08 November 1, 2008 - ObserverXtra

The Observer | Saturday, November 01, 2008 BUSINESS | 19
»FOOD FOR THOUGHT | OWEN ROBERTS
Obama takes page from Willie Nelson farm plan
Americans vote in
a general election
Tuesday, and barring
a last-minute scandal
or some other
such calamity, they’ll
make Illinois Senator
Barack Obama their
next president.
And that means
American agriculture is in for one of the
biggest showdowns it’s ever seen.
Obama is convinced U.S. farming has
become too corporate, governed by big
business. He’s unwittingly borrowed
“outlaw country” musician and familyfarm
activist Willie Nelson’s guide to
rural America survival, by supporting
small farms.
Nelson, famous for starting the annual
Farm Aid benefi t concerts that highlight
family farmers’ struggles, has lately taken
to promoting green energy, another of
Obama’s platforms (Nelson even has his
own brand of premium biodiesel, called
BioWillie).
Likewise, Obama spits at big farm business.
He’s going to make sure that if
American agriculture grows, it won’t be
because of excessive government payments
from him, that potentially make
big farms even bigger.
These payments have given the U.S. a
black eye internationally. Billions of dollars
of public money is regularly doled
out to U.S. farmers to help them stay
afl oat. These subsidies make it possible
for U.S. farmers to sell their harvests internationally
for artifi cially low prices.
And because Americans are the biggest
commodity exporters on the world stage,
This is your chance!
Come have a say!
The Region of Waterloo is developing a new Regional Official Plan (ROP) to address the social
and economic changes which have occurred since the approval of the existing Plan in 1995.
The new ROP will also help implement the Regional Growth Management Strategy adopted by
Regional Council in 2003 and reflect the significant recent changes in Provincial legislation and
policy. Creating a new ROP is a collaborative process and your input is vital.
The Region of Waterloo released the first draft of the
new Regional Official Plan (ROP)
You may also obtain a copy of the first
draft of the ROP at any of our upcoming
public consultation centres (see below)
where you can learn more about the first
draft and provide us with your feedback.
Thursday, October 30
3-8 p.m.
North Dumfries Township Offices
Slater Hall
1171 Greenfield Road, North Dumfries
Tuesday, November 4
3-8 p.m.
Region of Waterloo –
Cambridge Public Health and
Social Services Building
Room 170
150 Main Street, Cambridge
Thursday, November 6
3-8 p.m.
Woolwich Township Offices
Council Chambers
24 Church Street, Elmira
Thursday, November 20
3-8 p.m.
St.Clements Community Centre
1 Green Street, St.Clements
Publication: Woolwich Observer
Size: 1/4 page (5.0375” x 6.9”)
for public consultation on September 26, 2008 at
www.region.waterloo.on.ca/newrop
everyone else has to follow the price
down too, in order to compete.
Such payments are popularly blamed
for agriculture’s chronic multi-decade
depression, which just started to ease
over the past year or so when biofuels
sparked renewed interest in common
crops such as corn and wheat.
But Obama thinks there’s too much of a
connection between fl agging small farms
and powerful U.S. agribusiness, which
typically supports Republican candidates
and values. He believes corporate seed,
feed and agri-chemical giants such as Archer
Daniels Midland, a regular target of
his vile (and headquartered in his home
state), are overly compensated with federal
money meant for farmers. He thinks
that evil corporate empire is feeding the
growth of sprawling mega-farms, which
are much more likely to have corporate
ownership than small farms.
So here’s his risky plan. He’s going to
limit single-farm subsidy payments to
$250,000 per farm. Obama says those
subsidies must be capped “so that we
don’t have continued concentration of
agriculture in the hands of a few large
agribusiness interests.” Besides keeping
farms small, Obama says this move will
save the federal treasury $1 billion over
10 years.
Then, he’ll take this booty and another
$300 million a year and plow it into conservation
and what he calls “renewable
energy advancements.” That means wind
power, biodiesel and ethanol production,
carried out in rural America and not by
corporations.
Another part of his plan calls for increased
funding to help farmers comply
Further, you may obtain a copy of the first draft
and/or learn more about the ROP by contacting
any of the following Regional staff:
Kevin Curtis
cukevin@region.waterloo.on.ca
519-575-4794
Cushla Matthews
mcushla@region.waterloo.on.ca
519-575-4087
John Lubczynski
lujohn@region.waterloo.on.ca
519-575-4532
Bridget Coady
cbridget@region.waterloo.on.ca
519-575-4500 x.3112
Or write to us at:
Region of Waterloo
Planning, Housing and Community Services
150 Frederick Street, 8th Floor
Kitchener ON N2G 4J3
www.region.waterloo.on.ca/newrop
with a national organic certifi cation
program. It can take several years for
conventionally tilled land to be rid of
commercially produced fertilizers, for
example, during which time farmers get
no income from it. Enter Obama, chequebook
open.
And fi nally, he wants to police feedlots
or “concentrated animal feeding operations”
as he calls them, which produce
40 per cent of all U.S. livestock. He’ll send
in the Environmental Protection Agency
to limit the nitrogen, phosphorus, hydrogen
sulfi de and ammonia they produce .
Canadian farmers should beware.
Notice under the Navigable
Waters Protection Act
Notice for approval
of work on Firella Creek
The Grand River Conservation Authority hereby gives notice that an application has
been made to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities pursuant to
the Navigable Waters Protection Act for approval of the work described herein and its
site and plans. Pursuant to section 9 of the said Act, the Grand River Conservation
Authority has deposited with the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities,
and in the office of the District Registrar of the Land Registry District of the
Regional Municipality of Waterloo at 30 Duke Street West, Kitchener, Ontario under
deposit number 1583319. A description of the following work, its site and plans: a
safety boom and an existing dam (Wellesley Dam) across Firella Creek, located off
David Street in the Town of Wellesley.
Comments regarding the effect of this work on marine navigation may be
directed to:
Manager
Navigable Waters Protection Program
Transport Canada
100 Front Street South
Sarnia, Ontario
N7T 2M4.
However, comments will be considered only if they are in writing and are received not
later than 30 days after the date of this notice. Although all comments conforming to
the above will be considered, no individual response will be sent.
Signed at Grand River Conservation Authority, Head Office, Cambridge, Ontario this
27th day of October, 2008.
Grand River Conservation Authority
400 Clyde Road,
Cambridge, Ont.
(519) 621-2761
If Obama levels these stipulations on
homegrown farmers, he’ll impose them
on imports, too. The U.S. farm lobby will
demand it in exchange for any modicum
of support, and use it as a non-tariff barrier
to reduce competition. Obama, who
is cool on free trade to begin with, will go
along, under the guise of fairness and environmentalism.
This won’t happen for a while. There’ll
be so much infi ghting in U.S. farm circles
that they’ll forget about Canada and everyone
else momentarily.
But let’s not have a false sense of security.
Things are going to change.
Salt: Environmental protection
» From page 16
tal.
Rural areas such as Wellesley Township
typically get away with using a
much smaller amount of salt, even
proportionately; in such areas where
gravel roads are prevalent a sand-salt
mix is the preferred de-icer.
Last winter, for example, the municipality
spread some 4,500 tonnes of sand
and 1,059 tonnes of salt (compared to
fi gures for 2006 of 2,500 tonnes of sand
and 710 tones of salt). In addition to
the emergence of new road salt alternatives
that are less harmful to the
environment, though perhaps more
costly, are other measures that can be
applied to make the administration
of salt more effi cient. These include
the application of wet salt (which
isn’t carried off road tops as easily),
and the implementation of automatic
spreader controls on salt trucks.
This season Wellesley is looking at
employing a new salt mix that contains
a wetting agent.
“That allows it to stick to the road
better and doesn’t bounce off into the
ditch when the salter goes buy and it
actually works quicker, reacts quicker
and starts melting quicker than just
plain rock salt,” said public works director
Will McLaughlin.
In parking lots and in other areas, effective
measures might also include
reducing or eliminating the sources
creating ice, including leaky eavestroughs,
or water draining onto walkways.
“We’re not reducing the safety; in fact,
we may be making them more safe because
we’re eliminating the hazard in
the fi rst place instead of just having to
treat the hazard,” said Lobe.