The Rural Voice, 1998-07, Page 8W
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CHRYSLER DODGE
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4 THE RURAL VOICE
Keith Roulston
Ignoring the issues
Back in 1985 when Anne Chisleu
and I were researching Another
Season's Promise, a play about
farmers being driven from the land
by the financial crisis of the time, we
learned about the stages of grieving,
ranging from denial through
acceptance.
More than a
decade later,
farm society
seems to have
moved to the
acceptance
stage. If fact we
are accepting
the whole idea
that agriculture
is moving into a
new era of even
larger units, and
new levels of
industrial-
ization.
But while
agriculture is in the acceptance stage
on subjects like farm finances and
business practices, it is in the denial
(bordering on anger) phase of others.
While there is growing concern on
the part of the public over environ-
mental issues, over safety of
genetically altered foods, over animal
welfare, most farmers deny there is a
problem, feeling it is only a matter of
properly educating the public.
Recently, a columnist in one farm
publication suggested the problem
with complaints over large-scale
livestock operations was really
caused by 100 -acre lots. Without
surplus residences on old 100 -acre
lots, he said, there wouldn't be so
many non -farmers living in the
country and there wouldn't be so
many complaints over smell or the
dangers of pollution from
applications of huge amounts of
liquid manure.
Yet the most bitter complaints
I've heard about large hog operations
have come from other farmers. One
dairy farmer said he had replaced all
the windows in his house to try to
keep out the smell of a nearby hog
operation but he worried about his
cows and that the milk might be
tainted in the bulk tank. There have
been other complaints from sheep
farmers and cashcrop farmers (the
PROTECT movement in Ashfield
was led by other farmers).
So what's the solution? Do we
move all the hog farmers into a hogs -
only zone so there will be no one but
hog farmers to complain? Put all the
dairy farmers in some other township
or county? Put the cashcroppers in
yet another area?
These problems are caused by the
scale of the operations and by a
denial that nature has limits on how
far it can be pushed. Today's trends
are a continuation of the old cycle
where farmers begin complaining
they don't get enough for their
products but the survivers accept
those prices and determine to get
bigger so a small mark-up will still
bring a decent living.
So today we have larger and
larger hog barns and dairy barns as
farmers try to make up in volume
what they can't get in price. It's been
going on for decades but the problem
now is that the farm units are so
large, they're no longer just a concern
of the individual farmer, but of
neighbours as well. The manure from
these huge units not only causes
complaints because of smell but
concern that one untrained or lazy
employee can make a mistake that
will create a local environmental
catastrophe.
Farm leaders also want to deny
consumer concerns over animal
welfare. I actually heard a defender
of today's practices saying pigs
didn't really mind the smell of
ammonia. I doubt even few farmers
believe that.
But we're stuck with the indust-
rialization of agriculture whether we
like it or not. We have accepted
trading pacts that mean we have to be
the same as everybody else in the
world whether they are right or
wrong. Now that we've let our
governments give away our ability to
set our own rules, a decision in one
board room, say of Murphy Farms,
can set in motion a trend that will
sweep the world. If we don't like that
system, what are our alternatives?0
Keith Roulston is editor and
publisher of The Rural Voice. He
lives near Blyth, ON.