“lt can tell you one thing. If we in th

this country are going to fight.”

e farm unions have anything to do it with it, the farmers in

DOWN ON
THE FARM

A crisis in agriculture

HAT is the state of agriculture in

_ Canada today? It is, in short, in-
tolerable. In the Atlantic provin-

ces, 33 percent of the farm families
fall within the low income category,
and are living at the subsistence level:

(The figures cited are taken from
ARDA publications, issued under the
authority of the Minister of Forestry)..

In the province of Quebec, 29 percent
of the farm families fall within the low
income category; 16 percent in Ontario;
25 percent in Manitoba; 21 percent in

Saskatchewan; 19 percent in Alberta; and -

15 percent in British Columbia. 2
If we take Canada as a-whole, 22

percent of the farm families are living
at a subsistence level, and 43 percent
(almost half) of the rural non-farm
families are living on an annual income
of less than $3,000. —

Between 1949 and 1963 the average
realized net income to the Canadian
farmer dropped to $1,410, a decline of
6.8 percent from 1949. During the same
period the farmer’s costs of production
increased by 42.9 percent. :

~ Let us take a quick look at agriculture

- in Ontario. Between 1951 and 1961, total
capitalization of Ontario farms increased.
by 46.8 percent and was accompanied by

-a_loss of 28,587 farm families. The

average farm capitalization increased
from $16,995 per farm unit to $30,845

during the same period—a lot of money.

to have tied up in farm operation when
your costs of production keep going up
and your income keeps slipping down.

All these trends point in one direction.
We are developing two kinds of farmers
—those who are poor and those who
are becoming poor,

‘Many of you will recall the Ontario
farmers’ march’ on Ottawa in April.
Those 2,000 farm men and women who

showed up on Parliament Hill didn’t:

come to ask for a hardout. They came
to tell the government that unless some

Today's crisis in Canadian agriculture ¥
eloquently described in a speech to the ™
'. Democratic Party convention by Roy Afkif
* president of the National Farmers Union. Mh’
kinson’s speech, abridged, is published below.

immediate and drastic steps Wt
a handout, or social assistance e
it what you will would be the ®
they could feed themselves an
families. -They weren’t old
women about to retire. They
the most part, young, just stat
in life. They weren’t poor,
realized they were heading 1 ©
rection. y
The Ontario farmers’ march on 0 ‘
is and was symbolic of. the gro i
content on the land across Cana
of you who have had any oY
with people will realize that Yo
d in 4 ath
ss ph

s
Se

period. a

The Winnipeg General Strike i (
was no more organized a
behind the barn than the farme ;
on Ottawa in 1959 or the Asbestt
in Quebec in the 50’s, or the :
sick of running trades employe
CNR mainline last October, or t
ers’ march on Ottawa this es,
Protests of this kind happe®
can’t be made to happen.

_ Protests of this kind are ®
and spontaneous individual t@& b
conditions and circumstances Wi
become intolerable. It is one
farm leaders like myself mou it is
say the situation is desperate: ®
ther thing when the people 0? ig!
the grass roots, back up that met ty
statement in the way the #¥
Ontario did this year.

The depressing state of Canad ch
culture today is compounded By a
taking place in the food indus
nological changes, changes 12 ae
patterns, and new forms ie) J
organization are threatening jife
tionize agriculture and rural
know it. F val

For example, technological in :
have made it possible to rais jot
a mass-production, factory sit¥ Ks
packing companies in North 5
beginning to do just that. Teng $
and broiler industry has. ds. sie
passed out of the farmers’ nape” ape tn?
the hog industry is on th
the pattern continues, cat

Already, in Ontario and Q
and vegetable operations are "ies,
over by the processing comf
prospect for large corporat
farms in western Canada is 8° fof? |
is only a matter of time be,
begin to replace the traditio®
farm. - =

If present trends continue mo i
of the family farm is doomé te
one individual family. comPS jy
corporation of the size of oe on
ers or the Kern County Lan” ciate’.
which operates in the Unite news
is now moving into Saskate fa
can't. Not just his incom 1K
mer’s very way of life 1s at :

What has been the resp VA
federal government to the niet
crisis? Their response has © pro
directed to. one aspect of the * =
rural poverty.

To date the government als?
up with any concrete propos! ng eae
lation. But they are stepP ine ‘
research which must Dé oj
such proposals and legisla"

a4

SEES

i}

E-
August 20, 1965—PACIFIC TRIBUN