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Miss Helen McKercher The Director of the Home Economics Branch said one ol‘ the nice things about Ofiicers' Conlerence is that Spring is either here or about tolbe. In a sense this means that many Branches are getting ready to have new programmes or are deep in plans for the next year. Many of you are new otficers and yott are reâ€" viewing the current year and stacking the pluses and minuses here. This is what Oflicers’ Conference [5 all about. We hope you will all share your plans and em!- nations with one another. ' We are indeed appreciative of your support and tn- terest in the Nutrition Workshops. paying for halls and advertising. Approximately 4000 women haveat- tended. Your support for the Nutrition Workshops is a vote for progress â€" you are not through. It 13 an inâ€" vestmcnt in dramatic and responsible action. It is a guarantee that noble purposes will become realities in which we can all take pride, ifwe do some of the things suggested by the W.l. An evaluation sheet (see centre fold in this issue) is to be filled out by the members. could you do this at your next meeting? Education changed behavior in a desired direction. evaluation will help in the process of determining the extent to which our objectives are being achieved. Are W.l. members changing some l‘ood habits at home or in the Community? If we ask the right questions. we hope to have some reliable information. We want to be able to say. as a result ol‘the Nutrition Workshops. 21 national and international project. the Ontario Wis have done this. In other words. we will be able to say. the Women‘s Institutes have done this in International Women‘s Year. To postpone doing this evaluation can only retard our individual and organizational prog- ress. It will help us provide statistics 7 it will give a sound basis for programme justification. Delegates meet to discuss the work of the WI, a group stop to ask a question of Miss McKercher. L-r Mrs. How» ard Crow; Mrs, Don Caza; Miss McKerche-r and Mrs. Helen Stafford. Plenary Sessions This is the session the delegates go back into, knowing what they don't know. The opportunity arises for all to straighten out their thinking. a final chance to ask questions. Secretary Treasurers and Members at Large used the Discussion group leaders for resource and panel members. while Agriculture and Canadian Industries in addition to their own leaders relied on Mr. K. E. 1') Lamz. Assistant Deputy Minister of Agriculture & Food. in charge of Production and Rural Demo ment to field the questions on land use as " it alTectsA . riculture. g Agricultural Tour of China Mrs. Abner B. Martin. West Montrosc. . . '4 (list cussmn group leader for Agriculture and Canadian 1“. dustries, recently returned from China, and “Wed {0 the delegates some of her experiences. A com] 800 million people where every inch ofland is utilized efiectively. no waste areas. and cows are milked three times a day. were among the many Stories mu mm about this vast country. Communes are a way in 1,; shows what you can do without. and still be ably happy. The children were healthy. there it m, evidence ofjunk foods or coke machines. all « .ignh were dressed in uniforms. bicycles were comm . and they appeared to be happy. A visit to a commune was most interestii The versatility of the group was evident in such a st. tum On the commune, pear trees were growing am l [ht compost pile. there were lots of pigs. they gm :he” own grain, had flour mills and a chemical ll hm plant. Some of the furniture was made on tlv top. erty, machinery repaired: the whole setâ€"up war. J1“. integrated into Agriculture and small industrit tiri, Martin concluded by saying Agriculture has to; rim. ity. W at c. it “own. Land Use Land use is so important that the Ontario M ‘trof Agriculture & Food has established a Food mil Development Branch. K. E. Lantz, Assistant l ult- Minister, told the delegates. Part of thejob is : rti mote and encourage the retention of prime to llwell as co-ordinate the development of long ran-t ru- grammes and aid the input to policies of wt agencies involved with land use. The business of farming is so dependent on It .tir mate. price fluctuations. and labour, but the tint ".lcome when the producers are no longer prepat in this high economic period to produce for low 1' .w. Some additional forms of stabilization are need More important than ever before in our histor -.t need to preserve land and provide food for don it use. So much has happened in the last twenty yea it much of what we anticipate that we are part of th ll sulticient economy. The advent of fuel has crear a revolution 7 to grow two blades of grass where grew before. At the turn of the century two-thirds of the p r lation in Ontario was rural, today it is the reverse it only seven percent actively engaged in Agricuh .' Ontario has twelve million acres of prime agricult it land with a total of eighteen million arable at ~. about twenty-five percent of the total class 0116-! c three acreage in Canada. Some class 4 land coulu 'c improved. an example. through drainage. Food is a better buy in Canada than anywh- 6 else. with the amount of money spent on food SUIPC trig anywhere else in the world The question remu '- 7 with such dramatic global occurrences over the l. ‘t five YEHIS. can the world continue to feed itsell‘? l L present world population of 3.5 billion will be 7 billr it by the year 2000 according to projections. \H'i‘ 180.000 new mouths to feed daily. Ft.