Who will pay?

[melvill]

Got some green seed in canola in southern Alberta, too. Producers think that the plants dried down so quickly after swathing that plant physiological activity stopped before the green disappeared.

[Bruce14]

rsomer after reading this last post I had to go back and reread your second one (the tenth from the top). It appears to me you have come full circle in your arguement.

Having said that, the situation is serious and there are no easy answers. Unless the federal gov't wakes up to the situation agriculture is facing in Canada the family farm as we know it is certainly looking at a bleak future. Not many will continue to hold off farm jobs just to sink their wages back into a bottomless pit.

Will the people in power and taxpayers look back on this time and say "You know I guess we really should have listened and done something" or will our children be managing this land and the cattle for Cargill, IBP, Monsanto or whatever corporation?

[jensend]

Bruce14 - we are already managing this land for grain companies, banks, fertilizer and chemical companies. There is a total lack of respect for the producer and his investment. A small (very) example: 3 weeks ago I contract some canola and hit the top of the market. Delivery within 15 days - well maybe if they have space and feel like it or I could cancel the contract and take a worse basis and a lower Winnipeg price. I'm bound; they're not. After rain last night they want to deliver fertilizer and I say leave it for a day to let the yard dry up but two Super Bee's roll in at 2. It works out because the wind had dried things up but no notice or checking with us. I'm sick of the corporate attitude that I have made this investment for them to milk. Hopefully I will last long enough to see more than a few of these corporate geniuses topple over into their own dung. That's my rant.

[carebear300]

You don't even have to wonder in this country that the government and society that we live in would ever have a second thought over losing a few more of those nuisance type farmers. I mean if you don't have five hundred cows or seed ten thousand acres you were really just inefficent operators that were just clogging up the system. If I sound cynical and tee offed it is because I am fed up with all the rhetoric that all politicians of all stripes dish out to the media for the population to gobble up. The truth is that they don't give a dam one way or the other and don't intend to help farmers. Now big agri businesses that is something important and they make bigger political contributions so we have to make sure that they survive. The banks have record profits but they will likely need help as well because they are taking a bath on some of their ag accounts, through no fault of the farmers but because of international rulings and government interference. Well am glad I got that off my chest but will not apologize to any one for getting this worked up, knowing full well that nothing I say or do will make one bit of difference to the powers that be down east in the federal government.

[Bruce14]

Jensend and carebear RANT ON! Sometimes it feels better yelling into the wind than not yelling at all.

Actually jensend we are not managing for the corporations. It may be better if we were as then at least they would be assuming the risk instead of us. At least that's my take.

[cowman]

Kato: So what happens to the cow guy in Manitoba? Did Manitoba sign on to Van Cliefs Ag scheme, where we're all going to be living the life of Riley? They claim big bucks are coming down the pipes if you guys sign up! For who I'm not sure? Maybe for the guys administrating it? I shouldn't speculate because I really haven't even read the info the government sent me!
Do you think your NDP government is handling this better than the last guy would have? It seems to me he was pretty close with the old pocketbook too?

[rsomer]

Bruce14: you said "It appears to me you have come full circle in your arguement."

In my earlier post I was trying to show the other side of the issue, from a school teachers viewpoint. How we need to communicate to the urban taxpayer in way that they can relate to, which might be different than how a cattle producer would relate to the same message. I was at a meeting last night with Sheila Copps, she pointed out that 50% of Canadians live in 8 major cities. She also pointed out that there has been 7 years of uninterrupted growth in the economy and a lot of Canadians are doing very well. This might explain the generosity that government has been shown our industry to date. I think back some years when the economy was in recession and government was into budget cuts. The cattle industry might not have received what help it has if this crisis has happened at that time. Since my wife is both a teacher and lives on the farm she does see the need for help for the beef industry but at the same time wishes there was more money for education.

In the post you referred to I also mentioned how successful the oil industry has been in communicating its message to the taxpayer. I suggested that a possible reason for this was when oil prices were down jobs were lost and when drilling activity is down, energy prices are seen to rise. I have since thought there is another reason. A lot of people own shares in oil companies and their retirement depends on the oil companies showing a profit. It is easier to convince the taxpayer of the importance of your industry if their pocketbook is impacted as well as yours.

[rsomer]

kato: you said "they brought out low-interest loans, so we could all get a little deeper in debt."

Our national beef organization, the Canadian Cattleman’s Association (CCA) is not supporting direct deficiency payments to the cow calf producers, only to the feedlots which held cattle to be fattened as of May 20. The CCA policy for the rest of us is interest free cash advances with the rest of the support to the primary producer to be funneled through CAISP.

The CCA is describing their policy as a four pronged approach but really it is a two pronged approach, one approach for feedlots and another approach for the cow calf producer. CAISP will support those cow calf producers who were fortunate to have built up a healthy reference margin. But I shouldn’t have to qualify for support in this crisis by having shown a profit in three of the past five years, the feedlots didn't have to. Many cow calf producers hard hit by repeated droughts have no reference margin left and will receive no support from CAISP. It is not fair that the feedlots received unconditional grants while cow calf producers receive interest free loans that have to be paid back and CAISP if your lucky. It appears that on this issue government is only following the advice of the CCA who are speaking on our behalf. I am disappointed that all sectors of the industry are not being treated equally.

[Bruce14]

rsomer, did you ask Sheila any of the tough questions? Did you ask what her gov'ts plan was to help open the U.S. border to Canadian Beef or was she just in town to sell gay marraiges, maryjane legislation or gun control? Did you ask her why her gov't was using the BSE crisis to force provinces to sign on to the APF?

You mention she said Canada has enjoyed 7 years of uninterrupted growth. Did you ask her if that was all of Canada or was it central Canada where the votes are and her particular riding.

Yea I believe 50% of Canadians live in 8 major cities. What's her point? 80% of Canadians also live within an hour of the TransCanada corridor. We all know when we flip the T.V. on election night that event though the polls just closed Peter Mansbridge always says "For those of you just joining us from Manitoba west we can tell you the .........'s will be forming the next gov't".

Now the point I don't understand "This might explain the generosity that government has been shown our industry to date." Were they passing out some "WEED" at this meeting with Sheila. The BSE crisis has barely been noticed by the Liberal gov't. Where has Sheila's fearless mentor J.C Superstar been through all of this?

Rsomer I hope you didn't let Miz.
Copps off too easy while she was busy patting herself on the back.

[rsomer]

Bruce14: The question I wanted to ask was can Canada afford to pursue its own policies if the United States doesn’t approve. Sheila mentioned she did not support Canada taking part in the U.S Strategic Space Initiative and I was left wondering if we can say no to the U.S. anymore. Faced with the U.S. stance on BSE (I don’t believe beef is crossing the border yet), tariffs on Canadian wheat, softwood lumber. Sheila mentioned magazines, can Canada take a position independent of the U.S. on any issue without being hammered with reprisals. Questions were limited to only three and I never got to ask. One old guy got up and said he thought there should be a holiday in June and it should be called "Who Gives a Damn Day". I thought that was pretty good. Sheila gave just a brief talk, she is an impressive lady who has some good ideas even if I didn’t agree with everything. She was speaking to college students, not to farmers, and her comments were along lines of interest to them. I don’t think anyone needed to pass out any weed at this college meeting, there was probably some already there. She was in Red Deer looking to gain delegates for the leadership election November 15. Sheila’s comments about 50% living in 8 cities was to underline her vision of stronger regions where children can work close to home. I support that. I think the ½ billion of federal support already spent is a lot of money for cattlemen, too bad it never got spread around to a lot more people. It will take a lot more support than that but I am worried it isn’t going to be there for the cow calf guy. I don’t know if you can blame government for everything, our industry leaders are letting us down too.

[rusty1]

rsomer: Boy your a bear for punishment. Now we know why you think the way you do didn't there was any like you out west any more.
Do you know the definition of a LIBERAL Someones who's own interest are not at stake at the moment.
I what you remind you of the questions from ivbenconned - when are you going to answer them.

[Bruce14]

Yep the biggest fears around here after BSE are the NDP scraping out another victory and something happening to Paul Martin resulting in Sheila Copps being our next P.M.