The Rural Voice, 2005-03, Page 58BRUCE
Email: bruce@ota.on.ca
website: www.ofa on.ca/bruce
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551
• The Rural Voice is provided to OFA
Members in Bruce County by the BCFA
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
Corporate ownership a big issue
Volumes have been written about
the steady decline of real farm income,
and this trend has been studied to death,
perhaps to buy time for governments so
they can make a decision of what to do
about this decline.
The hope seems to be that a disaster
somewhere in the world will improve
commodity prices here, and help us out
of the problem. This does happen from
time to time and acts like a life -line
thrown to a drowning victim that breaks
as soon as it is grabbed by the victim.
We have to address the issue, which is
that corporate ownership and a world
food market means that commodities
are priced at a world level, and costs to
produce those commodities are priced
at the local level. We cannot compete
when our input costs are higher than the
world prices of that commodity.
Canadian farmers are the most efficient
farmers in the world, and the past
decades have shown our farmers getting
more and more efficient as the
commodity prices have kept declining.
Agriculture is the second largest
G.D.P.-generating industry in the
country, but very little of that money
flows back to the base producer. A
reason for this may be that vertical
integration in the agricultural industry
has allowed costs to be shifted within
an integrated company t� best take
advantage ctf existing tax laws: i.e. the
old story about a box of cereal costing
the consumer three or four dollars but
rhe producer's share of the product is
only 3 or 4 pennies. Large multinational
corporations can set profitability levels
in their various divisions so that they
move the base price to the level that
suits them the best.
Canadian farmers have little
leverage because there are few buyers
and we are competing with third world
countries for the price -of our
commodities.
Through cost-cutting by government
agencies, agricultural research in
Ontario has dropped by 60 per cent in
the last decade. This may be good for
government deficits, but it has left the
BRUCE COUNTY FEDERATION OF AGRICULTURE
DIRECTORS' MEETING
MONDAY, MARCH 28. 2005 - 8:00 P. M.
Bruce County Administration Building
30 Park Street, Walkerton
Members are welcome to attend
54 THE RURAL VOICE
farmers at the mercy of large
multinationals that now do research and
decide what that research is worth to a
producer. This same multinational also
has a division that likely purchases the
commodity to be used in another part of
their business. The Ontario Government
has reduced their agricultural budget
from 1.4 per cent of G.D.P. to .4 per
cent of G.D.P. in the last 15 years. This
trend must be reversed so our small and
medium-sized farms get the
government support they need to
remain viable. We feel research should
be done by the government for the good
of agriculture and all of society.
Governments must develop a
domestic food security policy that does
not rely on a multinational, vertically -
integrated company to supply our food.
This policy would require Canadian -
owned and Canadian -produced food to
be available so that we can not be held
hostage for our domestic food supply.
Our supply -managed commodity
boards are examples of this, and this
should be carried through so that the
processing and marketing of our
domestic food supply is all Canadian. If
this system has to be subsidized to give
a producer a fair market return, then
that should happen.
Less and less of our consumer's
disposable income is getting into the
basic producer's hands so we either
have to get our share through increased
subsidies or increased prices in the
market place. Quotas, or rights of
production, must be handled differently
so a right to produce cannot be priced
on the open market. If a producer wants
to participate in the world market — i.e.
production above domestic demand —
they should only get government
subsidy after domestic producers are
paid a minimum of the ,cost of
production. This would mean large
multi -national companies would not be
as likely to take government subsidy
cheques, as profits, out of Canada.
The fabric of our rural communities
has been small to medium-sized
farmers. The trend today is that small
and medium-sized farms will be
eliminated and this will lead to declines
of our rural communities. Low paid
labour, working on corporate farms
does not have the spending power of
medium-sized independent farmers.
Our farmers alone cannot compete with
American or European treasuries or
third world deflated currencies.
We must have supply -managed
domestic food production, complete
domestic control of food processing and
retailing, and a policy of capping
subsidies at a reasonable level; i.e.
$50,000 per registered farm operator.
An industry that is making a proper
return for its investment and risk will
look after other problems such as
farmers' pensions, tax liabilities for
retiring farmers, the cost of meeting
new environmental rules, and re-
investing in the future of farming.0
— Submitted by Wietse Posthumus,
1st Vice President and
Arran Township Director
TOMMY COOPER AWARD MEETING
Friday, April 15, 2005
Elmwood Community Centre
Social: 6:30 p.m. Dinner: 7:00 p.m.
NOMINATION FOR THE BCFA AWARD OF MERIT
"For Outstanding Contribution to Agriculture"
Each year the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture presents an Award to a person in Bruce County who
has made a significant contribution to the agriculture industry. If you have someone you would like to
nominate, please complete this form and retum to our office in Hanover. Nominations should be received
at our office by Friday, April 1, 2005.
I nominate:
Reasons for nomination:
Signature:
Please return to:
Bruce County Federation of Agriculture, 446 10th Street, Hanover, ON N4N 1 P9
Fax: 519-364-4119 E-mail: bruce@ofa.on.ca
Or you may give your nomination to any Township Director