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The Rural Voice, 1986-04, Page 98NEWSLETTER - Bruce County Federation of Agriculture 446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9 Bruce County Federation of Agriculture Meet the Members Brief March 21, 1986 The past year's activity has clearly demonstrated that the federal and pro- vincial governments are more in- terested in developing policies of politics rather than policies and legisla- tion that deal with issues. On the federal scene, 1 cite the cur- rent position to establish debt review boards without legislative authority. Experience has taught us and should have taught the government that this is totally inadequate. The commodity - based mortgage with its alleged 6 per cent interest rate is another example of "smoke and mirror" legislation. When the finance minister admits that the cost to government over a 10 -year period will be nothing, it's not hard to pin point that benefit to farmers as be- ing nothing as well. The Farm Development Corporation is still another example of the ability of the banks to influence the legislators. That program, if implemented as it is pro- posed, will be the classic case of bank bail out and the biggest promotion of corporate farming ever witnessed by society. Another federal issue is the continuation of the fuel rebate for another year. Given the price increases that are already in the energy policy, it is not difficult to see that there never has been an intention to relieve primary food production from the in- equity that this energy policy has created. The final issues we should discuss are free trade and the federal Farmers in Transition program. It appears that the government has decided that there are too many farmers and they are ap- parently going to give farmers an op- tion. A farmer can either accept a government phase-out program and get paid a pittance to quit farming or the government will use free trade to flush us out of the system by trading off agricultural products to acquire a stronger position in the area of high tech which appears to appeal to government. Provincially we have witnessed something akin to the three stooges. Instead of Curly, Larry and Moe, we have had to watch the antics of Phillip, Ross and Jack. We have seen a steady procession of programs like FOCAP, OFFIR, and the FIT program. if these programs are so great, why didn't the government make them available to Massey Ferguson? The answer is simple, companies like Massey would not accept these policies and of even greater concern, consumer lobs were at stake and consumers can 102 THE RURAL VOICE hurt a politician and his party to a greater degree than a few farmers. As long as the Ministry of Agriculture and Food continues to ignore the market price issue in agriculture, none of the programs they have developed will stop the damage being done. Debt Review and the Silent Majority All the hard evidence points to the fact that an independent, unbiased, third -party review system, with legislated power to enforce settlements is necessary in today's economic climate in agriculture. This would be one step forward to preserve Canada's most productive, efficient unit of primary food production, the family farm. This evidence is given and documented in the published recom- mendations of the Grey -Bruce Debt Review Pilot Project, the Bruce Coun- ty Agricultural Study, and a report tabled in 1984 — the Commons Stan- ding Committee on Agriculture, Trade and Finance. The evidence is in, the answer has been found, and the federal. and to some lesser extent, the provincial governments' response has been without logic, reason and in- telligence. In fact, to deny this much needed and critically necessary help to an industry in crisis is nothing less than treason. To blame this lack of action on a "silent majority" of possibly uninformed and definitely mislead farmers is lunacy. To bend and fold and retreat in the face of the self serv- ing and larcenous bank lobby and a bureaucratic system bent on self preservation and a desire for job perpetuation is criminal. We believe that a properly con- stituted and motivated debt review system is the only answer for many producers on the family farms. Nothing less will do! Anything less cannot be tolerated! We know that when debt review is mentioned a red flag runs up the flagpole. The chartered banks, FCC and OMAF have spent a dispropor- tionate amount of time and resources convincing the population that debt review means write-down. It does not! Debt review simply means any scheme of arrangement that may include any or all of: set aside, downsize, interest relief, restructuring, re -negotiation, extension of time, or write down as a last resort. Interest Rates In general terms, one could say that in the mid 1970s farming was thriving. Interest rates at that time were reasonable compared to the 20 per cent range when they sent many farmers in- to bankruptcy, and nearly crippled our great country. Until just recently, interest rates 519-364-3050 were on the rise making vulnerable farmers very uneasy. All of us here know quite well that commodity prices are not nearly high enough and therefore, we cannot tolerate any rise in interest rates to compound our continuing vulnerable situation. If interest rates are low it encourages spending by the farmer and the con- sumer thus creating jobs. If the Canadian dollar is low, it en- courages the sale of Canadian agricultural goods to the U.S. This is where the well-known state- ment comes from... "When the farmers are making money everyone is making money." The Bruce County Federation of Agriculture is therefore urging you, our federal members in particular, not to jeopardize the large agricultural and agriculturally related industry by stabilizing the Canadian dollar at our expense by raising the interest rates. If you force interest rates to rise to sup- port the Canadian dollar, it has a two- fold effect on farmers: • It drives commodity prices down even further • It drives borrowing costs up directly to the farmers and also creates an in- direct cost of production because our suppliers simply add the additional in- terest cost to the price of the commodi- ty they are selling to us. OFFIR The OFFIR program as it has been implemented, does not really address all interest costs to the farmer because it is tied specifically to long-term money. It has cleverly divided the farm community because the farmer who does not have substantial long-term borrowings, but has trade accounts is paying interest rates as high as 24 per cent plus annually, and is not getting any relief. This is a prime example of a provin- cial government not listening to the proposals of the farm organizations. Instead the provincial government deliberately created a situation which discriminates against a significant number of farmers and provides a climate for dis-unity among farmers and their associations. On the issue of tripartite stabiliza- tion, our provincial government was the main promoter. They have done a fantastic sales job on this non- performing program. Then they totally abandoned our farmers by allowing a five-year phase-out for the other pro- vinces to reduce the aid to their farmers, while Ontario farmers have absolutely no programs to phase out. It's time that Jack Riddell and his ministry developed a system to truly equalize Ontario agriculture with the rest of Canada.