I recently attended an interesting meeting at the Mistahiya ski lodge near Wainwright, Alta. A few local people decided to invite a bunch of leaders to a symposium to explore how to make rural farms and communities sustainable in this economy.
It was an eclectic crowd, including the mayor of Vermilion, Alta., a former president of Alberta Wheat Pool, the president of the Wild Rose Agricultural Producers, several direct marketers, a man who ran on the Green party ticket in the last federal election, a couple of pastors, some academics and a number of “conventional” farmers. I think there were about 60 in all.
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The morning session focused on the barriers to sustainability: the increasing rationalization of the agriculture input industry, with farmers being squeezed ever harder; more government regulation, which handcuffs would-be entrepreneurs and strangles initiative; and competition from the oil industry, which lures people away to high-paying jobs in Fort McMurray, Alta., and other areas.
After lunch, we talked about what strategies might turn things around.
Perhaps it is due to their relative isolation, but most rural people feel they are struggling on their own and that no one cares about their plight.
That is probably not the case. During a discussion on how to get farmers and small town residents to work more together, Vermilion mayor Judy Woyewitka said she had recently met with the mayor of Edmonton, where they discussed how their two communities might work together for the benefit of both. Someone else mentioned that a lot of city people care about the country; they just don’t know what they can do to help.
One idea emerged during a break-out discussion about finding financing to fund locally controlled business start-ups: why not form an “agricultural ethical fund” (the name might need a little tweaking) for city people who want to do something good with their investment money? It would be a fund that rural start-ups could borrow from without losing control of their businesses.
Would it work? It might, although it would take research and planning. But there is an age-old problem: people tend to dismiss out of hand new ideas they don’t understand rather than exploring them further.
Everybody knew you couldn’t fly until Orville and Wilbur built their airplane. Everybody knew electric lights were a pipe dream until Thomas Edison built the first bulb. This could easily happen with the “agriculture ethical fund.”
There is another problem: some people come up with an idea and
see it as the only solution, no matter what the problem. An old expression in change-management circles says that when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
This attitude often arises in the “expert mind,” which knows so much about a particular situation that it is not open to new approaches. That is why Swiss watch makers dismissed the digital watch, even though it was invented by their own researchers. It cost the industry thousands of jobs and knocked the Swiss off the pinnacle of watch-making dominance.
Rural people are experts in their own situations and that can hinder seeing new ways to regenerate farms and rural communities.
It was a great meeting. The people brought good ideas and were open to hearing others. I hope this group does it again, but this time invites people from city councils, environmental groups, the boards of ethical funds and especially teenagers, who have all kinds of creative ideas that adults would never come up with.
Imagine the new ideas and allies that rural people would find if these symposiums were held across the country.
Edmonton-based Noel McNaughton is a sonsored speaker with the Canadian Farm Business Management Council. He can be reached at 780-432-5492, e-mail:farm@midlife-men.com or visit www.midlife-men.com.
