The Rural Voice, 2001-02, Page 18'uND e R
sieGe
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Agriculture is under a state of
siege and is being assailed
from all corners and all angles.
It is being charged with noise
pollution, dust pollution, increasing
greenhouse gases, loss of rain forests,
degradation of water quality, the cause
of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, the
loss of biodiversity, the destructive
release of GEOs, the inhumane
housing of animals, and the cause of
cancer. It is trying to cope with
increasing mountainous debt,
relentless new technology, loss of
property rights, endangered species
legislation, escalating input costs,
shrinking returns and an unheard
voice here in Canadian government.
With all these battles to fight on so
many fronts, it is becoming obvious
that our $150 farm organization fees
may be woefully inadequate. There is
no union in Canada that goes to bat
for its members with fees as cheap as
these. If we don't like the results
we're getting maybe we're just getting
what we're paying for.
It didn't used to be this way,
Recently on TV I saw a 30 -minute
film clip from England, produced after
the Second World War, called There
Will Always Be An England. This old
black and white film showed many
famous sites throughout the country,
however the most surprising thing was
the time the production spent on
14 THE RURAL VOICE
agriculture. As the camera panned
farms and fields and stockyards and
fairs, showing farmers sowing and
reaping and buying and selling and
competing, the narrator talked about
the importance of food production,
how a country produced its wealth
from its soil. He explained how the
farmers were the backbone of the
home economy. Today we all believe
the DOW/NYSE and the NASDAQ
are the backbone of the home
economy.
No question about it, we have the
biggest bellies to bellyache with. The
industrialized world has caught
affluenza, which is the suffering from
wanting more of what you don't need.
However, in our affluent societies we
still have two kinds of poverty: 1) not
enough money to live on; 2) not
enough money to keep up with
affluenza.
People bellyache about factory
farms, yet there is no such thing.
Farmers don't "make" anything, they
grow things. They take a seed, an
embryo and nurture it, to grow it into
food.
As we look at the coming year and
years, I see a number of production
problems.
Firstly, technology is in the hands
of the better managers, both here and
South America, which is going to lead
to more oversupply. Twenty per cent
Farmers are under
attack from all
sides as the 2001
crop year begins.
Here are some
survival strategies.
By Mervyn Erb
of the farmers are producing 80 per
cent of the food.
Secondly, you will lose between
$120-135 per acre, again, this year.
We had low prices in 1999 but had
exceptional yields to help cash flow it
through. This year we may not be so
lucky.
Thirdly, what is happening here in
Canada bears no resemblance to what
is happening in the U.S. The markets
are made in Chicago and the policies
are made in Washington D.C. The
$23.3 billion in ag program payments
equals more than half the 2000 U.S.
net farm income of $45.6 billion,
which was up from $43.4 billion in
1999 and above the 1990-91 average.
Consequently, these forces lifted Iowa
farmland values 4.3 per cent in 2000.
While their ag economy is supplying a
huge boost to the whole national
economy and to their rural
communities, our ag economy is being
sold out.
At the recent Ridgetown Ag
Conference, Dr. David Kohl,
professor of Ag Finance at Virginia
Tech, said he hears lots of
complaining here in Canada about the
unfair U.S. farm support programs. He
said we do not understand how their
system works. Food production is a
national security item. Surpluses are
needed and used to gain compliance
from other countries and are necessary