[getsmart-l] Fw: National Farmers Union Ontario Commentary - The whoppee factor

[John O'Gorman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: National Farmers Union Ontario 
To: National Farmers Union- Ontario Commentary 
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 8:53 PM
Subject: National Farmers Union Ontario Commentary - The whoppee factor


The Whoppee Factor; or, why is it food production gets such little attention?

 

A commentary for the National Farmers Union-Ontario

By Grant Robertson

 

It was hard not to notice the reaction to the mention of agriculture in the federal government’s recent Throne Speech.  Reading and listening to the farm media and other farmers there was a distinct sense of thrill, almost glee.  Some media, although certainly not all, especially the good ones, almost made no mention of the troubling things that were said, just that the Throne speech mentioned farmers and agriculture.  Whoppeee, someone finally said something seemed to be their reaction.  

 

It would be easy to dismiss this as a kind of boosterism of a certain agenda by some media pundits, but it is more likely that this little thrill from hearing the words farmer and agriculture in the thrown speech, even that it was enough to be remarked upon, speaks to a much deeper issue.

 

The farm population has fallen to around 2% of the national population.  Despite the fact that primary food and agri-food production is the second largest industry in a province like Ontario, the real needs and concerns of the farm community hardly get any mention.  Farmers, despite being a small percentage of the population, create wealth, jobs and economic opportunities for a much larger segment of our society.  Farmers’ contributions to the economic, health and community well being of Canada far outstrips their numbers. A cold hard look at the facts suggests that farmers are also being stripped of almost all of the wealth they create for others.  Yet the attention of government to our food system is so sporadic that the mere mention of it in a speech from the throne is notable, even celebrated.  It is a sad commentary on the state of public discussion and policy initiatives in Canada that it should be so.

 

It is not as if there is a shortage of issues which should be addressed by governments across the country.  It is not enough to just throw out some words.  Until governments of all political stripes start addressing real issues a word like agriculture in a throne speech is meaningless.  In fact, to be blunt it is time farmers stopped being swayed just because a few bones are thrown our way.   The stakes are too high to allow ourselves to be taken for granted by any political party.

 

Here are just two issues to watch for in a throne speech near you to help determine if the words potentially mean anything or not.  The list is long, so these are just two.  To find out more visit www.nfu.ca

 

Ad hoc policy development has to stop.  When a real downturn hits, some emergency funding is needed to keep the industry going, not just for farmers, but for all those non-farmers whose jobs are dependent on a healthy industry.  But governments of all stripes at all levels do no long term planning or investment.  That must change.

 

That being said there are some serious issues with equity loss and price collapse over the last few years that need to be addressed now.  For grains and oil seed farmers crop years 2005 and 2006 have not been addressed and are a continued drag on the industry.  In the beef and pork sectors a large scale price collapse along with sustained cost pressure issues is well underway.   If it is not addressed soon, the damage will be deep and will cost urban jobs too. One component of these problems is super-concentration on the buyer side, yet government stayed silent, even while the marketplace power on the buyer end consolidated.

 

Family farmers are being hit hard, in many sectors, often it is government policy direction that has a direct link to these problems.  Until a change of course is announced in a throne speech we need to stop giving governments’ a free ride for just mumbling a few familiar words.

 

________________________________________________________________________

Grant Robertson is a senior official with the National Farmers Union-Ontario and a National Board Member of the NFU. Grant and his family farm near Paisley, Ontario.  The author can be contacted at grant at bmts.com

If you have been forwarded this commentary and would like to be added to the distribution list please send an email to grant at bmts.com with “subscribe” in the subject line. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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