Behind the Lines - April 2014

Friday, April 4, 2014

Imagine if all of the roads in Ontario were owned by private companies and drivers paid a toll to use those roads. Maybe the same companies that made automobiles owned the roads that they drove on. GM car owners would have to pay a high price to drive their cars on the roads that Ford owned. Because the companies were responsible to shareholders, the roads would be best developed where there were large populations, and maybe they weren't developed at all where populations were thin.

Sounds ridiculous? Well, swap out "roads" and substitute "Internet" and you've pretty much got how things work in this province. That's what one proponent of an ambitious plan to make high-speed Internet ubiquitous in all corners of the southern part of the province told Senior Staff Editor Don Stoneman as he prepared this month's report. High-speed Internet has so much potential to bring economic happiness to areas away from the big cities and to improve education and health care prospects. Yet with the current system, where infrastructure is owned by large private companies, the far-flung areas of the province are least likely to get the kind of high-speed service necessary to make economic gains. That story starts on page 14.

Our dairy feature this month, beginning on page 54, looks at the Pastink family's 600-cow herd and rotary milking parlour. Firmly focused on the future, the operation consolidates the efforts of two generations and employs all the automation they can muster.

Also in this issue, our popular CSI series wraps up for the season. The solution to #51 is on page 44. CSI will return in the fall. Meanwhile, in his Letter from Europe, Norman Dunn takes a look at how a fascination with machinery is eating into the profit margins of European farmers. See page 62.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's recent speech at the Canadian Federation of Agriculture's annual meeting caught the attention of our Ottawa columnist, Barry Wilson, who provides some perspective on Liberal policy on agriculture going back to 1969 and the origin of a myth that grew up around the young Trudeau's father, Pierre. See page 61 for that story.

Most of you have a garden, whether it's just a tiny plot to produce a few fresh vegetables or a larger-scale enterprise. It involves hard work and you want to get the biggest reward possible for your efforts. Better Farming columnist Keith Reid has just launched Improving Your Soil, a Practical Guide to Soil Management for the Serious Home Gardener. This month, it will be available in paperback, at bookstores, online booksellers, or directly from the publisher, Fireflybooks.com.

In his regular Seedbed column this month, which appears on page 48, Keith explains how soil limitations can be overcome with good management. BF

ROBERT IRWIN & DON STONEMAN