Governments turn attention to farmers’ share of consumer dollar
We rarely get a more favorable response than when we write about the small portion of the consumer food dollar that the farmer gets.
The nickel of wheat in a loaf of bread, the 14 cents of barley in a case of beer – these are the facts that make farmers scream “Yes, that’s why we are in trouble.”
You can draft aid programs, diversify, deregulate and level the trade playing field all you want, but as long as the farmer’s share of the food dollar keeps shrinking, there will be trouble in the country.
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So you might ask why policy leaders focus so much effort on assistance plans, deregulation and trade policy, and so little on trying to give farmers a bigger share of the consumer dollar.
That might be changing, given recent developments in Canada and the United States.
Dan Glickman, American secretary of agriculture, last week had this to say:
“I really do think we need a profound intellectual debate on what we need to do to enhance farm income other than just focus on commodity programs … the (commodity) price will move up and down, but the farm share of the consumer dollar is just tanking.”
There are several reasons for the trend, including consolidation in the livestock industry and the increasing level of preparation and processing in food.
His department’s solutions seem a little tame. He said anti-trust laws must be enforced, organic agriculture (which is less influenced by agribusiness) should be encouraged as should direct marketing to consumers through farmer’s markets and farmer-owned co-operatives.
In Canada, Toronto area Liberal MP Dennis Mills, the person who spearheaded the Family Farm Tribute in Toronto in January, has a more ambitious project, a national food plan.
The plan’s goal is to safeguard the family farm, maintain Canadian ownership of the food processing sector, create jobs, protect food safety and ensure that farmers get a fair share of the grocery dollar.
The whole program can be viewed on the internet at www.nationalfoodplan.com.
The gist is that the market strength of ever-bigger corporations must be offset by farmer and public support of marketing boards, collective input buying agencies and legislation that prevents packer ownership of livestock.
While neither Glickman nor Mills have the total solution to farmers’ woes, it is good some people are thinking beyond Band-Aid solutions and are addressing fundamental structural inequities in the food production chain.
