For more than 75 years, The Western Producer has been covering prairie agriculture for farm families.
But in the current farm crisis, we thought it would be in the public interest to reach beyond our normal readership and help educate Canadians from coast to coast about the realities of prairie farming in the late 1990s.
To that end, we are developing a special report on our website called the Farm Crisis for Non-Farmers, available soon at www.producer.com.
Agriculture operates in a complex environment these days, and it’s tough to put everything in context in one item on the evening newscast or one story in a daily newspaper.
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And since most journalism focuses on the events of that day or week, the larger context of those events can get lost. Quite simply, it’s hard to keep track of all the information behind today’s agricultural situation.
Farm families are being hurt by this crisis. The government response is partially determined by the attitudes of fellow Canadians living in large cities, where they might not be aware of what’s happening to prairie farmers or why.
This special web report is designed to help people understand the situation in several ways.
There is an overview that provides the nutshell version of why farmers are in crisis.
There are more detailed stories on various aspects of the crisis: the role of international subsidies, of skyrocketing freight rates, the cost-price squeeze that has battered farmers, federal farm aid over the years, the Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program and the human costs of the crisis.
In addition, the website report endeavors to walk people through a primer on the business of farming and how prairie agriculture has changed since the beginning of the 20th century.
In later incarnations, the site will feature methods for people to look up information by question, as well as by section.
We will periodically update it.
If you have a question about the farm crisis that isn’t answered, contact me.
My e-mail address is bdoskoch@producer.com. My voice number is 306-665-9605, and the newsroom fax is 934-2401.
We hope you enjoy what is on the site now, and that you find it informative.
If you get a chance, drop me a line.
