FARM INCOME CRISIS
IT'S MORE THAN BASIC ECONOMICS
by Brenda Miller-Sanford Business
Operations Manager, OCPA

At the 2005 Joint Corn, Soybean and Wheat conference, keynote speaker Rex Murphy, Social Commentator and Editorial Journalist, confirmed what many in the farm communities already understand. The farm income crisis is more than just about basic economics.

Having been born and raised in Newfoundland, and also involved in politics in the mid 80's, Rex witnessed the crisis and collapse of Newfoundland's fishing industry. The early warning signs that went unheeded in Newfoundland are similar to the signs here in Ontario's agricultural industry.

Murphy indicates that lack of action in Newfoundland destroyed the fishing industry; the primary industry upon which Newfoundland was built. The culture, economics and societal pattern of Newfoundland is attributed to the development of the fishing industry over 450 years. Thousands of people with the most intimate information of their own lives, attempted to push forward their messages based on their experiences to sound alarms. The alarm was that the fishing industry was going to collapse if the issues of the industry were not addressed. Murphy states that the government at the time was focused on building a new greenhouse industry and the fishing industry, unfortunately, collapsed.

The strain showing in Ontario agriculture is similar to what Murphy experienced in Newfoundland. The alarms are sounding. Thousands of farmers burdened with low prices, increasing input costs, U.S. subsidies, lack of adequate financial support programs, off farm jobs, stress, health problems and the increasing amount of regulations, have had enough. This primary industry, the industry upon which Ontario and Canada as a whole was built, may collapse if the issues are not addressed. Lack of government attention has forced farmers to take actions such as rallies, letter writing, calling their MP and MPP offices to bring attention to the economic decline of this industry. This is not what farmers want to do. Farmers want a competitive, but fair playing field where they can earn a fair living from their farm operations. Core understandings as it relates to the rural nature of this province and country are evermore remote from the top of any political agenda. Rural prosperity and rural health seem to be the most remote from the political agendas.

Primary agriculture is called primary for a reason. It is because of the activities that began long ago. The act of interacting with the elements of nature, with land and with water is part of how communities were built. Out of these small communities emerged social patterns and cultures along with a strong sense of self reliance, pride and dignity. Murphy states that this is the bedrock of our nation. This is more or less how we came to be. However, with each passing generation, people become further removed from their agricultural roots. The knowledge of what farming and agriculture is about is fading. According to Murphy, the greatest divide we face is rural and urban. He believes the severance is almost complete.

Why should a loss of 300 farms in primary agriculture be any different than 300 jobs being lost in a retail store or in another industry? Why should farmers have special status? Murphy believes the difference is being involved in a primary industry; an industry where people are in contact with the land at the most basic level; an industry which is connected with the gathering of food and depends on the support of life itself; an industry that depends on a specific basket of skills. These are not skills that can be picked up by taking a couple of courses. These are skills that are ever evolving that become attached to families and are handed down from generation to generation; father to son, mother to daughter.

According to Murphy, "any nation that takes itself seriously will regard its primary productions, its food base and those who work the land and sea, at the absolute centre of any national notion of self reliance and national notion of real dignity."

Murphy indicates that the values of Ontario as a place in which we live, are a direct functioning of the long experiences over time of the initial agricultural industry of this province. The turmoil being experienced in the agricultural industry is more than an economic issue. Left unaddressed, it leaves us to question the core fundamental values upon which our nation was built.