The Rural Voice, 1986-04, Page 24FARM NEWS
Wage battle in marketplace
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(From left) Brent Hamre, of the Canadian Farm and Industrial Equipment
Institute, Jan Ford, president of the National Agri -Marketing Association
in the U.S. and moderator Bill Bearss of the Royal Bank of Canada took
part in a panel discussion titled "Getting the Farm Story Across" during the
Western Ontario Farm Show recently. Photo by Alice Gibb.
Dr. Don Parlberg, former U.S.
assistant secretary of agriculture in
the Nixon and Ford governments,
told a Western Ontario Farm Show
audience recently that he doubts
this is the time to be promoting
completely free trade between
Canada and the United States.
Speaking to about 150 people,
Parlberg said, "The economic half
of my mind says yes (to free trade)
but the political half of my mind
says no."
Noting that it's already a
stressful time for farmers "in your
country and in mine," Parlberg
said he didn't want to see farmers
faced with yet another stress. In
fact, he added, people seem to be
thinking more in protectionism
terms these days than they do in
terms of the free flow of trade
across borders.
In an unusual presentation,
Parlberg conducted a press con-
ference from the podium, playing
the role of reporters himself. He
explained jokingly, "I find that I
can give much better answers if I
ask the questions."
He started by asking if U.S. and
Canadian farmers have a lot in
common or whether they're mostly
rivals in today's marketplace.
Noting that both are interested in a
healthy economy and in a flow of
trade, he said farmers in the two
countries also have divergent in-
terests with respect to trade. Cana-
dian farmers, he noted, sell mostly
livestock and grain, which directly
competes with their U.S. counter-
parts, while "we sell you some
22 THE RURAL VOICE
fruits and vegetables, generally
those produced in the southern
part of the U.S. ... that are not
directly competitive with you."
However, he added, the volume of
agricultural trade across the border
is small when compared to the
overseas agricultural trade for
both countries.
He then asked if the U.S. and
Canada, as major wheat exporters,
should get together "and form a
kind of cartel to try to stabilize
wheat prices and wheat exports."
Parlberg said that wasn't a good
idea, since an International Wheat
Agreement had existed in the '50s
and '60s, which established inter-
national prices and set quantities.
However, the two countries soon
began "undercutting each other in
the pricing of wheat" and the
system collapsed — just as it would
collapse if tried today.
Parlberg said that four to five
per cent of U.S. farmers won't
save their operations, even with
government assistance.
"It would be a disservice to
them to encourage them to hang
on and lose what remaining equity
they have," he told the Farm Show
audience. He predicted that in the
next few years, inflation will mean
a reconciliation between the levels
of farm debts and assets, since in-
flation will carry up both com-
modity price levels and land
values.
The farm economist noted that
many of the problems facing
farmers in this decade resulted
from the 1970s' perception that the
Dr. Don Parlberg, former U.S.
assistant secretary of agriculture,
told a Western Ontario Farm Show
audience that people in the U.S.
are thinking more in protectionist
terms right now than they are in
terms of the free flow of trade
across the border. Photo by Alice
Gibb.
world would run out of food.
Banks and other credit institutions
shoved money at farmers, he said.
New technology led to increased
production and a "superabun-
dance" of food — and food prices
fell.
Ending on an optimistic note,
Parlberg said he believes the rest of
the century will see a recovery in
agriculture "from the present state
of doom and gloom to a more
healthy situation." New tech-
nology will require some more ad-
justments and Parlberg predicted
there will likely be fewer farms and
larger farms in the future. The
economist also predicted that the
family farm will survive, noting
that it has proved to be a "durable
institution" able to survive the
Depression, wars and the
technological revolution.
In conclusion, Parlberg's advice
to Canadian farmers, particularly
in regard to agricultural policy,
"was to concentrate on the effi-
ciency of your operation and to
wage your battles in the
marketplace rather than in the
legislative halls."
Earlier in the Farm Show, Jan
Ford of Oklahoma, president of
the National Agri -Marketing
Association in the U.S., advised
farmers to become very active in
their commodity associations since
this "is a very, very good way to
enhance your markets and future
product development." She also