Canadian media refuses farm ads

[ejames]

I can’t believe it. I just heard that major radio networks across the Canada refused to run advertisements that encourage people to support their local farmer. Why would they do that? There is absolutely nothing wrong with the ads (hear for yourself at canadasfarmersmarket.com) except maybe they hit closer to home than most people would like to admit. I know I am going to forward them to everyone in my e-mail list. I don’t understand why radio stations would refuse to run ads that support the farmers of this country. Are they really that far removed from here their food comes from. Or do they just support the major corporations who get rich on the farmers labours while the farmers struggle to make ends meet.

[madcow]

it seems to me that farmers are becoming like landfills in the eyes of the public.We all need the farms,,,," but not in my back yard syndrom " affects them.It also seems to make a difference as to who you are,'big business' agricultural inconvenience's are more tolerated than the small guy just trying to make a living.Like my little manure pile smells worse than the mega-buck operation Had a guy move here years ago because he liked the fresh country air and the green of the fields,but he had no idea what the cause of the green smelled like, he's fine now but some people never accept it,try and shut us down and change things.I assume the 'little guys' can gain the most from these adds

[grassfarmer]

Too true madcow, There was a recent proposal for a small slaughter plant in my local town (2000 population) built to the best European all closed in and contained design. A meeting was held and everyone was saying what a good idea it was but the site was totally unsuitable. They said it was too close to houses, would smell, would have animals standing outside, would be too noisy etc etc. They completely ignore the facts and the fact there is already an auction in the middle of town that operates year round and sometimes has 2000 calves a week in the fall run. There is plenty noise and smell from that yet they can get a modern packing plant stopped at the planning stage. This is what happens in Europe - but I though there was still room for agriculture in rural Alberta - maybe I was wrong and our days are numbered.

[madcow]

We have antique farm machinery museums,and fossil museums, maybe "we" are headed for a 'farmer museum',,may do better there having people pay admission to see us than doing the farming thing.

[farmers_son]

I have visited the Millers packing plant at Hiram Utah where a lot of Canadian live cattle end their days, or at least will now the border is reopened. Hiram is a very small, neat town with nice houses. The packing plant is right in the middle of town and there is no smell at all. The packing plant is landscaped with flowers planted around the buildings. There would be noise from trucks but I am sure the industry is welcomed in the town as it would be the only najor employer.

[grassfarmer]

Recently there was a proposal to built a slaughter plant in Sylvan Lake which was also turned down due to council and townspeoples opposition. One of the "informed townspeople" in opposition to the proposal was shown on TV telling everyone he didn't want the plant because he was wary about the kind of smoke that would be coming out the chimneys - after all he knew what air pollution was like in Joffre!!I don't think he knew that slaughter plants don't have smoke stacks - or that Joffre is in the petro / manufacturing plastics business. The dangers of letting the uninformed make decisions!

[grassfarmer]

Calgary residents and the city of Calgary raised similar issues re: the Sunterra plant. If a group decide to oppose something they usually aren't interested in becoming informed.
Just ask anyone that wants to site a hog barn or feedlot !
Issues raised include health concerns; devaluating property; dust and traffic on roads; pharmaceuticals in groundwater to name a few.
grasssfarmer many development permits for auction markets have a clause that prevents the facility from rebuilding onsite if it should happen to be destroyed by fire etc. The average urban citizen has no clue just how much the local auction market adds to the local economy, the average town citizen associates anything to do with the livestock industry with odor, traffic and noise !

[daretodiffer]

"I can’t believe it. I just heard that major radio networks across the Canada refused to run advertisements that encourage people to support their local farmer. Why would they do that?"

If you check out the website supposedly substantiating the above allegation, it indicates this rumour is false.
It says something about the mindset of those who went on to put in their comments on this discussion thread after this opening whine. No one questioned the information.
Doesn't say much for the quality of the discussion. Instead we get a bunch of anecdotes about all those supposedly dumb people who disagree with the group think that nobody loves the farmer and the world's all agin'em. Ah the burdens of being perfect.

[grassfarmer]

daretodiffer, if you care to reread the replies posted you will note that no-one actually responded to the allegation of the banned radio ads mentioned in the first post. Maybe we are not all as stupid as you think we are. Instead the post has evolved into one discussing the "not in my back yard syndrome" which is very relevant to many people involved in agriculture today.

"It says something about the mindset of those ....." What about the mindset of people whose only aim of replying to posts here is to appear a smartass or pursue an anti-farmer agenda?
Like I've said before I await your first posting of a new or original thread.

[farmers_son]

daretodiffer: I checked out the website mentioned. At that time there was no indication of a spam email as there is at present.

If you read the comments, especially my comment, they did not actually refer to the first post rather the discussion revolved around the problems with building packing plants.

It would be more accurate to say that I did not specifically refer to the first post rather than I did not question it. This person was a first time poster here and although I did not agree with the comments ejames made I chose not to disagree and instead responded to the more general discussion on packing plants.

You said" "It says something about the mindset of those who went on to put in their comments on this discussion thread after this opening whine." Well what does it say? If you want to know my mindset on this site it is that I was concerned about all the bad information that is out there regarding BSE and that it was important to have a positive message out there in front of producers. If you have formed a different opinion of my mindset then please let me know. To quote Robbie Burns...what a gift the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us.

[farmers_son]

excellent responses grassfarmer and farmers_son. I find value in most posts on this site even if opinions expressed differ from mine, and the beauty of this site is that it provides freedom for all of us old members and new to express their opinion or comment on issues .