The Rural Voice, 2000-03, Page 61999's SMASH HIT!
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
DEATH OF THE
HIRED MAN
conceived and directed by
Paul Thompson
David Petersen & Warren Sulatycky in a scene from Blyth Festival's 1999 production of
Death of the Hired Man. Photo by Off Broadway.
Don't miss your chance to see the smash hit of the
1999 season. Experience this dynamic tribute to the
last days of the threshing era as the theatre is turned
into a barn, complete with sights, sounds, smells and a
working threshing machine.
77
(out of five)
London Free Press, 1999
June 1 - 17, 2000
BLYTH FESTIVAL, BLYTH
Call 523-9300 or 1-877-862-5984
email: blyth,festival@odyssey.on.ca
2 THE RURAL VOICE
Feedback
Future of food: pay
up or don't eat
What do the "Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries" and
"Dairy Farmers of Canada" -or any
supply -managed commodity have in
common?
During the period prior to 1999,
prices for petroleum products hit rock
bottom because of over -production.
This group (OPEC) then forced their
members into production cuts. We
see the results today at the gas pumps
and at the bottom line of OPEC oil
producers.
Both DFC and OPEC control
production. DFC and the other supply
managed commodities do it in a
responsible manner, with farmgate
prices based on a strict cost of
production formula. OPEC for all
intents and purposes is holding the
world to ransom.
That begs the question why supply
management in agricultural products
is bad and has to be eliminated
because it infringes on international
trade rules, while OPEC policies are
under no controls whatever. These
vertically integrated oil producers
control their product from the
wellhead to the pump and points
between and we can see the
competition playing out at the pumps,
(no joke).
With Canadian farmers going
bankrupt in record numbers, due to
rock -bottom prices and huge
overproduction, can vertical
integration of the agricultural sector
be far off? We already see this in
pork production, where the trend is to
contract pigs with the grower
receiving barely minimum wage. Did
anyone notice pork prices taking a