The Rural Voice, 2005-06, Page 12pot Eats* if
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8 THE RURAL VOICE
John Beardsley
Who voted for this?
John
Beardsley is
former farm
director of
CKNX radio
and has been
involved in
agribusiness
for many
years.
One wonders what it will take to
get this Provincial Liberal
government to listen and take real
action. How can anyone say that a cut
of $600 million is actually an
increase of $15 million? Am I the
only one in shock from this
new Liberal budget?
Steve Peters says this $600 -
million cut was in emergency aid that
was only for last year. Has any one
noticed, nothing has changed except
farmers are another year older and
deeper in debt? The commodity
prices haven't changed and the
border still isn't open. What exactly
do the Premier, the Agriculture
Minister and Finance Minister Greg
Sorbara think the rallies and the
protests were about? Maybe the
Lanark Landowners association is
right, and we need more drastic
measures to get needed action. The
farm leaders were very clear about
what was needed and the $300
million was just a Band-Aid to cover
last year's losses.
Incidentally, they never gave
farmers $300 million, it was actually
a few million short of that goal. But it
had the desired effect of shutting
everyone up and getting the tractor
rallies off Toronto streets. It also
stopped the planned blockage of the
food terminals and distribution
centers in Toronto.
Regulation is driving more and
more farmers to consider getting rid
of their livestock rather than put up
with radio frequency ear tags. I can
remember a time when governments
would automatically subsidize the
cost of new technology and systems.
If the food industry wants radio
frequency tags, then why don't they
pay for them? Packer profits tripled
during the food crisis allowing
Cargill to make enough money to buy
Better Beef. Everyone loves to hate
Better Beef, yet they were the only
real competition to Cargill in eastern
Canada, and now that is gone.
Why doesn't the federal
government step in and disallow the
sale? For that matter, why doesn't the
provincial government demand the
repayment of all the grants that have
been made to Better Beef over the
years?
What is necessary is for
government to come up with a cost of
production program for the
commodities that are not covered by
supply management. If Quebec can
do it, so can Ontario.
The winter of farmers' discontent
could well become a bitter harvest for
this present Liberal government. The
amazing thing is that, in general,
farmers are not waiting for
government to come to its senses,
they are just getting on with making a
living the best way they can. But the
reality of this is Tess corn and more
soybeans, less rotation and much Tess
interest in government cost-sharing
programs. We need 75 percent grant
programs, not 30 percent cost share
programs for environmental
improvements on the farm. While
there are alternative uses for all the
farmland in the country, is this the
type of countryside anyone wants to
live in?
There are real consequences of
the government's inaction: less farm
kids going back into farming, and
more farmland for sale.
I have just returned to my former
career as a crop specialist (apparently
I had a five-year vacation in radio —
and now print — journalism).
Working at the Teeswater branch of
the Huron Bay Co-operative, 1 come
into daily contact with men and
women who are still pouring their
lifeblood into caring for the land, and
producing food for consumers who
by and large take them for granted.
They struggle to get their crops
planted and their animals looked
after, while they hold down off -farm