Rally

[grassfarmer]

Thank you for your usual thoughtfull reply farmers_son, I agree particularily with your analysis of the Quebec protests.
Where you really misunderstand me is when you dismiss the NFU as some type of lunatic organisation to be avoided like the plague. I came to this country with no prior involvement with a farmers union, the Scottish one was useless - kind of like ABP. On examination the NFU in Canada, although insignificant numerically, stands up for the values I believe in - supporting the family farm accross all sectors through reasoned research and policy documents presented to Government. Although numerically small the members of the Union have been punching far above their weight in this crisis, assisting the Beef Initiative Group meetings by ensuring good turnouts at some of their meetings, being involved in promoting attendance and good candidates standing in ABP producer meetings as well as being invited to meet with the Alberta Ag minister on a regular basis for the first time. They have also been acting as a go between for individuals trying to set up the new slaughter plants in an effort to help these plants get built. None of this is funded by producer checkoff and unlike the ABP they do not have a $12 million budget of producer money to squander.
I'm proud to say I am a member and support the organisation 100% - if people don't like that or label me a lunatic so be it. If you or anyone else does not support mobilising primary producers to fight their corner in a desperate situation because you belong to a different clique or group - shame on you , that is why producers get walked all over time and again. It's time to smarten up and get over these petty differences if we are to improve our lot. This rally is about primary producers getting on their feet and speaking directly to Government and the media - if it fails because of redneck perceptions of anything containing the word "union" I will be very dissapointed in this great Province I have made my home in.

[ivbinconned]

"Where you really misunderstand me is when you dismiss the NFU as some type of lunatic organisation to be avoided like the plague."

" if people don't like that or label me a lunatic so be it. If you or anyone else does not support mobilising primary producers to fight their corner in a desperate situation because you belong to a different clique or group - shame on you"

Once again grassfarmer someone gives you a little advice and you come back with an inflamatory response and accuse others of saying what they did not say.

You have a great imagination and a very thin skin...shame on you!

[farmers_son]

Grassfarmer: Just to be clear, I was simply pointing out that the NFU has a credibility problem with government, particularly in Alberta. If you personally find the NFU represents your views then by all means you should offer them your support.

I certainly do support mobilizing primary producers to fight their corner in a desperate situation. The challenge is how best to do that. In the U.S. a few have joined R-CALF and maybe that got them some results they wanted. I personally question R-CALF's tactics. However, in Alberta BIG-C has been successful in getting positive media attention for their beliefs and I believe have made tangible progress.

Are we best to have many interest groups approaching government or are we best to have one voice like we see in Quebec. Perhaps it is time to revive Unifarm?

You might be interested in reading a history of Unifarm at:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/abpolitics/people/influ_farmers.html

Also the University of Calgary Press has published a book Unifarm A Story of Conflict and Change that might be interesting. See: http://www.uofcpress.com/1-55238/1-55238-051-3.html

Also the Wild Rose Producers of Alberta website at: http://www.wrap.ab.ca/home.html

I am not a member of any of these groups and I do not advocate any of them. Just posing the question on how best to influence government.

Certainly we as an industry need to agree collectively on what we want to see happen before we go to government. I am not sure we are there yet and government is exploiting that indecisiveness and lack of a cohesive approach by doing nothing when it comes to charting a new future for beef producers.

If we aproach government with many voices then government will simply listen to the voice that tells them what they want to hear. The end result will be as producers we will not have influenced government at all.

[farmers_son]

when government starts hearing about an issue from a large number of people, they do react. However, I am afraid that this government does not respond well to any group that may be seen as attempting to embarass them. Much better to attempt to get a meeting with the Minister and discuss concerns with him as a group.

[grassfarmer]

Farmers_son, I agree entirely with your view that individual groups are achieving little and that is being exploited by Government. But how do we proceed from here? You say we are not at the point where we see the need to unite and present a uniform front. We will never reach that point either as our industry descends into a hole with each sector scrambling to get one up on the next link in the chain to survive. That is why I am advocating supporting a demonstration by cross the board primary producers. I have supported BIG-C both physically and financially as I have the NFU and I've also supported ABP through levy. Unfortunately the only group with credibility in the eyes of the AB government is ABP - shame they have no credibility in the eyes of producers. How do we change that?

[grassfarmer]

Update!!
Plans are progressing well for the event with a good crowd anticipated. The rally will proceed as mentioned on Thursday on the legislature grounds. We have a live exhibit of two cows and a sheep attending. The Alberta Government has agreed to accept a cull cow from the group with the other being there as a companion animal. The sheep will be presented to represent the plight of owners of the other bovine species affected by this crisis. An official actually called back to see if we had any suggestions where they could get the animal butchered !! Of course they were told "welcome to our world" take your place on the waiting list to get a kill spot. So you see Government can be made to learn! The attendance of the animals as well as comprehensive media work before hand will hopefully garner plenty attention for the event.
After the rally is addressed the Minister of Agriculture will meet with a small group of the delegation leaders for a discussion of the problems affecting farmers.
This is a great opportunity, please choose to be involved and show that you care for the future of fellow producers and our industry.

[kato]

Good going. Moral support is the best I can come up with from this distance, but I wish you the best. Anything that keeps the media attention will be good for all of us. Now that the electioneering is all over, the risk of being forgotten is very real.

Personally, I have read more than one release by the NFU in the past several years that made a lot of sense. I'd not be too quick to dismiss them.

They came out with a good news release a while back that stuck with me. It was about the concentration of power in the food sector by large multinational corporations. Is that now what we are struggling with in the beef business now? Seems to me they were ahead of the game on that one, because it came out before the BSE crisis hit. At the time, everyone was rolling along quite happily, and dismissed it as being 'off the wall', but now it doesn't look quite that way.

[jensend]

kato that discussion paper on the myths of efficiency and economies of scale is on the nfu website at www.nfu.ca. i've always voted as far right as i could and never had much respect for the nfu but when i read that paper it was everything i have been thinking for the last five years or so. it begs the question of how we as producers can get so much more efficient and everybody else in the chain can take the benefits of that efficiency.

[grassfarmer]

Thanks for the support guys, jensend reading that document was a turning point for me too. It explained how things that were shaping my experiences as a farmer came about - and makes me realise how things will not go back to "the good old days" - we need to use this information to create a new future for ourselves.

[grassfarmer]

grassfarmer, sounds like your group is well organized, congratulations and hopefully your efforts will make a difference !!!!!