Subsidies for Canadian farmers?

[Randy01]

What do you guys think about the idea of agricultural subsidies for Canadian farmers?

I used to be totally for the idea, but now I’m a little unsure.

My original stance was that we need to help our farmers by subsidizing their crops. A lot of them are no longer making a profit, and some will soon go out of business. Since locally grown food is good for the economy, we want to maintain a strong agricultural sector that won’t go out of business in the next decade.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a number of conversations with people about this topic. It’s come to my attention that subsidies are often bad for developing nations who cannot compete with subsidized crops. I’ve also received the argument that simply giving cash to farmers isn’t going to solve the problem, and that we need to concentrate more on specializing our agricultural sector towards the production of non-GMO foods.

I also have a YouTube video that includes my musings about agricultural subsidies (among other things), and some comments and video responses that were not in favour of the idea.

What do you think? Should the federal government give more money to our farmers, or should we let the free market take care of itself?

Randy

[fellowtraveller]

You may have noticed that our climate precludes the availability and domestic production of many of the things we eat, such as fruit vegetables, rice and so on. In your next homework assigment, perhaps you could address how we can subsidize local production of mangos and Kiwi fruit in January in Moose Jaw.

Before we even address the glaobaloiztion issues, perhaps Canada should address the supply side economic polices of our agricultural system, where it is more difficult and expensive to do business between provinces than between countries.

[Topaz]

Coming from a farming family in Ontario, I too, wonder how long the govt's are going to bail out farmer's? Lets face it, farming today its alot different from years past, there's more computer being used for one, prices on the BIG equipment is expensive and the only ones who can afford to stay are the farms that are in corporated. Tobacco is a dying crop and even the ones that grow it can make a profit, but most go to South America. Of course, there's two kinds of farming, livestock and crops. I don't think most Canadians are going to want the govt to keep supporting the farmers and yet if we don't, we'll have to eat more imported.

[capricorn]

I don't think most Canadians are going to want the govt to keep supporting the farmers and yet if we don't, we'll have to eat more imported.

Good point Topaz. It's the old damned if you do, damned if you don't. I sure don't want us to totally rely on imported foods. There have been enough horror stories about unsafe food products from China to raise red flags (no pun intended).

[fellowtraveller]

the only ones who can afford to stay are the farms that are in corporated.

and those with quotas and artificially inflated domestic prices, all paid for needlessly by consumers. Quebecs dairy industry would collapse overnight if Canadians were allowed to produce milk products as they chose, rather than as they were directed for political reasons.

[jawapunk]

Well as a Newfoundlander I would be completely hypocritcal to say farmers shoudl not be subsidized. However, just as fishermen are subsidized, it has to be done wihin reason. The federal fisheries finally realized the cod fishery was dead and ended it. If the cost of farming is spiralling so out of control then perhaps it may be time to place some type of moritorium(spelling?) on that industry as well.

I can't see that happening though, I think just as fishing is part of the cultural fabric of the maritimes so too is farming/ranching out west on the prairies. It is a very difficult thing to give up an industry with that kind of importance which is why Newfoundland has adjusted slowly.

[fellowtraveller]

so too is farming/ranching out west on the prairies

Farming and ranching are irrevocably changed already in Alberta. Mostly, it has been a consolidation of farms into larger operations, still run by local families.

But how is it important if it cannot support itself, as in your example of fishing in Nfld.

May I respectfully suggest that the province do what most everybody else has done when the local industry fails: move on, forego the government teat and if necessary move yourself.

[Michael Hardner]

I'd like to know why manufacturing and computer jobs continue to be globalized out of existence, yet we seem to only hear about certain types of jobs.

Unfortunately, large corporate farms can produce food at a fraction of the cost so that's where production is going to go.

[Wilber]

As long as other countries we compete with subsidize their farmers, we don't have much choice if we want an agriculture industry. The alternative is to become completely dependent for our food supply on other countries. It does make life more difficult for developing countries but what are you going to do. Either everyone subsidizes or no one does.

Quota's were implemented to give farmers some stability in order to avoid the boom, bust scenario that existed without it. However there is a limited amount of quota and it is bought and sold on the open market. Many large dairy farmers have millions invested in quota and the have to pass on that expense to the consumer. It doesn't have anything to do with their efficiency. The more efficient a farmer is, the more money he makes, period.

One thing we noticed on our cross Canada trip last summer was how much more expensive milk was in Central and Eastern Canada even though the same quota system is in use out west.

[guyser]

Why start and stop w farmers?

Why not start with, oh the auto co's, or the various and large subsidies that business' get from local cities towns or provinces?

[jdobbin]

It seems to me that the person who posted this is not interested in debating but interested in upping his number count on youtube and trying to win $50,000 in Canada's Next Great Prime Minister on the CBC.

Sorry, not interested in watching your audition tape or participating in your reality contest.

Edited November 22, 2007 by jdobbin

[margrace]

Has anyone on here read the End of Food by Thomas F. Pawlick? Have you ever wondered why some illnesses are on the rise, where has the supper bugs come from. Why are antibiotics becoming less and less effective. Does anyone care"

Of course not, we don't even think about it until we get sick ourselves or a family member becomes deathly ill.

Just as an aside my son in law was thinking of putting in a new milking parlour, his was a big operation and the parlour would have cost about $750.000, so he went looking at existing Parlours. He went to Wisconsin, where better to see milk production at its best. Well he found that the big operations could somehow corner all the government grants and were doing very well but the Mom and Pop farms were not. He observed the Mother of the family fallowing her husband and sons down the line as they milked the cows, she was pumping each cow with antibiotics. He also found the smallar operations not very clean in comparison to Canadian Barns. Well He came home and thought about and decided it was time to retire from milking so he sold the milk operation.

I never buy exotic fruits and try to stick to what can be produced in Canada. I am deathly afraid of what is put on foods in other countries and knowing that 40,000 people die in the world of insecticde poisoning every year does not make it very likely for me to change my attitude.

[Muddy]

How come farmers retire to the biggest house in town and spend so much time in their other home in Florida? All Right ! That was cruel.

Who killed off the King Cod? Fishermen and politicians who didn`t have the guts to face reality that there was too few fish and too many fisherman.

Farming is different. Our farmers don`t have a level playing field with subsidys in the USA and Europe to compete with and a shorter growing season.

So I have a proposal. Lets go to a metric year! How would that help you ask! It`s so simple! Eliminate January and Febuary. Nobody likes those months. Bills come in from Christmas! The days are glommy. Not much to do outside! Tack those day on June July and August. Walla! A longer summer and two more crops!

What!!!

Dislexics of the world ... UNTIE

[August1991]

I never buy exotic fruits and try to stick to what can be produced in Canada. I am deathly afraid of what is put on foods in other countries and knowing that 40,000 people die in the world of insecticde poisoning every year does not make it very likely for me to change my attitude.

We live in a world where hundreds of thousands of people every day fly between continents. Almost everyone reading this post has probably been abroad several times. Why do people travel? Because they can and because they benefit from the travel.

We cannot live in a world where we only deal locally for the simple reason that no one really wants to live in such a world. I happen to think that it's a wonderful thing that I can co-operate and trade with someone on the other side of the world. It makes everyone better off. Indeed, if there is any hope for this planet, it will be through the collective effort of global trade. The historical evidence is that when individuals can trade and deal with freely with one another, there is less likelihood of wars.

If you think that you can protect yourself by buying locally, or that you do good for Canada if you buy locally, you are seriously and naively mistaken.

What do you guys think about the idea of agricultural subsidies for Canadian farmers?

We should stop them immediately.

It seems to me that the person who posted this is not interested in debating but interested in upping his number count on youtube and trying to win $50,000 in Canada's Next Great Prime Minister on the CBC.

Sorry, not interested in watching your audition tape or participating in your reality contest.

Thanks for pointing that out Dobbin. Edited November 22, 2007 by August1991