Whining farmers

[cowman]

Well I have to once again agree with some of the stuff enough says! I will note that most of the destruction is being done for a wasteful urban population. You know the throw away generation?
Need a new building...knock it down and haul it to the dump, sort of thing.
And I agree with enough that modern agriculture is not helpful. We spay too much. We put on too much chemical fertilizer. Our livestock practices invite disaster. We use to many hormones and antibiotics. We farm land that should have never seen the plow.
Why do we do this? Well maybe it has to do with the cheap food policy? Or the cost-price squeeze? And who benifits most from that? Perhaps Enough and his fellow urbanites?
Perhaps enough should support organic food? Help get his neighbors to see the light? I'd personally be quite happy to go back to a more natural lifestyle if there was any money in it!
And Linda, if the oil companies have failed to do anything on some leases it is the fault of our provincial government. They have basically abdicated their responsibility to regulate and protect the oil leases. Cut back big time! I guess they have more important things to do than insure the environment is protected?

[pillypillsner]

enough,what has actually happened is commodity prices have been artfically supressed for over 25 years.with out really getting into it farmers have been fighting an uphill battle for many years.this has left us with fewer farmers.those who are left are either lucky or tough.yes the canadian farmer has had modest subsidies but i asure you they are only modest.as for all the whinning,it is because the farmers sense something is wrong.we spend our whole lives "producing" -to make sure people like you have CHEEEEAAAAP foood. (if your fat thank a farmer)
the farmers i know can weld,drive semi and just about everything else mechanical.plumbing,carpentry,drywallingelectrical are sum of the trades that come to mind.grain marketer,accountant, vet,mechanic,agronomist-do you get the picture yet?you really do need us more than we need you.farmers work 100 hours a week in the spring,summer,fall and bankers hours or better in the winter.We do this so you the consumer does not have spend money on food(this helps control inflation).this little imbalance will change in a few years.

[raymondb]

ENOUGH-we farmers and ranchers who produce food directly or indirectly do not set the price of our product--believe me , if we could we would. The buyer of our product (before it is packaged or processed) sets the price.We do and/or can set the price for our breeding stock and our grain seed we sell but anything that is going for consumption is set by the companies buying from us and yet if any of these companies contaminate the final product we end up with the consequences.We can ensure a healthy animal or grain BUT we can not ensure a safe end product.

[cakadu]

I agree Cowman, it is the government who has failed miserably in terms of ensuring that reclamation is carried out. Why bother to get them to sign that they will reclaim if there isn't going to be anything to back it up.

Somedays I feel it is a hill worth dying on because I am more than just a little frustrated with how lease sites are left.

As far as throw away goes and not having any respect for the natural areas, I'll relate a little story to you. My husband - who has been an advocate for the environment for his adult life and yes, he is a hunter, but at least he cares for the environment - went out hunting with a bunch of his urban counterparts. When they started throwing their garbage around out in the bush, he made them pick it up and explained why they had to do it. Many of them grumbled about it, but still picked it up. They just figured it would eventually go back to nature, so why bother to pick it up?

Maybe they learned something, maybe not, but the point is next time they might think about it before tossing that beer can out the window.

[ivbinconned]

You notice that Enough refuses to answer my question about where his income comes from.
He said he is dependant on no one, I don't believe him.
He will not say specificly but indicates that he has spent 25 years trying to influence people to his way of thinking?? A-ha, he is a teacher of socalist studies.
If so...he doesn't pay taxes either! He is paid taxes! High taxes paid by primary producers...people who are creative...perhaps in a school he did not have to personaly invest in or build himself with borrowed money.
If I am even close here, enough, shame on you.

[pandiana]

enough: "I understand that what many of you say is out of anger to me for disagreeing with your points of view. You will in time realize that my points of view are the majority." You have led us to believe, that by reading these posts you were searching for the truth, not whether or not you were the majority. Searching for the truth is what most of what farmers are looking for as well. For some reason, despite post after post citing the latest information as it is released and atempts to put it into a balanced perspective, you continue to reiterate your original, narrow minded stance.

If the article cited in the thread from the Wall Street Journal does not influence your perception of this problem, written by one of you, then I suspect nothing will.