It’s time to stand up for family farms says Hughes
MPP Carol Hughes, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing
Just like the corner store or local diner, the family farm is disappearing from Canada at a rapid pace. Since 2007 Canada has lost over 22,000 family farms as the trend toward corporate agriculture picks up steam. While this may seem like an inevitable conclusion, we should seriously consider whether this is something we should put a little effort into bucking.
The lure of cheap food can be hard to resist, but the disappearance of family farms gives us less options which does not serve us well in terms of food security. At the same time it weakens our local economies. It is one thing to ship food in from faraway places when transportation costs are stable, but many will recall the energy crisis in the 1970’s that sent oil prices through the roof. It could happen again and if we are reliant on distant food supplies, we are constantly vulnerable on that front.
For local economies corporate farming makes little sense as well. Just as big-box stores siphon wealth and profit away from communities, so do farms that are not locally owned. For rural economies this can be significant.
Also lost in the shuffle is diversity of crops. The nature of corporate farming demands consistency which reduces choice for consumers and forces us to rely on a smaller population to maintain what are now called heritage or heirloom crops. Without considerable effort by a small group of people we could actually see strains of food crops that have fed us for generations disappear altogether in a genetically modified sea of conformity.
Certainly the government has done little to stop the disappearance of family farms and much to encourage it. The dismantling of the wheat board hit small and medium sized operations the hardest. It was created to allow farmers to get the best price for their crop without having to do the hard work of finding those customers, arranging transportation, marketing and distributing the product. It was not family operators who cheered when the Conservatives sent the Wheat Board to the dust-bin. They were the ones sounding the alarms.
The Conservatives also slashed grain inspection services in the infamous omnibus budget bill C-45 which also removed impartial tribunals that resolved conflicts between farmers and large distribution companies. In addition to that they have eliminated support for communal pastures, which were operated at complete cost recovery and allowed local farmers to rotate livestock on communal pasture land. This was done so that these prized greenbelt areas can now be sold to large private ventures.
One thing is clear, the farming industry is becoming more concentrated in the hands of fewer and much larger operations. Just as manufacturing jobs have been decimated, so have farm jobs. Ultimately we need to commit to local economies, food security and a little bit of common sense that sees the benefit of family run operations and small businesses. No amount of hard work can overcome competition who benefit from sweetheart deals and have their every wish granted – especially those that limit true competition. That isn’t being good on the economy that is picking winners and losers.
