During the last week of 1998, my wife and I sold 50 market hogs. We were 108 percent above SPI’s market pool price and received a gross value of $47 per hog. For the first time in our farming career we really questioned what we are doing in this trade. Selling market hogs for that value is an insult in our minds. Is this fair?
How can this happen in this day and age? Is this the true value of a 240-pound hog?
These are questions that can’t be answered. We can only speculate for the reasons but, the bottom line is that this is rude, unfair and very unjust.
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Farmers are professionals. Just like lawyers, doctors, firefighters or anyone with a degree behind them. So why, do we as farmers not rank the same pay schedule?
Isn’t the product we provide essential for the survival of the human race? Food is just as important as the air we breathe.
We’re not trying to point fingers at where the fault lies. But, the next time you go to buy groceries and the shelves are empty, what then? When will it be realized that farmers have a raw commodity that just might be worth something!
– J. & D. Germs,
Saskatoon, Sask.
