Dear Editor
Reading about the excitement building for Canada’s Agriculture Day is a farce (Farmer Rancher Jan. 25, 2018). It is not about agriculture at all, but about Agri-business. Even the article (fourth paragraph) proves it: “…opened doors to food conversations through social media and showcased the industry to young people who attended a daylong, marquee event in Ottawa, alongside industry and political leaders. Canadian agriculture is an innovative, vibrant and forward-thinking industry …” Even their guest speaker for this year’s celebration is not a farmer, but a radio science reporter. What does he know about farming? This is more fake news!
Agri-culture takes time to grow and buildup, whereas Agri-business or “the industry,” you can get in or out of it in a day. Now that government and industry policies have depleted the farmers and their livelihood to next to nil, they are suddenly interested in attracting youth. Why? We don’t eat what we produce so there is no support for farmers. All they care about is exports and all that has led to is farmers getting bigger and in deeper debt. I really don’t know why anyone would want to farm today. And certainly our youth cannot afford to get into farming. There is a sick joke in the agricultural community that parents who encourage their children to become farmers are child-abusers. Just like any other “industry” if there was money to be made, they wouldn’t need to encourage youth. Instead farmers continue to live in a high-stress, cost-price squeeze and continue to be serfs. Everybody in the economic world farms the farmer. And if you do buy into their propaganda, farmers will have to continue to “mine” the soil instead of farming it.
Marcella Pedersen
NFU Region 6 (Saskatchewan)
Women’s Advisory Chair
Cut Knife
