Whining farmers

[enough]

I don't want to sound ungratefull for the food you think you put on my table. I have been reading this site for awile now and it appers to me all you farmers do is whine. Get off your butts and get jobs like the rest of the world.
You can either farm and farm right or leave. The world is changing and you must change with it.
Farmers think they should get cheques in the mail and assisstance if the price is low for your cows and grain.
I know you supply food but charge more or stop doing it.

[rodb]

Enough

You have a good point but I don't think you would like to pay for food what it actually costs.

In the Seventies there was a great deal of concern about vertical integration in the food supply chain. Everyone was worried that they would be held to ransom for their daily bread. These food conglomerates soon found out that farmers produce (right or wrongly) food at below the margin that they would need to have a profitable business. Governments were lobbyied and thus we have the subsidies in Europe, USA and other more developed countries.

Our other problem is that we are good at what we do, are willing to work for a low return because we mistakenly love our jobs and the fringe benefits that go with being your own boss.

We groan and complain but it is no different than most workers standing around the proverbial water cooler complaining about their own daily grind. Their are very few who feel that if on an equal footing with other producers in the world, that we need a hand out to keep us going. Just be thankful that you have the safest and most nutritional food system in the world and you pay very little to keep it.
There will be fewer producers in the future, that is a given but as numbers go down and we become less independent we will start to be able to charge more for our product so start saving now so that you can afford to eat when you are collecting your company pension.

Happy New Year

[cakadu]

Enough - were you or are you aware that what the farmer gets from your entire year's food bill is paid for by the 2nd week of January? Yes, in about 9 or 10 more days time, you will have paid the producer his/her share of your food bill.

In the last few years, we have seen many new food safety measures implemented at producer expense so that you can have safe food to eat.

There are very few of us who would like to stand around and wait for the cheque to come. Some of us advocate that we need to get paid what our products are worth. Some of us even go so far as to say that we need to change our ways of doing things so that we can get paid more.

Part of the success of this forum is that we have a place to come and talk about our successes, what we've seen that has worked and yes, to even vent a little.

We do love what we do otherwise we wouldn't be here. It would, in many cases, be much easier to sell everything and go and work at a 9 to 5 job and live our lives.

Nobody owes anyone a living. What we do want to see is a fair price for what we do. We have to compete with countries like the U.S. and more to the point the Europeans that have subsidies. In Europe, I know that some of the excuse is that we don't want to go hungry again. Well, they haven't gone hungry in over 50 years - since the end of the war, so why are they doing what they are doing.

We're trying to make changes out there, but like anyone else or as it is with many things - change is slow to come and there is great frustration over change.

I encourage you to go back through some of the threads and see where we are happy at the site of newborns that survive and the hope of a newly seeded crop being "the one". Many are not in it for the money because if they were, they would be working on the oil rigs.

I'm glad to see all contributions to the site because it helps us all.

[cakadu]

Actually, something else comes to mind as well. My brother once said what you are saying right now. I asked him, as I'll ask you - how long would you go without getting a paycheque if it were through no fault of your own - i.e. you just went to collect your pay at the end of the week and it wasn't there. His response - one week.

As I said to him, we don't have that choice in many instances - you see a bumper crop waiting to be harvested only to have it wiped out by a hailstorm just prior to your being able to harvest, or this year where there was great hope for good things as we got much needed moisture at the right time and then BSE hit, then there was a drought worse than last year and to top it all off - more grasshoppers than have ever been seen in these parts for many, many years.

Yet, despite all of it, we can say - there is hope for next year. We tend to be extremely resilient folk and oft times we have optimism, but there are times when everything is out of our control and we can just sit by watch.

It's not as easy as one thinks to get a job, especially if you have been farming all your life and don't have a degree. It's not an easy job market out there these days.

[kato]

Wow! I am so impressed with the civil, intelligent, and classy responses to that first post.

Some discussion boards would have said "That's enough!" and blown him out of the water! LOL

Happy New Year!

[rsomer]

enough: you said "I know you supply food but charge more or stop doing it." Farmers typically produce agricultural commodities which are sold into a commodity market. Charging more for our production is not a luxury that is available to us. As for "stop doing it", I believe that is a real concern. There is reason for all Albertans and Canadians to be concerned that a significant number of our beef producers will indeed "stop doing it". Did you know that:

Alberta is the largest beef producing province in Canada. The province leads the nation in cattle and calf inventories, accounting for 5.2 million head or 39 per cent of the national total at January 1, 2003.

Meat and poultry processing is at the heart of food processing activity in Alberta. In 2002, shipments totalled $4.8 billion (54 per cent of total food processing), a decline of 5.7 per cent from a record $5.1 billion in 2001.

Beef was Alberta’s top agri-food export at $1.6 billion in 2002.

Alberta agri-food industries contributed 3.9 per cent to the province's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2001.

Alberta is the second largest agricultural producer in Canada. In 2002, Alberta accounted for 23 per cent of national farm cash receipts generated from primary agriculture.

In May, a single cow in Alberta was found to have bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease. The repercussions were severe; in 2002, Canada's beef export market was worth about $4.1 billion. Following the imposition of the ban by several countries, most notably the United States, the value of these Canadian exports dropped to virtually zero.

The single positive BSE in Canada took its toll on the Canadian economy. In June 2003 Finance Minister John Manley cut GDP predictions by one percentage point for 2003, from 3.2% to 2.2%. This week, Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy shrank for the first time since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. And it's probable that the economy will not regain its form until Americans again start to barbecue with Canadian beef.

"Enough", the cattle industry and agriculture is one of Canada's major resource industries. The BSE crisis is of major economic importance to everyone, wage earner, pensioner, and yes farmer in Canada. If beef producers choose to "stop doing it", the economy of the entire country would suffer.

[Bruce14]

One question for "enough".

Has the CBC forum site become so boring that you had to come here to share your understanding of Agriculture or was it just to throw darts?

[countryguy]

Enough

Every farmer in this country has major hurdles to jump every year trying to produce product to be able to sell at the end of the year.

I for one am growing tired of these hurdles as I am sure many others are.I AM contemplating quiting and doing something else.

I just HAVE to ask you though what you think would happen to this country if EVERY farmer in this country decided to "get off their butts and get jobs like the rest of the world?"

[cakadu]

kato - I find comments like these can build awareness on both sides, so I like to hear them.

First, as producers, we need to know what non-producers are thinking and how we are being perceived.

Second, we as producers can give answers to non-producers that they may not have been aware of.

It actually creates awareness on both sides and can be quite beneficial.

[ivbinconned]

Ok Enough...lets dance!

You know what we all do for a living. How about you tell us a bit about your self.

What do you do? Where do you work? Your age? Do you have kids in school?etc. Do you drive on public roads? Ever been in a hospital?

Come on...let us scrutinize your life.

If you are a purist then you should be able to show us that nothing yes nothing in your life endevors and activities and needs are subsidized by others. You pay your own way in all things. Right?

[enough]

Well first off I have no children, I am 42, divorced with a income that makes me dependant on no one else.
I believe that one must make your own way in this world without the aid of others. For nearly twenty-five years I have made my living in the profession of helping others understand the importance of peoples rights as well as an understanding of our planet earth.
I feel that agriculture, be it a noble profesion in many eyes is a life style of waiting for others down falls to help their own causes. Your B.S.E. problem is a result of your own greed. Your financial problems can be corrected by taking charge of your own lives, the government will not help you anymore than with my causes.
There is to much comercialization in this world. The rich get richer and us with values not associated with the accepted practices are shunned.

[bombay_43]

I think that what Enough is trying to say,is that we people who believe that we are putting food on peoples tables, need to form a UNION!

I think we only need to withhold our food for 72 hours or so, before Enough and others like him, have had Enough!

Maybe then a true realization of where food comes from and the actual cost of producing it, would appear.

Our governments have NEVER subsidized the farmers. They have subsidized consumers such as ENOUGH, who would be unwilling to pay the actual cost of production to the farmers.

Give me a break!

[bulltipper]

Long time lurker, seldom poster and I had to reply to this one. What Enough is yapping about is the perception out there in urban land, hell, that even isn't so bad. I haunt a bunch of fly fishin' BBs and you should see how agriculture is perceived by that bunch at times. The problem as I see it, seem lately every time agriculture is in news lately, it's because of some disaster i.e. mad cow, etc.

Looks to me we need to hire a spin doctor of some sort and get some positive news out there.

BTW Country, I know where you're comin' from. Got tired of the B.S., harvested my last crop in '99, sold out, took my part-time business full time. And now, wonder of wonders, I still have money in the bank after paying all my bills and people keep phoning me to do some more work for them!

Have a good '04, People and Take Care!

[countryguy]

Enough

I've been reading through the discussions trying to find where you were complaining about the whole segment of the population scattered around this country that do absolutely nothing for 100% of their income,or the big handouts made by you and me through our gov't to the Bombardier corp.Surely these must also tick you off a bit?

I think it's very distateful for you to come in here kicking an industry that's on its knees and down for the count.Farmers make up like 2% of the population in this country.How many less of us do you want?

Let me put things into perspective for you.The other day I was in the grocery store with the wife and noticed these bags of whole,unprocesed wheat selling for nearly 3 dollars for a one pound bag.That works out to $180 per bushel!We as farmers are FORCED to sell our wheat for $4 per bushel.That's a $176 per bushel profit somebody other than the farmer is making!Would that not be enough to make you complain if you were in our shoes?So instead of coming in here and calling us whiners maybe you should direct your energy to the ones who are making the massive profits ripping both you and I off.

Bulltipper

2004 is going to be a tell all year for me.If I don't like the way things are going I'll be starting a new life in Cowman country!

Welcome to the site and post often!

[ivbinconned]

Enough; what do you DO to make your income????