Walk a Mile in Their
Shoes
(November 7, 2002 - FFJ) The farmers
incarcerated on October 31, 2002 are settling into their new
accommodations at the Lethbridge Correctional Centre. Their families
struggle to understand how this could happen but are determined to
persevere. The very fact that this is happening in Canada is horrifying
and a travesty of justice. To fully understand the reason behind the
farmers decision to go to jail for the principal of freedom of choice in
marketing their grain, we must walk a mile in their shoes.
Let us
examine first hand what motivates them. From the start, farmers are at the
mercy of “mother nature.” No other industry is so completely dependant
on the weather. It begins with the selection of what crops to plant in the
spring. The weather dictates most of the decisions that will follow in the
coming months. Input costs are staggering. The price paid for seed,
fertilizer, fuel and chemicals have skyrocketed. These expenses are
incurred before the farmer knows whether or not he will harvest any crop.
Once the crop is up, the pressure is on to control weeds. No matter how
hard the farmer tries to cut costs there is no way around an enormous
chemical bill. After this hurdle there is the chance of drought, flood,
grasshoppers, blight and frost. Then comes the hail. It only takes about
20 minutes to destroy your whole years efforts.
One moment
you are secure in the knowledge that you will make it through the hard
times and twenty minutes later your hopes are shattered and your crop is
in ruin. The stress is overwhelming and the financial impact
devastating.
What people
need to understand is that crop insurance, which may be purchased, covers
only part of the input cost of the crop, it does not provide the money
needed for the producer to survive for the rest of the year. Swathing and
combining are completed as weather allows until the grain is safely in the
bins. What is important here is the fact that the producer provides all
the labor, absorbs all the costs of growing the grain and is subjected to
all the stress of weather related problems, but he is not considered to be
the owner of the grain he produces.
After all he
has been through, imagine being told that he has no choice but to hand his
grain over to the CWB at a price far below what he could receive if he
sold the grain himself into the export market. This is the reality that
producers face and the reason that our farmers are choosing to go to jail
instead of paying a fine for charges stemming from not leaving their
vehicles in the custody of Customs officers.
The CWB
monopoly, which only impacts grain producers in Alberta, Saskatchewan,
Manitoba and a small area in BC, is wrong and has to be changed to a
voluntary system. Let western grain farmers have what eastern grain
farmers already enjoy, the right to sell their grain to the highest bidder
anywhere in the world. The action these courageous farmers are taking is
not grandstanding; it is standing up for what they believe in.
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For More Information Contact:
Colleen Bianchi 403-344-4473
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