The Rural Voice, 1991-04, Page 14111
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10 THE RURAL VOICE
THERE'S NOTHING WRONG
WITH THE YOUTH TODAY
Adrian Vos, from Huron County, has
contributed to The Rural Voice since
its inception in 1975.
I was one of the fortunate people
privileged to listen to several teen-
agers as they gave their view on the
family farm. Teenagers from Huron,
Bruce, Grey, and Perth counties com-
peted for the honour of best debater of
the snowbelt area.
The question posed to them was:
"Should governments give preference
to family farms in subsidization?"
These kids had done their homework.
The debaters were split into teams,
one assigned to take a position for,
and the other team against. The ar-
guments were similar to those we have
heard so often in the farm community.
"Yes, because the family farm forms
the backbone of the community," or
"no, because if we subsidize family
farms, we should also subsidize other
small businesses." And, "yes, because
farmers earn much foreign exchange
and our food security is at stake," or,
"no, there is plenty of food to go a-
round." To listen was a real enjoy-
ment and my respect for our youth,
already high, received another boost.
These debates prod me to discuss
again the question of the survival of
the family farm. By the family farm, I
do not mean those like the Murphy
family of North Carolina, a business
with some 65,000 sows, but a farm
where most of the work and all the
financing is the responsibility of the
family.
That most Canadian farms are still
in that category is partly due to the
fact that a large segment of farms
operate under a supply managed
system. Limits on the quota level, and
the often exorbitant costs of the same,
let many business oriented people
decline participation because they
can't justify the price of quota.
Outside the supply managed sector,
and often supplementary to it, growth
continues. In cash cropping, modern
machinery defnands large land areas to
get the utmost return from the substan-
tial investment and also to fully occu-
py the time of the farmer. The same
criterion applies to hog and beef
farms. The feedlot and the confine-
ment barn allow for larger enterprises
with minimum manpower.
' To compete with large farms,
family farmers have no choice but to
grow, if they are to benefit from the
same efficiency of scale. The alter-
native is to live in poverty, or have an
outside job, where available.
One suggestion is to form co-oper-
atives where farmers buy their supp-
lies collectively; where each concen-
trates on just one part of the business;
where they sell collectively to get the
same high prices corporations receive.
In the hog industry a few years
ago, American midwestern farmers set
up a co-operative to produce feeder
pigs for its members. I don't know if
they still operate that way. But it is
one avenue. We see some of this in
Ontario through Quality Swine. This
could be expanded to finishing facili-
ties. A marketing system is already
in place in Canada with marketing
boards, and there are many buyer co-
ops.
If we look a bit more closely, it
shows that it is not as cut and dried as
it appears and that co-ops won't save
the family farm. We already have
farmer owned co-ops, but these arejn
fact no different from corporations.
The feed they supply their members is
no less expensive and the services
they provide are no better, and some-
times poorer, than those the corpor-
ations provide.
The Quality Swine piglet supply
co-op is the best we have, and it gives
its member farmers high quality
piglets, which translates into higher
index and final market price.
But all this does little to save the
family farm. The kids may be correct.
Only subsidies limited to family farms
can save them.0