Corn, soybeans and smackaroos – Editorial Notebook

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Published: June 27, 2002

The Kamenz family of Spencerville, Ont., can look out their farmhouse

window on a field of soybeans and a field of corn. A week ago today,

the corn was about six inches tall and looking perky.

Recent rains left a few puddles in low spots, in which an azure,

cloudless sky was reflected. Holsteins grazed in a pasture about 200

yards off the front step, raising their heads occasionally to gnash a

particularly luscious wad of greenery whilst placidly observing the

Read Also

A variety of Canadian currency bills, ranging from $5 to $50, lay flat on a table with several short stacks of loonies on top of them.

Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts

As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?

landscape.

Into this pastoral scene came the Canadian prime minister, a bevy of

Liberal MPs, a bunch of assorted politicos, a bastion of protection

men, a busload of media and a brotherhood of neighbours and friends.

Most of them parked in the soybean field, trampling about an acre of

crop, by my estimate. Isn’t that just typical?

But Geri Kamenz was philosophical about those beans.

“They’re not worth anything, so they can park wherever they want,” he

said.

Which I thought was a not only a pretty typical farmer response, but

absolutely indicative of the reason for the day’s announcement.

Less typical, of course, is having a 68-year-old head of state crawling

in and out of your Case IH 4994 tractor and announcing a $5.2 billion

farm package while standing in front of your grain bin partially full

of corn. You just can’t beat that kind of product placement.

Jean Chrétien topped it off by wearing an Ontario Federation of

Agriculture cap. Kamenz, an executive member of the OFA, likely

supplied the headgear, but the logo and its supposed geographic

favouritism were duly and caustically noted later by western-based farm

groups.

“I have farmers in my riding,” noted Chrétien at one point in the

proceedings.

“I farmed for 25 years,” said agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief at

another point.

“Today is about nation building,” pronounced rural development minister

Andy Mitchell at a third point.

After all who were scrummable had been scrummed, the cavalcade spun its

collective wheels out of the soybeans, fired up cell phones and went

back to Ottawa.

You’ll find the important details of the proceedings elsewhere in this

issue, but an unanswered question is this: Kamenz has a commercial hog

operation, yet there was absolutely no olfactory clue of its existence.

This is either an agricultural feat worth further investigation or an

amazing tribute to the prime minister’s political fixers. But I suppose

they get lots of practice.

About the author

Barb Glen

Barb Glen

Barb Glen is the livestock editor for The Western Producer and also manages the newsroom. She grew up in southern Alberta on a mixed-operation farm where her family raised cattle and produced grain.

explore

Stories from our other publications