QUESTION BEFORE DONATING
Why are people starving?
Just read a caption under a photo on page 43 of The Western Producer, Nov. 20, “Soldiers look on as bags of confiscated quinoa are incinerated in the Bolivian town of Guaqui, bordering Peru. About 19 tonnes of quinoa smuggled from Peru were confiscated by Bolivia’s customs officials and incinerated recently.”
Quinoa — grain crop grown for edible seeds, high in protein, lacks gluten. So why, if it was in Bolivia illegally, was it not given/sold to the people instead of being incinerated. If it was not food grade then could it not have been used as animal fodder? I am so sick of hearing about people starving and could we all give, give and give some more, when there is this blatant destruction of food.
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Worrisome drop in grain prices
Prices had been softening for most of the previous month, but heading into the Labour Day long weekend, the price drops were startling.
I do not know how many bushels the 19 tonnes of quinoa works out to but believe quite a few people could have been fed. So the next time someone is standing with their hand outstretched for a donation, make sure you know who is going to get it. Perhaps just look down the street from you and see someone in need there.
Have a very Merry Christmas.
Chris Lamoureux,
Fort St. John, B.C.
ROBOT DEVELOPMENT
An article published in newspapers across Canada on Nov. 22 stated that robots could take 10 million United Kingdom jobs during the next two decades.
Similar job losses to robots are happening in most countries with devastating unemployment and social consequences.
This applies to Canada too.
Robots that replace humans in the workplace are developed by people with advanced computer and mech-anical skills and great creativity. These people are very intelligent.
In order for Canada to be economically competitive on the global scene, we must give high priority to attracting our best and brightest into school and post-secondary programs that develop computer, mechanical and creativity skills — skills that lead to developing robots to do work.
Such programming is delivered at technical institutions across Canada and a few faculties at most universities. These must be increased.
On the other hand, school and university programs such as humanities, social sciences, arts and other non-productive fields will have to take a back seat for our best and brightest.
Dennis Hall,
Saskatoon, Sask.
