The Rural Voice, 2000-01, Page 58BRUCE
Email: bruce@ofa.on.ca
website: www.ofa.on.ca/bruce
County Federation of Agriculture NEWSLETTER
446 10th St., Hanover, Ontario N4N 1P9
519-364-3050 or 1-800-275-9551
• The Rural Voice is provided to Bruce
County Farmers by the BCFA.
On December 7. several directors
from the Bruce County Federation of
Agriculture, myself included attended
the National Farmers' Summit
meeting in Toronto. The meeting was
organized by the Canadian
Federation of Agriculture to bring
together representation from all
provinces in order to develop a
unified voice for agriculture. as the
problems we are facing are fairly
consistent across the country.
The needs and actions identified
were prepared in order to present to
the Federal/Provincial Agriculture
Ministers meeting being held the next
day. It was quire remarkable that
many of the issues being discussed in
Bruce (weather disasters, low
incomes, . market oversupply,
livestock intensification. market
access. rural infrastructure, market
control) to name a few are also
problems across Canada.
For an industry that is said by
many to be teetering on the brink of
Pull together or fail together
disintegration, this summit was a very
polite exercise in getting agriculture's
message across to bureaucrats and
"Agriculture Ministers, which is quite
a change from some of the meetings
we have in Bruce County.
The meeting itself was tough on
those attending because the meeting
room was extremely cold in the
morning, and then they cranked the
heat up after lunch, and some of us
dozed off a bit as a few of the
bureaucrats started to drone on at the
microphone. Most of us had to leave
home at 6:00 a.m. in order to make it
to the meeting on time.
From the information presented at
this Summit we will be able to judge
from the treatment of Saskatchewan,
if agriculture is viewed as an
investment that is part of a healthy
local economy or if agriculture is
seen as a drag on the need to be
competitive in the global community.
In Saskatchewan, agriculture
accounts for 10 per cent of the
54 THE RURAL VOICE
provincial economy with 40 per cent
of all jobs directly related to
agriculture. Farming in that province
is at a crossroads with 41 per cent of
farmers expected to lose money this
year, 16 per cent expecting to make
money and one-third of them
considering leaving the industry.
You may be wondering what
farming in the Prairies has to do with
the BCFA. The point I would like to
make follows. If the Canadian
Government is not prepared to deal
with agriculture in a meaningful way,
and Saskatchewan as the worst case
scenario is not getting adequate
support, they certainly won't do it in
Ontario.
Agriculture must pull together to
get through these times or agriculture
will fail together. We can do
everything right to produce to the
best of our ability, but, when that
right is worthless, what does that say
about our industry?
I would certainly prefer to finish
this year-end article on a more
optimistic note, but we have to deal
with reality, and that is that the
immediate price outlook for grains
and oilseeds as a producer are not
profitable.
In, closing I hope the doom and
gloom does not come between you
and your families in enjoying the
Christmas Season and the beginning
of a new century. On behalf of the
executive and board members we
wish you happy holidays and a more
prosperous New Year.O
— Submitted by Murray Clark
President
BRUCE COUNTY FEDERATION
OF AGRICULTURE
DIRECTORS'
MEETING
Monday, January 24, 2000
OMAFRA Boardroom, Walkerton
MALCOLM MAYES/EDMONTON JOURNAL Members are welcome to attend