Walk a Mile in Their Shoes
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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