The Rural Voice, 1991-10, Page 22FIELDS OF DREAMS ARE TURNING INTO
ACRES OF ANGUISH FOR PRODUCERS
Grass roots meeting attracts 1,000 to protest low prices and lack of government support
Farmers packed the Lucknow Recreation complex looking for answers from
politicians, MP Murray Cardiff, left, and MPPs Paul Klopp, and Murray Elston.
story and photos
by Jim Fitzgerald
It's too early to tell yet, but the
state of emergency declared by a
coalition of farms groups is finally
getting some attention from the urban
media, following a grass roots move-
ment that has grown from a few con-
cerned farmers meeting over coffee in
a farm house kitchen to a country-
wide protest movement.
Unhappy with falling incomes for
their grain and oil seed crops, worried
about losing their farms, and even
fearful of possible suicides, nearly
1,000 farmers from the counties of
Huron, Bruce, Perth, Grey and some
from as far away as Essex, gathered at
a protest meeting in Lucknow Sep-
tember 11. The next night, about 1,200
farmers in Miami, Manitoba gathered
to express the same concerns.
Calling themselves "a line in the
dirt," which means they had enough
inaction on low prices and arc taking a
stand, organizers of the meeting hope
to draw the attention of the public and
government to their plight.
An informal proposal, by Lucknow
area farmer Fred Phillips at the end of
the meeting, to withhold paying their
bills and taxes if no action is taken on
October 1 drew widespread support.
However, organizers have dropped
that suggestion because they feel it
would hurt the people who have
helped them the most — local
suppliers and businesses — and stood
by them in tough times by extending
credit when other lending instituions
wouldn't.
They might still proceed with an-
other proposal, to stage a mass rally of
10,000 farmers on Queen's Park or
Ottawa. That suggestion came from
Jack Wilkinson, a vice president with
the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.
"It's pretty bad when we can wind
down our operation (sell the farm), go
on welfare, and see our standard of
living go up," said Wilkinson.
Saying the federal and provincial
governments had known since last
spring how bad things were getting,
Wilkinson told the meeting "the time
for talking is over. We want to see
some action."
One of the organizers, Bev Hill of
Varna — a large cash crop and pork
producer — told the crowd that farm-
ing as a way of life had become so
unprofitable, that it has gone from
"fields of dreams to acres of anguish."
Prices had gone so low, Hill said, that
Prior to the meeting "line in the dirt" organizers held a briefing fora large group of
media representatives. Left to right are Brian Ireland, Paul Frayne, Doug Scott,
Dwayne Greig, Lawrence Hogan, Bev Hill, Doug Eadie, and Joan Husser.
18 THE RURAL VOICE