Do some Canadians dislike farm subsidies?

[netwit]

Originally Posted by Natnasci

That is not accurate. In Canada the marketing board provides quotas to each dairy farmer. There is NO monetary return for a dairy farmer to over produce. It's all part of the supply management system that they have set up. Also BGH is illegal in Canada and Europe.
However in the U.S. dairy farmers are paid for any milk they do not sell. Hence the frequent use of the Bovine Growth Hormone to increase milk production. During the fiscal crisis, or ongoing fiscal crisis, there was concern in the U.S. that the subsidized dairy industry would lose those subsidies and milk would go over $7.00 a U.S. gallon. That did not happen....yet.
This is one take on the situation in Canada.

Canadians don't know the price of milk - The Globe and Mail

That's right. I grew up on a dairy/grain/broiler farm. Farmers are not paid to produce excess milk. But if the cows produced milk above the quota, my dad gave milk away rather than dump it.

Originally Posted by Stubblejumper

Some of us dislike the Wheat Board in bad years, too

If I have the time one of these days, I'm going to come back and argue with you about that one. What I will say is that I don't like the big farms - my dad was always diversified enough so that if the price of cattle fell, the price of something else would help to make up for it. Nowadays there are a lot of 'farmers' in my area who own giant hog barns miles out of the towns they live in, on their neat little town yards. Of course then when the price of hogs fell, we had an amazing amount of 'accidental' barn fires. And those very farmers are the first to call for government assistance.

Originally Posted by BIMBAM

I have a serious reservations about it. The problem is that it largely benefits rural economies at the expense of urban consumers, and the urban areas are so completely navel gazing and ignorant about anything to do with agriculture or rural issues that the average joe has no idea about the issues surrounding farm subsidies and therefore cannot put much public pressure on government either way due to this ignorance.

I think a lot of city people are under the misconception that the price of a steak, for example, is what the farmer gets. No city person would work the long hours and for the low wages farmers work.

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by netwit

That's right. I grew up on a dairy/grain/broiler farm. Farmers are not paid to produce excess milk. But if the cows produced milk above the quota, my dad gave milk away rather than dump it.



If I have the time one of these days, I'm going to come back and argue with you about that one. What I will say is that I don't like the big farms - my dad was always diversified enough so that if the price of cattle fell, the price of something else would help to make up for it. Nowadays there are a lot of 'farmers' in my area who own giant hog barns miles out of the towns they live in, on their neat little town yards. Of course then when the price of hogs fell, we had an amazing amount of 'accidental' barn fires. And those very farmers are the first to call for government assistance.



I think a lot of city people are under the misconception that the price of a steak, for example, is what the farmer gets. No city person would work the long hours and for the low wages farmers work.

Thanks for the confirmation. I have talked to so many people who don't understand how the Canadian system works. Like so many issues, some Canadians confuse what happens in the U.S. as being the same in Canada.

[Stubblejumper]

Originally Posted by netwit

If I have the time one of these days, I'm going to come back and argue with you about that one. What I will say is that I don't like the big farms - my dad was always diversified enough so that if the price of cattle fell, the price of something else would help to make up for it. Nowadays there are a lot of 'farmers' in my area who own giant hog barns miles out of the towns they live in, on their neat little town yards. Of course then when the price of hogs fell, we had an amazing amount of 'accidental' barn fires. And those very farmers are the first to call for government assistance.

I'm always willing to argue about that

There definitely are a lot of people who get upset with paying in when times are good, but demand to take out when times are bad. Perhaps my view is slightly slanted, as I have a secondary source of income outside of the farm, so a bad years don't hurt quite so bad.

I suppose my dislike is part ideological and part personality. I'm not really opposed to the pool concept, rather I dislike (intensely) the notion that it's illegal to go your own way, should you choose to do so (especially when those in other parts of the country do have that option). Were the Wheat Pool to operate as a voluntary organization, I doubt I would find much to complain about.

As an aside, you're not in the Niverville area, are you? One of the big hog producers from there opened up a bunch of barns south of Swift Current a few years ago and has made very few friends since. Just curious if it's the same bunch of people.

[poscstudent]

Originally Posted by BIMBAM

I have a serious reservations about it. The problem is that it largely benefits rural economies at the expense of urban consumers, and the urban areas are so completely navel gazing and ignorant about anything to do with agriculture or rural issues that the average joe has no idea about the issues surrounding farm subsidies and therefore cannot put much public pressure on government either way due to this ignorance.

No it comes at the expense of all consumers. People in rural areas and isolated areas get hit even harder.

[maclock]

Originally Posted by poscstudent

No it comes at the expense of all consumers. People in rural areas and isolated areas get hit even harder.

Rural economies ≠ Urban consumers