The Rural Voice, 1981-11, Page 16Centralia
College of
Agricultural
Technology
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Huron Park, Ontario NOM 1Y0
(519) 228-6691
PG. 14 THE RURAL VOICE/NOVEMBER 1981
VOICE OF A FARMER
Help the starving
BY ADRIAN VOS
For a long time I have been listening carefully to those who
bewailed the Toss of good farmland to highrises and paved parking
lots. In fact I have done a fair amount of bewailing myself.
While it is true that "we can't make more land", it is equally
true that we can make a lot of useless land
productive. If that land is usually less
productive than the land disappearing
under asphalt, the consumer who allows
this to happen is in trouble. It is he/she
who ultimately has to pay the price.
There are at (east one million acres of
very good soil in Northern Ontario and in
the adjacent area of Quebec. While the
season there is too short for many crops, it
is suitable for some cereal crops, for grass
and for some legume crops.
In Manitoba 12.6 million acres of
peatland lies mostly idle. The settlers there had so much "good"
land, they were little inclined to find out what could be done with
the peat.
In the Atlantic provinces many thousands of acres once
worked, now lie abandoned because the soil couldn't return
enough to get the product to markets too far away.
As I see it, the greatest obstacle to food production to feed the
poor in, what are today called "the south countries", (sounds less
patronizing than "under developed",) is the selfishness of us in
the north countries.
When a poor nation tries to sell us tomatoes, we holler for
protection against low wage countries. We holler unfair
competition, demanding tariffs or import quotas. The same
happens with textiles and other manufactured goods, with
tobacco, nickel and what -have -you.
Most of our "concern" with the plight of the poor on the other
side of the world is pure hypocrisy. When the TV depicts a
documentary with starving and dying people, we turn our T.V.
sets to "Three's Company" or other empty shows. That makes us
sleep easier. With a smile on our lips.
To help the starving of this world, the best thing to do is end our
selfish protests against imports from low wage countries. The
next best is to make help available through such government
sponsored agencies as the International Development Research
Centre. (IDRC). This agency truly tries to help people to help
themselves.
Scientists are working with local peasant associations to find
problems. Then they discuss with the peasants, ideas which have
been often successfully practised in other parts of the world. Most
often the peasant is willing to try something new, but also can
point out to the theorist, obstacles he didn't know about.
Among the problems already identified in Ethiopia are
declining soil fertility and weed control. IDRC found peasants
already do some green manuring and they encourage this. They
also found the peasants were returning to ancient terracing of
hillsides, a practice discontinued centuries ago when the slopes
began to be covered with trees. Now that the trees are being cut
down, that ancient practice is valid again.
There are still numerous possibilities for food production
increases. A little more selfishness would go a long way. The calls
for preservation of farmland; for producing more to feed the
masses of poor people sound more and more like the age-old
cheap food policy most governments of this world practise.