Survival on the Prairie Outback
I am a farm girl, born and raised, still am, always will be. Memories are good, growing up on the farm, we never had much, didn’t expect much. I learned about work; never loved it, still don’t, but never questioned it. From cleaning chicken coops, pigpens and rotten grain out of wooden bin corners to the every day egg-picking task. Lest I forget the old milk cow, or the olden days version of “mad cow” but no matter how many times the old hen jumped on my head or how many times the milk cow chased me up the fence, we learned to never give up! That lesson has served me well. ‘Farm livin’ is the place to be”..to learn all about the birds and the bees. It is no joking matter when farming parents joke about getting educated in the barnyard!
In all seriousness, I recall the struggles for survival back then, and I see them now. The struggles are different, the stressors are more mental and debt related, but it has always been about perseverance and survival! Farmers are one die-hard breed!
For the Centennial year, October has been chosen as Ag and Food month so I thought it was fitting to focus on farming. It is “..a chance to reflect with optimism, hope and pride on the tremendous impact this multi-faceted industry has had in the lives of everyone in this province over the last 100 years.”(as quoted by Ag minister Wartman) Optimism? Not so sure, but there must be hope and pride or there would be no farms and farmers left! What is it that keeps these guys going, and the question is, for how long? And who will stop the death of the family farm?
I was thinking about the uniqueness of each farm in the area. Every family runs their operation to their own specks and individuality. That is the freedom that they have all grown to love. There is no boss; everyone has their job, does their part, for the good of the farm. There is no human resource department, no pension plan, no health benefits, UI, Workers Comp, nor holiday pay. Retirement monies are being dwindled away, slowing the process down of passing the farm to the next generation. After all, that is what “farming” is; a passing on of a set of skills from one generation to another. We are the food producers; it is what we do and who we are.
It has been ‘next year country’ for the past 100 years or more. If they survived the dirty thirties, this should be no sweat right? That was a farm crisis, there was no rain, but the rain came, the land would be restored. Now the land is seeded, weeded, and depleted in an effort to produce more to survive. We are supposed to be the “Bread Basket” of the world, wheat was ‘king’ at one time, and Saskatchewan was the place to be!
In the thirties, there were near 6000 elevators, and as of 2003, under 400! In the early forties, there were 733,000 farms, by 2001 less than 250,000, with total farm income 2.7 billion, averaging $11,000.00 per farm. One small example of how grim the situation looks.
So, what exactly is a farm crisis in this modern day outback? Well, take a drive any day of the week over our patched, pot-holed, partly graveled pavement. Possibly the only traffic you will encounter is a tandem or semi grain truck doing what the rail and elevators used to do. The crisis is about the disintegration of the elevator, rail lines, population base, and the urbanization of schools, post offices, hospitals and retail business. It is about the lack of leadership and support of what once was the backbone of our country; now considered as ‘parasites on the public purse’. It is about the powerlessness to change anything; being at the mercy of government; losing control over what should be ours. It is about the fear of the future, shortage of retirement funds, necessity to work off farm to support farm, then face Revenue Canada, and be re-classed as hobby farmers!((??)) It is about government abandonment.
So, is there an answer? Maybe not right now but we can each do our part in educating ourselves to the issues. It is time for consumers world wide to realize the injustice of the food system. Every time you eat an apple, steak, a piece of bread or drink a beer, do yourself a favor and recognize the injustice in the system getting it to you. It is that same system that does not feed the millions of starving people on this planet. By educating ourselves and others, maybe policies will change, maybe public policy and public money will start supporting what serves the country well, Good family-farm based agriculture! Government needs to wake up, smell the coffee and realize that the death of the family farm will be the death of rural Canada.
Next time you step outside and see an awesome prairie sunset meeting the hue of golden wheat fields, just remember the forces burdening the farmers who grow this gold, It is their Survival on the Prairie Outback. Thank you food producers for our survival! God Bless.
