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

r Champion Country, Tuesday, Marcs 8, 2005-11 Uflampion 'I -Halton farmers join rally at Queen's Park By ROBIN DOWNTON-POIRIER Special ta The Champion About 30 Halton farmners joined a group of nearly 8,000 at a rally at Queen's Park in Toronto Wednesday to express their united concemrs about the beating they say Ontario farmn opera- tions are taking at the hands of the provincial and federal govemments. "Thse rally was very well organized and, aithougs emotions were high and a little heated, it was relatively peaceful." said Halton Federation of Agriculture president Jobn Opsteen. a chicken farier on Second Line in Nassagaweya. "We had about 30 farmers froin Halton tisai travelled on a bus arranged by the federation but there may bave been others (from, our arcs) that arranged their own transportation." Passing time Four-yssr.old Julia Wagner playfully cov- ars her dad Dielèrs .yes whlo the two walt In lins for panoakes Saturdoy afternoon at Mountsberg Conservaition Ares. Il was part of the Mapletowne Oyant hsId In conjunction wfth the mapis syrup seeson. Photo by GRAHAM PAINE Farmers across Ontario are frustrated and angry about federal and provincial goverrnent policies tbey say are hurting tiseir liveliisood and pusbing many into, bankruptcy. Low commodity prices, nutrient management policies (manure handling). mad cow disease and greenbelt protection strate- gies are reallý damaging the farming industry, said Mr. Opsteen. Referred to as thse 'One Voice Marcis', Wednesday's event was attended by farmers froru the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. the Christian Farmers and the National Farmers Union, but not only farmers attended tihe rally. Many they do business with did as well. "Farming affects so many other businesses such as equipinent dealers and feed businesses as well as many local rural businesses," said Mr. Opsteen. 'We've gotso much support froin our communi- ties." Tise rally accomplished a great dcal. according 10 Mr. Opsteen. He said they had "tse chance 10, bring their issues to tise table"* and had their voic- es heard. "It was also commendable that tise agriculture minister wandercd tise crowds and listened 10 our concerns. He was very interested in what we had 10 say and il was a very positive rally. There are other groups that have sinilar concerns (such as tise Rural Revolution, a more aggressive group that has been organizing blockacles along tise 401I corrdor) but, in tise end, we aI have tise saine goals - t0 have farmners treated fairly and with SPECIAL OFFER!. FREE DRINKINC WATER SYSTM With the puchaseW of any softener OJ4 623 MAIN STI EAST; MILTON (905) 878.2474