The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

l By Howard Burns ‘The London Free Press l, You can hear it in his voice, see (it in his eyes.‘ Bob Bedggood remains pas- sionate about farming. 1 Still, with the worries that oc- lcupy everyone in the province’s iNo. 1 agricultural belt, it’s a ‘stretch for farmers to be blindly optimistic this spring. =‘ Successive years of depressed prices for their crops, rising costs, the whims of nature and govem- ment tan-n policy have taught them to temper their outlook. “Farmers have a' tremendous economic battle â€" that’s here and now," said Bedggood, who worked in the telecommunica- tions industry before’ buying a Thorndale area farm with his wife, Sandy, in 1976. and a growing number of produc- ers are involved in a fight that takes them off the farm, too. Their weapon is knowledge, and urbanites are their target. They’re out to explode myths and build bridges to show how agriculture touches everyone. Bedggood is part of a looser areas. but don ’1 (arm. cities and towns. \literacy’ among non-farmers. ANOTHER FIGHT: But Bedggoodk i i D What: City is centre of an area that produces more than $2 billion worth of products annually, About 65,000 people live on al- most 20.000 farms in Middlesex, Kent, Lambton, Oxford, Elgin, ‘ Huron and Perth counties. Many thousands more live in rural . El Investment: Farmers in this region have about $7.5 billion i invested in their land, machinery, buildings and livestock. [I Spending: Collectively, they fork out an estimated $1 billion on goods' and services just to keep their farms running every i year. More money is spent on consumer items purchased in DJob splnotts: Food and beverage firms that process agri- cultural products employ many in Southwestern Ontario, includ~ ing about 3,500 in Londonâ€"St Thomas alone. Thousands more are employed in the wider agnâ€"iood industry, which includes wholesalers, retailers and restaurants. l They are-trying to foster ‘agriculturai organized, new attempt by main- stream farmers to inform urban- ites and challenge inaccuracies in media coverage. For instance: E] On Friday, four London area farm families who think it’s im- portant that their politicians know something about agricul- ture will dig out their financial balance sheets for MPP lrene Mathyssen (NDP â€" Middlesex) on an “open-book" tour. Participants Diane and Mike O'Shea, who have a farm near Granton, see it as another chance for them to increase “agricultural literacy" among non-farmers. "Lets face it.” said Diane O’Shea. “There aren’t many in‘ volved in farming because there's a lot of risk. We have to make our voices heard." DAfier condemning a March CBC-TV Nature Of Things show on organic agriculture as “mis- leading” and “mischievous.” a Chatham-based farm coalition has complained to the Canadian Radioâ€"television and Telecom- munications Commission. DThe Ontario Federation of Agriculture told Premier Bob Rae last week that the dwindling number of farmers who produce food is sorely taken for granted \__' dwellers, SPRING SEEDING D What’s ahead: \Mthin a month. many farmers in Southwestern Ontario should be ready to start planting two of Ontario's most important crops, corn and soybeans ~ I commodities worth about I l l i $800 million provincially. even at depressed prices in 1989 D Government aid: Ontar- io announced last week a $50-million program to help farmers cope with interest rates. Underthe program lfldl~ vidual farmers may quality for . grants of up to $8.000 Farms with more than one owner could get a maxrrnum of $12,000. and something must be done to increase awareness. Bedggood said the goal is to tear down the “walls of conveâ€" nience" that have sprung up be- tween growers and city residents There‘s no easy solu- tion. said Bedggood, who does his part by accepting speaking imitaâ€" tions. some of them to groups with mainly urban audiences. “The person I have to get to is the guy who is 30 and lives in Westmount," he said With a grin. “if nothing else. we (iarmersl create jobs." said Bedgg’ood ot‘ agriculture‘s little-understood contribution to the health or Lon- don and other cities “As well, we all have this habit of eating." He's also an unor’fimal media watchdog who clips articles he said illustrate inconSistcncics in government spending plans and foster myths about fanning The lack of understanding is frightening because Without pub- lic support. agriculture will mih» er and Ontario consumers will be come more reliant on imported products that Will have trouble measuring up to homegrown standards. said Bedggood