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30 THE RURAL VOICE
unfair competition from U.S. and
European subsidies that have hurt
grains and oilseeds farmers has put
farmers in a cash crunch as prices
drop but expenses keep going up.
Unlike in the past, however,
governments pay no attention to the
problems, he says.
It's also harder for farmers to get
their voices heard in an increasingly
inward -looking urban media. The
loss of farm reporters on daily
newspapers and television stations
means no one in urban areas is
paying anyattention to what's
happening on the farm.
Farmers also aren't nearly as
vocal or involved as in the
1970s, though Hill is
sympathetic to the plight of many of
today's farmers. "The quickest way
to solve a farm income problem is to
get a job," he says. "You have to
make a living off the farm and run
the farm and you have no time to
work with your neighbours to get
changes made."
Farmers seem resigned to trying to
make the best out of the situation
handed to them rather than trying to
change things. They're apt to go out
and overpay to rent some extra land
in the hope they can grow their way
out of the problem. "I don't see an
attitude of farmers wanting to raise
hell."
"I still believe in the old saying
that farmers would be better off if
they raised more hell and less corn,"
Canadian Dollar
June 1975: $1.03 U.S.
May 20, 2005 $.79 U.S.
he says.
The problem is that North
American consumers have never
feared hunger, never even a shortage.
Back in the 1970s when Hill heard
that nearly all the food in Ontario
went through five large warehouses.
"I used to dream of blocking them,"
he recalls.
With today's different distribution
process he thinks it would likely be
harder to shut down food distribution
but if he was back leading a major
farm organization he'd be looking in
that direction.
"We need to get consumers
pressing the government to look after
food production better," he says.0