The Rural Voice, 1990-02, Page 25But with the traditional rate of
return on investment in agriculture
running around five to seven per cent,
building up a business grossing
$30,000 can be a problem. Perhaps
farmers are like butterflies. They have
to go through a metamorphosis, first
become a dentist, for example, to raise
the necessary capital, then shedding
their white gowns to reveal a set of
rubber boots and coveralls underneath.
Harry Brightwell says a real
farmer should gross at least
$30,000 on the farm.
Gary Fischer, head of research
and development for the Farm Credit
Corporation, acknowledges the meta-
morphosis or "grey area" involved
with becoming a farmer. He describes
the transformation as a shifting in
priorities from one profession to
another.
The dentist could still be fixing
teeth, for example, but in the other
grey area — the one between his ears
— he is already a farmer, even though
his income would not support the idea.
Perhaps farmers are like
butterflies. They have to go
through a metamorphosis ...
And how many farmers working in
town from 9 a.m. to 5 p..m. spend an
hour in the barn before leaving the
farm, four or five more in the field
after supper, and all day Saturday and
Sunday putting in the required amount
of time to qualify as a farmer, but still
make more money elsewhere?
The average net farm income for
34,000 farmers reporting in Western
Ontario in 1987, according to provin-
cial statistics, was $3,850. The aver-
age off -farm income was $21,711.
A lunchbucket became as
acceptable to the FCC as a
pitchfork, in fact preferable...
The FCC had trouble lending
money to anyone working off the farm
in the early '70s, recalls Fischer. Such
potential borrowers were given a five-
year period to stop working in town
and become a full-time farmer. "Then
reality set in," Fischer says — coin-
cidentally about the same time the
'80s arrived.
A person from the city might
say a farmer is someone who
checks the mailbox more often
than field conditions.
A lunchbucket became as accept-
able to the FCC as a pitchfork, in fact
preferable in many cases. Fischer sees
those working at the factory and in-
vesting in the farm as purveyors of
money from other industries to agri-
culture, adding more money to the pot.
Ask a person from the city what
a farmer is and he might reply that a
farmer is someone who checks the
mailbox more often than he checks
field conditions. It seems the only
time farmers are noticed inside city
limits is when they are asking for
assistance because of a disaster,
man-made or otherwise.
There is no doubt that farmers
know how to sign subsidy cheques.
Total government payments, provin-
cial and federal, to Ontario farmers in
1988 amounted to $544,761,000. In
Saskatchewan during the drought two
years ago, more than 50 per cent of net
farm income came in the mailbox on
cheques with a flag of Canada at the
top.
Perhaps being a farmer is
a state of mind ...
What about the psychological
profile of a farmer? Could it be more
effective than a financial statement in
making a positive identification?
Perhaps being a farmer is a state
of mind. Many who were forced out
of the business in the past decade
referred to farming as a "way of life."
But no matter what your profession,
scientist or bag lady, there is a "way of
life" attached to it. That phrase, never
too helpful in identifying farmers, has
largely disappeared from agriculture,
along with, unfortunately, many of
those who used it.
More and more, farming is de-
scribed as a business, so it follows
that farmers should look like business-
men. A neat ledger sheet has become
more important than straight furrows.
Suits are as common as coveralls.
Some even get upset when farmers
are portrayed wearing coveralls and a
straw hat. Such was the case a few
years ago when Harry Pelissero, for-
mer OFA president and now Liberal
MPP for the Lincoln riding, objected
to television commercials showing a
young farmer dressed thusly bolting
past a rather attractive women to get
to a bowl of cereal.
Suits are as common as
coveralls. Some even get upset
when farmers are shown wearing
coveralls and a straw hat.
How do farmers see themselves?
Cattleman Joe Daunt of R. R. 1,
Listowel, readily admits to being one.
"Any line drawn to describe a
farmer would be an arbitrary one," he
says, adding that holding down two
jobs is not unique to agriculture.
He objects to the stereotypical
image of a farmer spending all his
time running between the house and
the barn or fields. Farmers today
have a much broader range of inter-
ests than that, he says.
And as far as "keeping every little
family farm running," Daunt says, Chat
would be a social policy instead of an
agricultural policy on the govern-
ment's part.
Daunt considers anyone working
with livestock and/or crops who can
handle all the problems that go along
with them to be a fanner, no matter
what he or she is or isn't wearing.
Cattleman Joe Daunt
of Listowel, Ontario readily
admits to being one ...
New Liskeard area cash cropper
Bob Labine differentiates between
farmers and full-time farmers by
describing the former as "fools" and
the latter as "seven kinds of a fool."
In a society that can no longer
define the role of a farmer, this
assessment may be as valid as any.0
FEBRUARY 1990 21