The Rural Voice, 2002-02, Page 29management are absolutely
affordable. People that think they
deserve 29 cent U.S. turkey, or that
29 cent turkey is good for us, need
their heads read.
The simple fact of the matter is
that the longer both senior levels of
government remain in gridlock and
twiddle their thumbs about doing
anything to help Canadian grains and
oilseeds farmers compete with their
U.S. counterparts, the more likely we
are to have a very nasty, and quite
unintended, civil war among
ourselves.
Up until about three years ago,
the present scenario was
almost unthinkable. Supply
management had existed for many
years - one side grumbled about
quotas being "unearned" pensions,
the other side grumbled about grains
farmers working only two weeks per
year, but some sort of balance
existed. Then, about three years ago,
two probably unconnected things
happened — the price of quota
started to shoot up, and the U.S. farm
program and the Chicago Board of
Trade made Canadian grains farmers
an endangered species.
So, here we are now, Canadian
grains and oilseeds farmers have been
hung out to dry for at least three
years, and we still have absolutely no
idea of what, if anything, we might
get in government assistance for our
2001 crops — let alone 2002, and
beyond.
Every day, load after load after
load of cheap, publicly supported
Michigan corn crosses the border
heading for Casco, ethanol and the
feed mills of Ontario. The U.S.
administration keeps talking about
even greater assistance for its grains
farmers for 2002, and beyond and at
the same time Canada has no
intention of matching U.S. farm
programs for grains and oilseeds. As
Canadian supply managed farms get
all the advantages denied to Canadian
grains and oilseeds farmers, what's
left except to "level the playing field"
among Canadian farmers?
Is it any wonder farmers go
berserk, and completely lose it?
My biggest fear is that if the
supply managed sector keeps going
ahead because of Canadian
agricultural policy, and the grains`and
oilseeds people keep going
AMMMMOINIMMMEMMIMMMOSTAk
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j Mervyn Erb •
Michael Hunter
1 CPCC-I, CCA CCA
Brucefield, Ont. &
519-233-7100 Susan Schurter
& GIS Specialist
j Andy Megens Ripley, Ont. 3
1 PAg, CCA 519-395-0254
I.
St. Marys, Ont.PA
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