09 January 10, 2009 - ObserverXtra

14 | BUSINESS
»FOOD FOR THOUGHT | OWEN ROBERTS
Farming needs help to fuel the economy
Ontario’s looking to agriculture
to help drag it out of the economic
doldrums. The agri-food sector
here is responsible for about
700,000 jobs, and food can hardly
be looked upon as a luxury. In
fact, some even call the agri-food
sector recession proof, although
that’s questionable, because many
of the same problems that dog the
manufacturing sector (tight credit, foreign competition,
stingy consumers) also plague farming.
But overall, farming perseveres. Pushed mainly
by international pressure, the agri-food sector has
been to the brink enough that it knows how to survive
tough times.
However, we’re asking more of it than we ever did.
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Once, we mainly wanted farming to keep us fed,
by providing safe, affordable and abundant food.
Still, we strived to pay as little as we possibly could
for food and complained about its high price, even
though Canada has among the lowest-priced food in
the world.
Now, though, we also are looking to agriculture to
bolster our pension plans, rescue our winter vacations
and help us survive the dreaded credit card
statements that start piling up this week. We need
the sector to help the economy by maintaining and
creating processing, retail, transportation and
manufacturing jobs of its own.
For example, green energy and green industries
all lead to potentially sustainable employment,
and they start with people who know how to manage
natural, renewable resources. Those people are
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THE OBSERVER | Saturday, January 10, 2009
farmers. They also do a lot that doesn’t show up in
the ledger, such as maintain wildlife habitat and
provide vistas that make the countryside such a desirable
destination.
But if farming is going to help the economy, Canada
has to be prepared to help farming.
That’s not a stretch. Canadians have been extremely
generous supporting farmers through tough
times, which usually occurred when most other
parts of the economy were doing better. Farming’s
not holding the public for ransom now; it just can’t
fi ll some of society’s expectations without support.
The drive towards local food has helped nurture a
culture that’s supportive of local farmers. Despite
the Canadian tradition of buying cheap food, people
don’t seem to mind shelling out more money if
they know it’s going to stay in their local farm community.
Walk into the new Borealis restaurant in
Guelph, which specializes in regional cuisine, and
check out the larger-than-life posters of the farmers
who provide the food for your meal, and you get
the point. The value of a domestic food supply is
striking a chord.
To maintain the momentum and make sure the
economy benefi ts from agriculture’s potential (and
vice versa), the Ontario Federation of Agriculture
has prepared a to-do list for provincial and federal
leaders.
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First, it would like to know what happened to a
$100-million federal payment that had been promised
as part of a 10-year program to help farmers
grapple with escalating cost-of-production increases.
When the economy crashed, some expenses went
down as well, but they’re still high relative to what
we are willing to pay for food. And they were out of
sight right before the crash, particularly energy. If,
in an economic downturn, we want food prices to
be more affordable than ever, assistance is needed
to keep production costs at the bare minimum.
Also, cattle and hog farmers had been hammered
before the crash with low prices, which still haven’t
recovered. The federation wants emergency ad-
vances extended for another year to them. It also
wants programs intensifi ed for new farmers, who
need as much encouragement as possible if they
are to carry the ball for Ontario’s economy.
Says federation president Bette Jean Crews, a
Trenton-area farmer: “Compared to other demands
from a variety of sectors totalling in the billions of
dollars, agriculture’s needs may appear small, but
they are essential to the country’s second largest
industry.”
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