[getsmart-l] CFFO Commentary - Farmers provide much more to consumers than food

[John O'Gorman]

Note: Please direct correspondence on the CFFO Commentary to John Clement, General Manager at clement at christianfarmers.org.
 

The CFFO Commentary

Title: Farmers provide much more to consumers than food 

By Jenny Denhartog

April 20, 2007

 

Within the next few weeks, if the weather cooperates, farmers will once again be a visible part of the countryside. Our tractors and equipment will be on the roads and on the fields, tilling soil and planting and fertilizing this year's crops. Yes, as farmers we produce food, but we also know that our labours and investments are of vital importance for many more reasons; we contribute to the overall health of the province. 

According to Dr. Dave Sparling of the Institute of Agri-Food Policy Innovation, the farm community should carefully consider the message it's sending to the public. Taking into account that the majority of that public resides in urban centers, and has little reason to fear a lack of food products on the grocery stores' shelves at any time in the near future, we need to do more to convey to the public our collective positive contributions to society. Providing food, while seen by farmers as an important part of their mandate, isn't the answer to a problem urbanites are facing. Urbanites are not worried about the possibility of a food shortage. There are, however, a number of serious concerns harbored by urban residents. Fortunately farmers, collectively, are playing a huge role in providing real solutions to those concerns.  

Health, clean air, green energy and the environment are of extreme importance to just about everyone in Ontario. And the province's primary producers, in combination with modern technology, contribute much towards all of these. 

 

Our farmers grow the crops that not only produce food but also remove carbon from the air. They use management practices that will prevent carbon from entering the atmosphere. They plant and maintain the buffer strips that prevent pollution from entering water sources. They can protect wildlife and restore or maintain its natural habitat and wetlands. They have made room for the equipment to harvest the wind and produce environmentally friendlier green energy. They can grow the crops, be it corn or more efficient plants such as switch grass, to produce the inputs needed for ethanol production.

Recent innovations make it possible for farm produce to become the basis for health care products and medicine. Even newer inventions will soon make it possible for car and computer parts to be made of agricultural products, making them more environmentally friendly. 

It's time the rest of the population hears this positive message from our farmers. With tremendous knowledge of sound agricultural practices and care for our natural environment, they produce so much more than a safe, nutritious supply of food. A clear communication strategy is needed to promote our primary producers to the public as being critically important to the process of making Ontario healthier, greener and cleaner. 

 

 

Jenny Denhartog is the Field Services Associate of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. The CFFO Commentary is heard weekly on CFCO Chatham, CKNX Wingham and CHOK Sarnia, Ontario and is archived on the CFFO website: www.christianfarmers.org/index.html. CFFO is supported by 4,300 family farmers across Ontario. 

 

Note: Please direct correspondence on the CFFO Commentary to John Clement, General Manager at clement at christianfarmers.org.

 

Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario

7660 Mill Rd.

RR 4 Guelph, ON N1H 6J1 

Ph: (519) 837-1620

Fax:(519) 824-1835

web: www.christianfarmers.org

 

 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.web.net/archives/getsmart-l/attachments/20070420/a7006839/attachment.htm