For Farmers, It's Always One Thing Or Another

Actually, I think the good thing coming out of the crisis is that so many farmers have realized how dependent the industry is on the US market, and how much it has been taken over (with our government's help) by "vertically integrated agribusiness" ie giant companies that have a hand in the entire thing from production to packing--and are almost all US-owned. Many farmers have realized that free trade isn't necessarily fair trade, nor even all that free. Many are looking for "made in Canada" solutions and alternatives and trying to get their industry back. <P> <a href="http://www.beyondfactoryfarming.org/cgi-bin/index.pl?node_id=780;lastnode=853;lang=en;last_cat=522.522.504">Agirbusiness and factory farming</a>: "Some of the largest agri-business companies in the world are the proponents of factory farming in Canada. Smaller companies are often linked to larger one through vertical integration and contracts. <P> Agri-business corporations are often the main beneficiaries of agricultural support programs, government incentives and tax breaks. <P> Beef: The beef industry in Canada is dominated by two companies, Cargill and Lakeside Packers Inc. which is a division of Tyson, the largest meat-packing corporation in the world." <P> More: <a href="http://www.beyondfactoryfarming.org/cgi-bin/index.pl?node_id=842;lastnode=780;lang=en;last_cat=522.522.504">Food sovereignty</a> <P> My feature article in AlbertaViews a recently: <a href="http://www.albertaviews.ab.ca/janfeb05/janfeb05slaughterhousedrive.pdf">Slaughterhouse Drive</a><br> <p>---<br>Now call it extreme if you like, but I propose we hit it hard, and we hit it fast, with a major, and I mean major, leaflet campaign.--Rimmer, Red Dwarf<br />

Turns out that Small IS Beautiful.............

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RickW

It will be back to farming when the oil runs out! Lets see agribusiness run without cheap oil.

The oil wil be rationed for agribusiness.They get first dibs.
Sorry.

Yes, with vertical integration the small farmer assumes all the risk while the large agri-business dictates everything to the small farmer. And farmers are being forced off the land so that these large agri-businesses can take their land! That`s the thing too, to ship goods many thousands of kilometres to far away markets, this is heavily subsidized by governments. Maybe small farmers can get into the co-op business once again.

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Dave Ruston

<blockquote>The federal government strategy was to follow the U.S. lead. Ottawa refused to let Canadian beef producers test all cattle bound for export markets, as the Japanese, for example, demanded.<p> The government said this would be unscientific. But not all farmers agreed.<p> "They should test them all," says John Ysselstein, as he leans back in the office of his Woodstock-area farm, watching the closed-circuit television that monitors his 1,000 cows.<p> "It would have been cheaper than losing all our markets. Everyone around here says that."</blockquote> Could it be that both the US and Canadian governments are afraid this kind of testing would reveal the true extent of mad cow in North America? Think about it, what other reason is there not to secure your markets with a test that would cost $30 to $50 for each animal selling at $2500 per head, especially when the Japanese indicated this kind of testing would be acceptable to keep their market open to Canadian cattle or beef?