The Rural Voice, 1989-09, Page 34AGRICULTURE,
ECONOMICS,
AND
THE
ENVIRONMENT
For past president of the Canadian Farmers' Survival
Association Allen Wilford, who in eight months will be
emerging from law school, the crisis in agriculture isn't over.
And at a conference on economics and the environment in
Waterloo last month, he made his solution clear: organic
farming. "With the volume of agricultural chemicals we're
using," he told the delegates, "the potential to pollute our
environment is staggering."
"I used to be involved in a lot more flamboyant stuff," he
added about his role as conference panelist, "but they put me
in jail." Wilford, from Bruce County, was jailed for theft
following a penny auction organized by the survivalist
association in 1983.
Government, Wilford says, decided back in 1969 that it
would be economical to eliminate two-thirds of farmers, and
chemical use on the farm was one means to that end. With
chemicals, he says, one farmer could handle 300 rather than
100 acres.
But the hidden costs of such a farming system — pollution
of land and people as well as the destabilization of rural
communities — have yet to be paid.
Wilford cites a variety of statistics.
The Thornbury area where he lives is
an apple -producing region. It also has
the highest rate of cancer in Ontario.
Beef farmers, he adds, have the high-
est rate of leukemia of any group —
probably because of the systemic
insecticides used to ward of warbles
and lice. In Prince Edward Island, 75
per cent of water wells have agricul-
tural chemicals in them, he says. And
nation-wide, problems range from
heavy phosphate use to the waste of
energy used to manufacture nitrogen
fertilizer which can be produced
naturally through crop rotations.
"Organic," Wilford says, is the
only farming system that pays.
"The farmers that I see who have
Last month at a conference at the University of
Waterloo, economists, environmentalists, and busi-
nessmen got together to come up with "sustainable"
solutions to economic and environmental problems.
As one delegate remarked, green is the colour that
symbolizes both the environment and money. The
question was: how to find economic solutions that
are environmental solutions too. The conference
focused on a variety of subjects, from accounting
methods and monetary reform to forest management
and jobs. And delegates agreed that agriculture,
which supports the rest of society as the bottom five
per cent of an inverted pyramid, is pivotal. Allen
Wilford, a farm activist, Lorri King, an organic
foods promoter, and Patrick Carson of Loblaws
were three of the panelists who offered their ideas:
Farm activisit Allen Wilford and Lorri King, vice president
of the Organic Food Production Association of North
America, at the Waterloo conference on economics and the
environment, where they led an agricultural workshop.
gone organic have first, cut their costs,
second, increased their production,
and third, they're getting a premium
for their product."
So what's the barrier between
the majority of Ontario farmers and
organic methods?
Wilford blames the Ontario Min-
istry of Agriculture and Food and the
University of Guelph. "They're the
worst thing to hit agriculture since
mastitis. They're operating under a
20 -year-old thought system there."
"The true role of government," he
adds, "is to do for people what they
cannot do themselves. Government
and educational institutions should be
educating producers and consumers,
certifying organic produce, and
promoting locally grown products.
But government isn't doing its job,
Wilford says, and farmers are mistak-
en if they think government is protect-
ing them from the effects of chemical
use. He uses as an example a neigh-
bouring apple grower who sprays his
crop with no shirt on. "There isn't
anybody there. You're going to have
to protect yourself from it."
He also says that marketing boards
are not equipped to allow for organic
production.
Wilford sees some hope in the
appointment of David Ramsay as
Ontario Minister of Agriculture and
Food. "If we can get to him before
32 THE RURAL VOICE