The Rural Voice, 1993-07, Page 54PERTH
John Drummond, President, R.R. 5, Mitchell NOK 1NO 347-2725
PCFA Office 229-6430
The Rural Voice is provided to farmers
in Perth County by the PCFA.
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
If competition is given the opportunity
It makes no difference whether you
read a farm paper of the past or a
current edition, the story is the same:
low commodity prices and high input
costs leave small profit margins.
1 would Tike to challenge producers
to understand why there is a constant
narrowing of profit margins. Competi-
tion controls profit margins and com-
modity prices. With regard to wages,
legislation allows wage levels to
escalate percentage wise. The wages of
educators, hydro workers, government
employees, the general work force and
even basic wages keep escalating
without an acquate price level check.
The cost of wages and services is
included in the price of products.
Farmers are consumers who are glo-
bally competitive and cannot pass the
increasing wage costs on to their cust-
omers the way secondary and service
industries can. Farmers and primary
producers must absorb the increased
If we want it,
Do you and I have any effect as civ-
ilians? In our present time of gov-
ernment restraints and roll -backs, what
is our responsibility? Changes are
taking place in the public sector and
some are long overdue. Never before
has there been such a need for us to
voice an opinion.
Whether it be by serving on local
boards, whether these be hospital,
school board, public health, farm focus
on health, or attending an interest
meeting, we must become better
informed and involved and speak.
am in the process of learning
about health in Perth. My involvement
in United Way Stratford -Perth has
sparked my interest. One of the topics
and certainly an imponant one is senior
care. On a recent visit to a Health Care
Fair in Mitchell, it was wonderful to see
all the agencies that are available to
assist our seniors. I was concerned,
though, on asking what the cost of these
services were, that the answer most
times was nothing. When I stated that I
knew many seniors who could afford to
pay some of the cost I was told that
topic does not usually come up. We
50 THE RURAL VOICE
costs, leaving squeezed profit margins.
When each farmer increases production
to keep incomes sufficient, the com-
bined production results in an over-
supply to the market, leaving depressed
prices.
We have been brainwashed into
believing that if we are more efficient
and increase production that this is the
answer to the problem. The goal line
keeps moving when we produce to pay
for increasing wage costs instead of
producing for marketplace demands.
(From 1960 to 1990, the consumer
disposable income has increased by 334
per cent. The farmer's share of the
disposable income dropped 63 per cent
in the same period.)
The stabilization and subsidy pro-
grams try to correct the imbalance.
This leaves exports open to countervail
action. The governments of industrial-
ized countries have no idea what wage
levels the marketplace can afford. The
we should pay
have such an infrastructure of govern-
ment agencies that make work out of
senior care. Don't get me wrong, I
know that our seniors have worked hard
and given much to our country but can
we afford to maintain all of the benefits?
To me all of us are guilty of the
disease of "Entitlement". Everyone
feels that it is their right to have all of
these services free. We must change
this thought process to look at user pay
cost recovery. If we want it — we
should pay. There are many turf wars
going on between agencies and we as
civilians must question why?
We in farm and rural Perth know the
strength of community but if every-
thing is from the top down we lose
control and the cost of government goes
up.
To quote John L. McKnight, "The
wisdom of the community exceeds the
knowledge of experts", and I encourage
you to become informed, involved and
to ask who pays for that service and is it
duplicated? You CAN plant the seed of
change.°
Mary E. McIntosh
PCFA 2nd Vice President
business community is saddled with
laws that allow wage levels to be set or
sustained at unaffordable levels.
We must adopt a system that allows
competition to have the opportunity to
balance costs and profit. With the con-
stant elimination of farmers and em-
ployment, the balance must move to-
ward the profit side. The unemployed
must have the opportunity to be in the
competition to set the true value of
wage costs. Competitive costs will
attain full employment, then profit will
benefit everyone's standard of living.
Without change, the farm and business
community and the employed will have
to keep increasing product output at an
ever faster pace to pay taxes to support
the unemployed and welfare recipients.
The uncompetitive demands of govem-
ments and their friends (unions/mon-
opoly holders) is the reason the past
and current farm papers have the same
message. Competition is the only true
way to stabilize costs and allow local or
regional economies to afford local
services. We can't have made -in -
Toronto prices for rural economies.
The solution is to have every aspect
of the economy competitive, only then
will the high prices received during an
economic cycle, allow farmers and
business to survive the low periods
without subsidies or stabilization.°
Larry Biesinger
PCFA 1st Vice President
REGIONAL MEETING
Friday, September 10, 1993
Brodhagen
PERTH COUNTY FEDERATION OF
AGRICULTURE
JULY MEETING
Thursday July 22, 1993
Downie Mutual Insurance Office
Sebringville
8:30 p.m.
All members welcome to
attend