Newfoundland - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative

66 - DECKS AWASH
want to get into dumpin g."
There is a hay shortage in Newfoundland
but Mike believes that
more can be grown locally which
would be cheaper than importing
from the mainland . Siloscan also
help overcome the difficulty of
drying hay in Newfoundland
weather conditions.
Mike has high praises for the
Milk Marketing Board whose efforts
have put milk into the
univers itv at cost as well as a
school milk program scheduled
for the fall of this year, This. of
course, will substantially increase
the demand for milk.
Mike has definite ideas on
agricultural development in
Newfoundland .
" We should produce the commodities
we can produce competitively.
That is the policy of
our department. We can grow
turnip , cabbage, carrots, parsnips
and beets and we can grow
cauliflower, broccoli and brussels
sprouts . We should try to improve
our yield and quality with these
crops. Wecould, for example, be
self-sufficient in potatoes, but do
we want to be? We have to compete
with the dumping of mainland
potatoes - we've been able
to buy a SO-lb. bag of potatoes for
$3.99 retail when the cost of
production is $5.50 - that's
dwnping.
"We grow the best turnips in
North America," maintains
Mike, "and I've eaten turnips in
lots of places . We should aim at
self-sufficiency there ."
The Agricultural Branch for
which Mike is responsible has
offices in three areas: Corner
Brook, Bishops Falls and St.
John's , with sub -offices at
Clarenville, Harbour Grace,
Gander, Pynn's Brook and
Robinsons . In total , there are
about 130 staff including
representatives and specialists.
" We have a lot of potential in
'cole' crops: lettuce. cauliOower,
broccoli and sprouts . It's true the
season is short but we are not in
this just for production, we are interested
in how much the farmer
can make off it and there's
money to be made there . A good.
vegetable markeling board could
Agric ultural research station on Broold leld Road, 51.John 's. Provincial agriculture
offices are located at right side.
promote the nutritional value of
these crops which should increase
demand. We have formed
a new board with sandy Rideout.
a retired farmer from Cormack
as chairman."
Mike turns to other areas of
farming.
"Let's see , we're self-sufficient
in eggs, and we produce 50-60per
cent of the chicken that's needed
and our hogs have the best health
status in Canada. Hog production
has been a problem though because
of competition and the high
CC5t of feed."
The problem of high feed cost
may , however, soon be solved .
"Bill Moores, a Newfoundland
inventor. has developed a very
high protein animal feed from
fish meal, potatoes aod peat. It's
being tested by the federal
research station at Nappan, Nova
Scotia. It looks very promising.
If it tests out, the feed should cost
50% of what we're paying now.
Who knows, we might even get
into exporting it."
Mike is anxious that we over ­
look no areas of agriculture and
believes there is a future in fur
fanning.
" It's true it was a hot area in
the '50s but world markets went
soft and there were problems
with feed so it feU nat," Mike
recalls , " but in the last five years
it has really come up. It doesn't
cost an awful lot of money to get
into. We now have a lot of in-
dependent farms and some of our
furs are rated very high on the
Montreal market, partictilarly
foxes bringing in as high as $300
for a single pelt. We consider fur
fanning to be so important that
we have filled a position here
with a man , Blake Cryderman,
whospecializes just in fur farms.
There's a concentration of fur
farms in Trinity Bay but there
are others like Jim Wall who bas
100foxes near La Manche Park
and he also has a couple of wild
lynx that he's trying to breed."
Mike, with the department for
30years, has had a heart bypass
operation in 1982.
"The doctors told me to go
home and become a retired PUDlie
servant. I Jasted two weeks
and back I came," he confesses,
and because he's so anxious to
see increased farm produce, it
looks like he'll be around for
awhile yet. .
" Look," he says, pushing his
shirtsleeves above his elbows,
"our best potential is to make the
best use possible out of our limited
land base by raising the fertility
and maximizing use of the
land. While we didn't yet get a
federal-provincia) agreement,
our province felt strongly enough
about agriculture that they gave
us an extra million 'dollars to be
spent on land improvement and
fertility. We believe we can increase
our yield significantly,"
he concludes. 11