SASKATOON — An American farm women’s group, formed in the last decade to promote women’s roles in agricultural issues, thinks Canada is wrong to sell so much durum wheat to the U.S.
“We are against the trade coming down; we feel it’ll hurt our markets here,” said Mary Ann Shepherd, national president of WIFE (Women in Farm Economics).
The Alabama farm woman said WIFE’s Montana and North Dakota members spoke strongly against the Canadian wheat in meetings of the organization. But the group also hopes the dispute can be settled.
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“I think if American and Canadian people can sit down and talk it over we can come to a solution,” said the president.
WIFE has taken no official position on the world trade agreement, similar to many other large farm groups in the U.S.
Shepherd said WIFE is conducting a drive to increase its list of 3,000 members. She said the group was formed because “our husbands don’t have the time. While he’s working in the field we can be lobbying.”
She said WIFE’s main issues this year are: meeting politicians about the 1995 Farm Bill which will set income support programs for American farmers for a further five years; the federal government’s plans for health-care reform; the development of an ethanol energy industry to create a new market for farmer’s crops; and the impact of endangered species protection on farmers.
Forced to work off the farm
Many of WIFE’s members work off the farm. “They have to” since there’s no profit in farming right now, said Shepherd.
The past-president of WIFE in North Dakota, Gloria Diede, agreed that farming is not as lucrative as it once was. She has land but has idled much of it under the U.S. Conservation Reserve Program. She now lives in the town of Hebron and works as an insurance agent.
Diede said in her state small towns are getting smaller and there’s nothing to keep young people around. As farms get larger and there are fewer families, available jobs dry up. North Dakota farm women are finding some jobs in nursing homes, waitressing in restaurants and housecleaning.
“But basically there isn’t a lot of work unless you drive 20, 30 or 40 miles into whatever city or medical centre is nearby.”
