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

B1 6 - The Canadian Chamr)ion, Fridav. Mav 9, 2008 Y~JL~JWJ~r4 ~$s baIffJ~s GR AH A M I l- ( N1 -, 5i. iý, cr Grain f armer Peter Lambrick has watched tne weorld of agriculture beceme încreasîngly i-amples ever the past three decades. While he used te sîmply get up en the morning and jump on his corn bine, he newv spends a lot cf tîme deîng paperwerk, readîng up on legislatien and taking courses te stay on top cf the changes n his secter Lambrick remembers the good old days whenfarming was a simpler task Being afarmer is definitely a lot different today than in decades gene by. There's more technelogy, an increaaing load of paperwerk and nen-agricultural neighboura moving in who may not like what yeu're doing. Over the next three weeks in the Champions Fni- day edition, we'll take a closer look et the local agrtcultural seeter and what it takes te make it as afanner Today's story is thefirat in the series of thoee. By Melanie Hennessey CANADIAN CHAMPION STAF P ee Uambrick rumbles down Des-iy IRoad in bis farin combine JL on a quld, crisp oda meorn- ingf, Thie large piece of niachixnery tops eut between 30 aud 40 km/h, makQg many drivers behind hlm impatient and anixous te pas%. But th Qrs flying >by ilput faze TrO-aww4-he* bas gotten worse, 'but al ni ail peÔlte do1kive me à reasonable~ beàih, hie reikls. "ýAn4if they ruw into' mie, tbey'll,,be the ones worse off." r t&his e life et? a [armer wortieg hird 5af iip Cai*das fàsiest -x, ç pinnt as taIja oiver pre- cio .us fartlhnd Ot ala like Lambrick are hldicng iw oWn iln north and west Milton - an area thats stili relatively untouched by the seas of new homes that now dominate the east. As the 56-year-old expertly steers the combine up and down a field of corn he renta on Guelph Une, he reflects on how thirigs bave changed in the agricultural indusrry over the years. "Farming is flot as simple as it once was," hie said. 'Il take courses most winters to kcep up wlth what's gomng on in agri- culture."i Kýeeping abreast of new legisiation that impýcts the farmtng comnuity also takes ue a. good chunk of Lan>brick's time, along wtth an abundance of piper work. "You u.sed te, be ýabl* tà just $t eut into the fields right away. No*, everythinig bas te be written down," hie said. So wlIile Lambrieks day starts at 7 a.m., he's ac"uly doing office work - filling eut docttnents, gettipg caught up on e-mails and 'consvlting bis computer for the lat- est Mi weather and the grains and oilseeds -Techno1cl has even made 'its way iet iWtmingequipruent, w4h e oîï-beard coin- paiter tel1uig~ tambriélc- -etjythg frein ,what his yleldzs art te the moisture level in the crop&% "Fanrning la ne longer a job for weak minds and strong backa," hie said. ,An~d Lambrick can speak from experi- ence, having been in the industry for over three decades. The agriculture veteran grew up on a farmi in England and came te, Canada in 1973, leavlng behind five generations of farinera in his fantdy 1I spent meat of the summer of '73 trav- elling southwestern Ontarie deing [an work," hie said. Later that year, he became the manager of a large hog farm nerth of Campbellville. But after about a year, a disastreus barn fire wiped eut the operatien. "That's when 1 started working for myself," hie said, explaining he rented about 300 acres of land i the Campbellville area and worked in the small grains secter. "Grewing graina was a reasonably good living." More than 30 years later, Lambrick is still geing st.rong in the grain sector, but now rents more than 1,100 acres ef work- able greund. But even with mere farmland, there are still other forces that cari affect a farmer's profits, such a4 Mether Nature. The dry wé,ather tbat plagued Halton last summer took its toîl on local farmers, "For bath of my crops - asiybèansi and cern - the yield in 2007 was less than haîf of wbat it was the year before," he said. 1I think most farmers were pretty disap- pointed last year." Lambrick went on te, express concemn about a problem facing the fârming indus- try as a whole - the lack of young people getting inte, agriculture or taking over the family farmn. "Many fanners are getting older. The average age of farmers is in the low fifties, and the younger generation isn't commng ini," hie said. 1I donft think the geverninrent is taking this into account." He aeknowledged that farming isn't as easy te get into anyniore, but noted there are still avenues that young people cao pursue te make money, such as organie farming. While Lamhrick said he deese't know when heli retire, lie admits that farin- ing was definitely casier when hie was youtlger. 111 is net as evithralling as it used te, be because the margina are se much tighter - theres ne margin fer errer. Yeu can't afford te screw Up,"' he said. "It's a lotdifferent frein when 1 started, tbst's for sure." Melanie Hennessey cao be reached' ai mhennessey@miltoncanadianchampîon.com.,