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•trx Orono Town Hall BOWMANVILLE LIBRARY 62 Temperance St. 1.1.04 i Bowmanville, Ont. L1C 3A8 $ I.UU GST Included Wednesday August 13, 2003 Serving Kendal, Kirby, Leskard, Newcastle, Newtonville, Orono, Starkville and Tyrone since 1937 l-ili 11 , w John Conrad of Regional Road 9, has grown a cherry tomato plant that at 5 foot 9 inches is almost as tall as he is. i Field crops lookin'good Conrad planted the tomato seed which he propagated himself on the May 24th weekend weekend and then left it alone as the family went on a three week vacation. Conrad now has the tallest tomato plant he's ever grown, the fruit of which will be entered in this year's fair. Keith Henderson, current Orono Fair giant pumpkin champion says this year's crop is coming along, but because of the cold spring this year, the pumpkins are two weeks behind last year. The pumpkins pumpkins won't be as big as last year, but Henderson says he has a very nice one. While the soy bean and corn crop here are looking good this summer according to local farmer Ed Morton, the crops around the lake are super. Farmers are having difficulty difficulty with the soft wheat sprouting, because it is too wet to harvest. Two dry days with a breeze is what it would take to dry the crops in the field. Beef crisis far from over Local beef producers are cautiously optimistic that there are better days ahead for their industry. An announcement last Friday by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman that some Canadian beef products will soon be permitted to be sold south of the border doesn't doesn't mean the beef crisis is over yet, says Kelly Daynard of the Ontario Cattlemen's Association Association (OCA). In fact, "The situation is a long way from resolving itself," said Daynard, Communications Director of the OCA in a phone conversation with the Orono Weekly Times on Monday. "With the partial opening of the border, we're hoping beef products will start crossing into the US by the end of this month," stated Daynard. Processed beef products, which only account for 40% of Canada's total beef and cattle exports to the U.S., will no longer be prohibited in the U.S. following the May 20th mad cow disease scare. "However this glimmer of hope is long overdue," said Daynard. "Banning the import of live cattle has to be lifted," she said. In her speech Veneman acknowledged that live cattle under 30 months of age are a low risk for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). "We would like to see the border opened for those cattle, but it doesn't look like that will happen any time e soon," Daynard said. Veneman also talked of immediately beginning a new rule making process, acknowledging the integrated nature of the North American beef industry. "Beef that are grown in Canada can be processed in the U.S. and sold back to Canada," said Daynard. Daynard. "I hope they pursue a national identification system like we have in Canada," stated stated Daynard. As of January 2001 cattle produced in Canada have to have a unique bar coded ear tag to track where it's been. The lone BSE infected cow found in Alberta this year, predated the ear tag system. In an emergency meeting of the Durham Cattlemen's Association last Wednesday night in Nestleton, president John Walton said, "We are now experiencing a steady build-up of cattle for which there is no market. Because feedlot operators cannot market market current supplies they are not placing cattle on feed and these are accumulating in backgrounded operations and on farms and pastures throughout Ontario and Canada. In Ontario there are 18,000 cow/calf farmers expecting to sell calves into feedlots in a month. There's likely to be little or no market for these calves though, as feedlots either remain at capacity--or have emptied with little financial capacity to restock." Feedlot owners have seen the prices of their cattle drop to a third of what they were worth on May 19 and even with federal/provincial disaster program, they're still losing approximately $300 per animal according to the OCA. "The real concern is what's going to happen to the whole industry," said OCA member Dave Davidson of Hampton. The emergency Durham Cattlemen's Association meeting meeting was held so the membership membership could focus on what they could do personally in light of the crisis. According to Hampton member Dave Davidson, "they resolved to get the politicians to move on this." They also agreed that the public had to get more information out to the public, BEEF continuod page 3 l WjS