The Rural Voice, 1993-03, Page 35processors and distributors, he said.
In a $2.89 box of Breton crackers
there is three cents worth of Wheat. In
a period when the price of wheat
went down 40 per cent, the price of
crackers went up 235 per cent. If
farmers had just six cents of the
increase they would be in much better
shape, he said.
He warned of corporate
concentration in the U.S. farming
industry where the top four firms in
each field control 45 per cent of all
broiler chickens produced, 33 per
cent of turkeys, 69 per cent of beef
cattle slaughtered and 45 per cent of
pork slaughtered. What's more, he
said, privatization in the U.S. has left
most of the inspection of food to the
companies that produce it. Rather
than harmonize Canadian inspection
with U.S. standards, Canadians
should tell Americans "If they want
into our markets they have to live up
to our (health) standards. Under
GATT (the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade) we can do it."
Ferguson also warned against a
softening of the federal government's
policy on supporting and
strengthening Article 11 of GATT
which allows countries to set up
supply management systems. Cash
crop farmers too benefit from supply
management because a large
percentage of corn and soybeans are
fed to dairy cattle, chickens and
turkeys, he said, areas that would
suffer if supply management is lost
through changes in GATT. "If other
countries can make side deals (such
as the protection for coastal shipping
in the U.S.) why can't Canada?"
Mayer denied that the government
is softening on its GATT position.
"Nothing has changed. We still feel
strongly we have a good case."
Faced with a lack of promises of
health from the politicians present,
Line in the Dirt may turn to more
active ways to protest. At the close of
the meeting Frayne asked the
audience if it felt there should be an
ad hoc payment of $60 an acre to
farmers to help fight the results of the
crop failure. He was greeted with
shouts of support. He asked if the
group should continue its fight and
again won support. He issued a
challenge to other farm organizations
to join the Line in the Dirt farmers in
their fight.0
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