The Rural Voice, 1982-04, Page 25111111=KEITH ROULSTON
Getting steamed up
The other night watching a piece of media b.s. on the subject
of farm marketing boards I got so mad I was ready to punch my
fist through the TV picture tube if I could have hit the
interviewer in the nose.
Why, I wondered later, do I let myself get so worked up over
these things? After all, I'm not a farmer. It's not me the media
is misrepresenting. There are, 1 suppose a number of reasons.
For one thing, I trained in a journalism school where we were
taught a great deal of respect for the profession of journalism,
for the calling to give people accurate information so they can
make the intelligent decisions required in a democracy. Then
you watch this deliberate distortion and realize it's cheapening
the profession, like a doctor who uses his training to dish out
addictive drugs irresponsibly.
Secondly, I suppose, 1 get so angry because I grew up on a
farm and watched my father, and many of the neighbours,
slowly go broke and have to stop doing the only thing they
wanted to do, because of the cheap food policy. Thirdly, 1
suppose 1 get mad because deep down 1 identify with farmers'
plight. Farmers wouldn't think so perhaps, but there is a lot of
similarity between being a writer or other artist and being a
farmer. Farming, of course is more important than art since
you can't appreciate art on an empty stomach but the
similarities go on from there.
I recently read an article in a writers magazine talking about
the economics of writing. The author, a professional writer,
recalled that when he was starting out he worked as an editor
on a magazie that sold advertising at a rate of $900 a page. He
bought stories from other writers for S300. Ten years later, now
a freelance writer, he sold an article to that magazine which
had greatly increased its circulation and its ad rate had gone up
to $6000. They paid him $300.
Both the writer and the farmer are the primary producers in
their industry. Hundreds, thousands of people make their
living off the output of these creators. Yet when it comes to
compensation the pyramid gets turned around. Suddenly we
look at what the consumer will nay then work backward to see
what will be left for the primary producer. In the food industry
we have to pay the cashier in the food store so much and for her
to get that much the store must make so much of the food dollar
and of course the store owner must make his return on
investment and beyond that the wholesaler and his staff must
make the accepted profit levels or wages and before that the
food processor and his staff and the trucker who picks up the
produce at the farmers gate. Whatever is left over the farmer is
expected to make a living off.
Of course on the other side of the coin the farmer has to buy
his machinery and supplies from salesmen working for
merchants who must make the recognized wage levels and
profit levels and the manufacturer and his employees get their
set share and of course the truckers are involved in there, too.
Our writer who got the same $300 as he was paying to others 10
years ago would certainly be getting a lot more than he was 10
years ago if he'd remained editor. So too all the other people
among the food chain are getting a lot more than they were 10
years ago yet they expect the farmer to get along on what he did
10 years ago and pay higher input prices as well. If he doesn't
he's inefficient.
that's wny 1 get steamed up.
Working
together
to keep farming
profitable
NORTHRUP
KING
IN1 SC4NINK 9400.•1 q YINi11NG ENIIG41111C,1N1 CO.N x411 D$'O .494 11 4YONIS
cw�llr��±l�rw� r�rn �•
MU
Fast drying hybrids
that cut
Propane costs
PX 11
PX 7
PX 14
PX 2O
Soybeans
RUMEX
DOUBLE CUT
RED CLOVER
HAY AND
PASTURE
MIXTURES
"Thor" Alfalfa
919 Brand Alfalfa
"Timfor" Timothy
NK pure line varieties are
topping yield trials year after
year.
Peter Klomp
R R 1, St Pauls
393-6346
John Vander Eyk
R R. 2, Listowel
291-3848
Brian Balfour Elwyn Kerslake
R.R. 2, Dublin R R 1, Woodham
348-8149 229-6132
Brussels Agromart Ltd.
Brussels
887-6016
THE RURAL VOICE/APRIL 1982 PG. 23