Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 21, 1991, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press january 1991 Page 18 Philip business editor get Fly free press administrator Eleanor Menzies says distance education is Ideal for Farmers tied Down during by Larry Kusch fifteen Farmers from across Manitoba far Flung agricultural regions Are going Back to school this month without leaving their own the class is farm the instructor is in and the classroom is the Den or the Kitchen this is not a correspondence in the traditional the students Grain and live Stock Farmers will be Able to talk to their instructor on the Telephone and even participate in class discus those with a computer and Modem will be Able to Send Mes sages and assignments to their teacher through electronic mail and receive feedback almost immediate nominal fee the course designers and deliverers Call it distance Educa for a nominal Farmers can take up Odate courses on account business tax plan soils and crop production at their own Pace without leaving Assiniboine Community College in Brandon designs the courses and supplies the Ottawa puts up most of the and a farm Keystone Agri cultural administers the for Farmers have been Able to take a wide variety of agricultural courses during the but to Treyve had to drive up to 40 Kilometres one Way to a local Community Hall or Church basement each Day for two or three such a rigid time commitment is difficult for Farmers with of farm jobs or with livestock operations that tie them to their farms during the Eleanor hired by Kap to administer the courses under the Manitoba agricultural train ing says distance Educa technology shortens distance Between information Tion is an Ideal option for farm ers who Are tied Down by the farm or a Job during daytime dropout rate Low the advantage is they can study at their own time at during the whenever it is the Only time students must set aside is one evening hour a when the class convenes by Way of a Telephone conference the instructor usually begins with a Brief then opens up the said Laurie coordinator of distance education in agriculture for Assiniboine Community the ability to ask questions of the to Trade ideas with Fel Low plus the immediacy of electronic mail help to maintain student she its not a regular correspondence where you get a package of material and that our dropout rate is very Low compared to other correspondence Paul coordinator of agricultural programs for said much of the Success of the distance education course depends on the skill of the instructor in overcoming the limitations of the Short lectures teachers must limit the length of their lectures and encourage Stu Dent he anyone who drones on for even 10 minutes youre going to lose said who has also taught distance de the College can provide speaker phones for people who dont want to hold a Telephone receiver for a whole and if several Farmers from one Community happen to the same course and wish to meet for the weekly equipment can be provided so that they can All sit at microphones around a table and join in the class discussion that a 60hour course that is normally taught Over two weeks in a Community is spread Over eight weeks when taught through distance Edu before the class Farmers Are mailed a package of printed materials and audio or video Farmers pay Farmers pay Only or about 15 per cent of the Cost for a 60hour such As the farm accounting class that began this course materials and Tele conference charges Are included in the the Federal employment and immigration department pays the bulk of the Farmers used to have to fill out several forms and pay the full course Cost Over up front and then apply for a Federal re but since through the Manitoba agricultural training took Over the admin Sta Tion of the courses in All Farmers have to do is fill out a on Page form and pay the nominal i mileage Money is available for Farmers who must drive More than 80 Kilometres return per Day to take courses offered and a child care allowance is also provided for those who other Wise take the fifty classes ranging from introductory and advanced computer courses to farm machinery maintenance and co calf production Are available upon demand at the Community at least 20 farm ers must enrol before an instructor will come out and teach the so five of the 50 courses have been adapted for distance Educa farm Bill Blunder stung beekeepers by Bill Redekop a huge Blunder in the 198085 american farm Bill started Prairie Bee keepers on a roller coaster ride from which they have still not a new study As a Manitoba Haven for Honey production with its Long hours of Sunshine has lost on third of its Industry in just five our Honey Industry went along nicely for 100 but its Only in the 1980s that subsidies started to kick the Industry says Barry author of the new study on the Industry Don Manitoba beekeepers association blames the subsidies for Cut Ting Manitoba Bee colonies from in 1985 Down to the farm Bill is almost totally responsible for Dixon but Prentice qualifies Dixons charge that policy since 1985 is to his study traces the fallout Back to 198085 to an american farm Bill that Back fired on the the farm Bill tried to support american beekeepers by setting a target Price at which the government would resume owner ship of Domestic Little did legislators realize then that the government would end up buying most Honey to the Benefit of Canad an the buy up program threw the door wide open for Honey imports jumped a stagger ing 182 per cent for the 198085 Canadian Honey exports increased from million pounds to 21 million pounds a strengthening Price and by buying up stocks and dispersing the Honey to military bases and school lunch the government was in effect taking stocks off the Market and strengthening the world the policy distorted the real markets to Honey Prentice Honey was going to the noncommercial markets while imported Honey was making up most of the commercial Honey subsidies increased from million in 1980 to Over million by but a congressional investigation concluded that the Honey subsidies were helping Honey producers in Canada and China As much of More than producers in the when the government changed the policy in its 198590 farm the tap was turned Prentice the 182 per cent increase in Honey imports the govern ment no longer buys up Honey but pays its Farmers a straight sub Sidy payment Prentice says Canadian producers Are now feeling the of As the 198085 farm Bill insulated Canadian producers from the real Market Prentice Points to the emergence of China As a major player on the Honey As having a Price depressing big increase chivas exports to the Rose from less than a million Pound during the to an average 18 million pounds annually from As Canadian Honey producers have been Hurt by Cana Das strengthening since the Canadian Dollar appreciated 20 per cent against and Canadian Honey prices to beekeepers fell Corre the study in a Prairie beekeeper could earn a 14 per cent return on their versus 1988 when Manitoba producers were unable to cover their the study the study also claims a significant shift in Honey production from Eastern Canada to Western Canada during the 1970s was due partly to improved Floral the proliferation of a rape crop that contained edible oils helped to increase Prairie Honey Prentice projects that for every additional hectare of Western Honey production in creased seven but another reason Honey production took off in Western Canada was that real prices tripled from prices remained Strong for the As Colony yields Are much higher in Western Honey production in Western Canada has averaged pounds per Colony since versus just pounds per hive in Eastern Cana or a difference of 60 pounds per Prentice said the reasons Are longer More Sun and More Flowers from Fields of clo Alfalfa and regulatory attempts have stung Honey wheat growers9 lobby membership fall on hard times t i he Western Canadian wheat growers association is in the the wheat growers Are blaming hard times for a drop in membership that produced a deficit of it bad a surplus of a year the surplus deficit numbers Arent a big Deal but the drop in membership from last year to just and the organization is and it May not be chronic farm income problems alone that Are hurting the we Aga membership has always been considered soft since item barked on a Campaign of hiring professional salesmen to sell memberships in the its the Only farm group in Canada that that Hafer feed questions about of new approach is still Experiment in the watch by Bill Redekop the Campaign helped with a tremendous sevenfold in crease in membership from just Over up to about within two years memberships had fallen Back to about that still want a major concern for the organization since it always expected there would be a leveling off but the organization had hoped was the latest drop puts them under the and now the question is whether that number is or Are memberships heading into a signing up members has always been difficult for All farm Organiza especially for ones that Are spread across More than one prov Ince like the wheat the we Aga Hast done and the influx of new members has helped to somewhat moderate the More Radical element that founded the but most farm groups wont shed a tear for the there were about 20 corporate sponsors listed at the farm groups annual meeting in Brandon earlier this that More than other farm groups and some groups dont have any by but few people from the private Grain Industry bothered to attend the annual even though it was held Only about 150 Kilometres from the country Grain Nan some shaken out of a re porters notebook at weeks end Dave already boycotted bows and Mercedes said Jack a Farmer from three ready to join grains minister Charlie Mayer a crusade against european d crop insurance agents Are going to have to have the is of mensa said Harvey president of the Western Canadian wheat growers Assoc a Mcewen was referring to the school that crop insurance staff across Canada will be shepherded into next week to learn the new safety net programs backwards and d understatement of the week give us a weve All got political said the minister was referring to complaints dec commissioner Ray macs Harry made in Brussels on the politics of trying to get 12 countries to a diversification is something you do until the Price of wheat goes Back up said on renewed Calls for Grain Farmers to Nan Security is tight at Brandon Vic Toria and Charlie Mayer will attest to Mayer had just entered the inn and asked the woman at the recep Tion Darlene for the suite number for his grains and oilseed Paquette said but she could not give out that inform the surprised minister started to Paquette interrupted she was having none of the hotels policy classifies guests room numbers As classified info no or she two bystanders with the Federal government came to the ministers Aid and identified i didst know who he Paquette said aaa no can seeds the Fisher Branch seed company owned by Mathew was fined another on 10 for Selling unregistered the seed was an Ameri can variety called wrangler algal which no can sold in the area in Golas pleaded guilty to the charge in a Provin Cial last he also pleaded guilty to Selling the same seed near aaa the Canadian wheat Board saved producers million from from changes in its borrowing Powers and using the cubs new note the note programs now allows the Cwb to Issue its own debt something like Hydro that sell in the International the other change allowed the Board to borrow not just from com Mercial Banks but also credit unions and Trust ;