Some headlines force you to ask questions.

[westernvicki]

[url]https://www.producer.com/news/ag-sector-fears-senate-bills-effect-on-lending/[/url]

Farm lending tied to climate, we already are the most environmental farmers in the world. Who did not tell the Gov of Canada and the Senate?

In addition, the WHO Pandemic treaty will take effect this month. It will tie climate policy to health.

Do you even know what the WHO treaty is? Do you know who funds the WHO?


[url]https://www.realagriculture.com/2024/04/auditor-general-gives-agriculture-and-agri-food-canadas-climate-track-record-a-failing-grade/[/url]

The Auditor General's confirmation that the department did not consult with farmers or other stakeholders prior to establishing its fertilizer emissions reduction target in 2020 raises questions about the inclusivity of such decisions.

Did farmers even notice they were omitted until the Auditor General observed on our behalf?

And finally, this is the agenda:
[url]https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/02/01/global-elimination-of-meat-production-could-save-the-planet/[/url]

This is not new; Canada and much of the World are focused on climate policy. We have solid evidence that much of the language used on beef and methane is not credible. Grain farmers know that feed grains help create demand that makes viable rotational choice, But, how do farmers become included? Or are we the low-hanging fruit of climate policy,

We also know that Elites prefer the world to eat bugs, as they can own bug factories.

This is a question of voice.

What voice does global agriculture have, and do we care that we have become the low-hanging fruit of elites wanting to control the food industry and use climate policy as the tool to get there?

In Canada do we even have a climate policy voice despite millions in check-off dollars, or have we focused most on production solutions?

As the world turns, what does the future look like?

What does lower feed demand do to cereal production and profitable rotations?

Just a few questions from the headlines.

[SASKFARMER]

Read up on the new head of FCC

god help farmers if Trudeau and team **** up win again

[blackpowder]

Thank you for posting this.
Many people in the world know what hunger is. For most in the First World, those are 80+ year old memories. The Dutch still seem to remember.
Trade and ag policies, even energy to a degree, seem to reflect the existence or absence of these remembered realities in the various countries.
In NA it is obvious the link from stomach to brain has atrophied completely.
We spend our resources on human equity. Our own industry is trapped by infighting. Production, trade and subsidy.
Forgetting big picture policy. Our own atrophy. It will become ever more expensive to produce products. Internal policies now our larger threat.
But who really cares as long as our life style great, right??

[furrowtickler]

Thanks for posting Vickie
many people don’t understand and underestimate what is going on
this is all tied to UN 2030 , and the liberals are following lock step with the WHO and WEF , both non elected elites driving policy from Europe. The Liberals are pushing through these policies with little oversight and I agree it’s frightening that our ag groups are deer in the headlights now

[bucket]

With the resources Canada has for the world , it is disappointing that politicians are chasing the issues they do.

Most have never had such a good paycheck so they are going out of their way to ensure they get re-elected instead of looking for ways to make Canada a real economic powerhouse.

Uranium , oil & gas , agricultural exports, technology in all those industries, etc etc .

And the issues they chase are taxing people that have spent a lifetime working only to be taxed more. Or chasing away potential customers that need our resources because of some nonsensical belief that Canada can change or fix the world's environmental problems.

It is idiotic to say the least.

[westernvicki]

Thanks for posting Vickie
many people don’t understand and underestimate what is going on
this is all tied to UN 2030 , and the liberals are following lock step with the WHO and WEF , both non elected elites driving policy from Europe. The Liberals are pushing through these policies with little oversight and I agree it’s frightening that our ag groups are deer in the headlights now

It is a global agenda: So I am not sure the right or the left, Liberals or Conservatives will be better in this regard. By our lack of intervention, have we allowed the dialogue to be shaped? I believe it is up to us to influence our own stories. In that regard, I believe the responsibility is with farmers to be our own champions.

We truly are environmental farmers in the world! We should lead.

[furrowtickler]

It is a global agenda: So I am not sure the right or the left, Liberals or Conservatives will be better in this regard. By our lack of intervention, have we allowed the dialogue to be shaped? I believe it is up to us to influence our own stories. In that regard, I believe the responsibility is with farmers to be our own champions.

We truly are environmental farmers in the world! We should lead.

Yes very much agree

[blackpowder]

So if 6 farmers on Agriville agree, what is really happening with our groups? The individuals aren't idiots. No money? No will? Or to stay at the table instead of on it, are we really just the boiling frog anyway?

[Stormin]

People should read history of Stalin's collectivist years and see how that worked, I think we're headed there again. I didn't go so well for the peasants.

[westernvicki]

Exactly, Stormin. Coercion did not stop with Stalin.

We are the low-hanging fruit. We have the golden story. How do we find our voice?

Provincial ag organizations have focused predominantly on production at the expense of policy. We rely on national organizations to have the voice for agriculture. This is not working well. As evidence, zero was said about the impact of the capital gains tax; ironically, we are the most capital-intensive industry!

The get-along-go-along process has a fit but is not a one-size-fits-all process.

What if we established a central think tank comprising the brightest minds in finance, business, and our industry? This body would also engage the expertise of professional lobbyists to advocate effectively for farmers' food, entrepreneurs, builders, and Western Canadian agriculture.
?
We are professionals. Claim the territory. Champion our cause. Expect leadership in government to do the same in government.

When false information about our industry is published, we need mechanisms to counter it with audiences that matter.

We need to tell our story. And beef is also part of the story of demand.

Indeed, we need agronomics to improve our production. Research that is efficient and builds better varieties and production efficiency is climate policy. This is part of the ongoing solutions. But to shave off dollars to do this, we need to find a way to send levy dollars more efficiently so we have money to spend on policy. To do this efficiently, do we need every province to have a producer board for every commodity? Could research be streamlined to eco-zones rather than provinces? Australia has one farm board for example.

However, for the short term, we start with a joint committee that is a policy arm with membership for the existing boards. They would be charged with building a think tank for the ag industry, with provisions to invite and incentivize members, including other policy institutes and builders. The target is to build a formidable team of elected reps and advisors who churn out policy and communication.

We should break our pattern of ineffective change and make these changes quickly; we need to catch up.

We need to ensure that farmers invest in their industry and do not opt out of levy support, giving them a reason not to.

[blackpowder]

Rambling.
Noon show had GC interview re rail strike. "Disastrous and catastrophic". "Battling the recent weather"
And I could hear my city friend ask with concern how much I'm suffering.
My whole career I've hated those poor farmer interviews. As bad as hearing it in person from individuals.
Surely a PR expert would have better ideas??
For once I'd like to hear or read an ag article or interview as if written by Kevin O'leary not some Green Acres stuff.

[blackpowder]

As far as levy dollars for agronomy.
I realize it would cost, but free market does that better. Let corps invest in bushels and charge us for it.

[blackpowder]

I dunno. Recently I had a 2 year acquaintance with a 40 yr old single Mom from Ft Mac.
Her crowd had some commonalities.
They mistrusted govt and corporate bs. They had sympathy for the little guy. And they didn't tolerate whining.
They liked me in my Alberta Tuxedo. They listened.
She didn't last long working in the ag sector lol.
Todays interview just touched a nerve I guess. Nothing changes.
I remember a tv interview in early 80s of a local failing farmer. Standing in front of his swimming pool.

[LWeber]

Rambling.
Noon show had GC interview re rail strike. "Disastrous and catastrophic". "Battling the recent weather"
And I could hear my city friend ask with concern how much I'm suffering.
My whole career I've hated those poor farmer interviews. As bad as hearing it in person from individuals.
Surely a PR expert would have better ideas??
For once I'd like to hear or read an ag article or interview as if written by Kevin O'leary not some Green Acres stuff.

Worry about a rail strike when the greatest threat to farming is in fact: Government.
Vicki is right. No blow back and look what we get: “slapping backs” as Bucket calls it…
Whacked out climate policy is the greatest threat to farming.
66.4% elevator space or 5.537 MMT. Farm deliveries last week were 753,800 - so 7 weeks space at current deliveries. Catastrophic?

Every media school I attended an epoch ago stressed the same thing:
What is your message?
You'll get a 20 second sound bite - three quotes at best in print and if you're lucky 5 to 7 minutes of personal talk time in a 12 minute live interview.
The master interviewee will use those minutes to focus on "the message" and have the skills to bring the interview back to his/her message.
"Disastrous and catastrophic" - with 5 weeks of elevator space before it get's noteworthy?
"battling the recent weather" - geezus - that was the best rain coverage in 5 years over the past 7 days.
?
?Fitting that I leave you with this today.

Only met the guy once in the mid nineties when he was a guest speaker in Ottawa. He would eviscerate the Chuck types in a nano-second with words we mostly have never heard before.
Rex Murphy: 1947-2024 - Canada is a weaker place without him.

Canadian agriculture is a great success, a success built on generations of toil, love of the land, and expertise. Modern agriculture, for those who even have a glimpse of its complexity and sophistication, is a real wonder. Surely, this industry is one that will escape the oversight and interference of the climate priests. Alas no. The Netherlands is in turmoil because its government is bringing down stringent fertilizer curtailments, which have resulted in a countrywide protest by farmers. Agricultural workers are protesting similar policies in Sri Lanka, to say nothing of Ireland, where farmers are decrying a government plan calling for a 21 to 30 per cent cut in emissions from the agriculture sector. But surely this stumbling, aimless Liberal government of ours would not attempt something of the same here? Alas yes. Our federal government has given notice that farmers and ranchers have to cut back their emissions. The government has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer use by 30 per cent as part of its overall effort to reduce Canada’s emissions by 40 to 45 per cent by 2030. What kind of madness is this? With so few things (see above) functioning in this country, why is this otherwise indifferent or detached government wandering into a cardinal economic sector — the one that provides food — with its IPCC-driven mandates? Energy and food — the twin essentials of life and security. And this government cannot leave the industries which provide both alone. Neither can it seem to leave alone the lives and security of Western Canadians. (NATIONAL POST – July 25, 2022)
?

[blackpowder]

I will miss his usage of the English language. Absolute last of an era long gone.