their reports to the groups as a whole. These reports would then be summarized by the secretary of the cial secretary. Following each broad- cast a summary of the report of the consensus of all forums which had met and submitted reports, would be read. These provincial reports in the issues discussed were used as the *voice of the people" and thus af- fected legislation, marketing board decisions and the actions of the On- tario Federations of Agriculture. The broadcasts consisted of 25 minutes of issues debated by a panel of experts or of dramatizations of issues and ideas. At the end of this 25 minute period, the broadcast was turned over to the provincial portion of the broadcast. This was a very effective way of dealing with the is- sues and of getting the provincial varience that would arise, in par- ticular where federal iegisiation was involved. These broadcasts ended in the mid-1960s after it had been in opera- tion for 25 years. Forum cont'd pg. 6