Finger pointing
The recent blockade of the Canadian border by United States farmers is bemusing.
These farmers claim they can’t make money producing grain in competition with Canadian farmers, whom they accuse of dumping subsidized surpluses on their market.
Canadian farmers say they lose money and have less support than the Americans.
Now if Canadians, using essentially the same technology, cannot make money even with the advantage of a 60-cent dollar, how much must grain prices rise in the U.S. to make growing grain economic in that country?
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Forty cents a bushel, $1, $5?
For that matter, how much would it take to bail out Canadian farmers from the current situation? I suspect it would take far more than any government is prepared to grant or lend.
One problem is that bureaucrats have heard some farm groups talk about the advantages of free trade, deregulation and open borders. Then they turned off their hearing aids. Canadian farmers can hold their own on a level field but their wheels are spinning on a slippery slope.
The American farmer, like the Canadian farmer, is represented by a number of lobby groups whose views vary on what needs to be done. Let’s face it, North America is a high farm cost zone.
North Americans are a continental society with expansive expectations. Our desire to have, to indulge and to enjoy has swept us into an inflationary tornado. Resulting cost inflation causes distress for the farm sector.
When the world discovers it is being shorted on food which producers will be around to benefit from strengthening prices?
