The beginning of a new year is ideal for evaluation of a year gone by.
Western Producer editor Elaine Shein accordingly initiated an on-line exchange recently among farm writers across Canada. What were the most important agricultural stories of 2000? she asked.
Responses showed regional variations but the main themes were surprisingly uniform.
Some farm writers in Eastern Canada identified the E. coli water contamination situation in Walkerton, Ont., as the top ag story of last year.
While the tragedy itself was localized, the story continues to have wider implications for agriculture in the way it focused attention on environmental care and standards.
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As one western-based farm writer elaborated, “it gives our manure police and other environmental zealots a reason, and public support, to go nuts against the farmers.”
The story of low grain prices was another common theme among farm writers surveyed. Besides the direct financial hardship that low prices caused for many Canadian farmers, the broader context led to thousands of related spin-offs: the dismal performance of grain companies and their consolidation of the prairie elevator system; the drive to expand livestock operations, with all the accompanying environmental and marketing challenges; border protests and farm rallies; the demand for better national farm safety nets; the shrinking number of farmers.
Biotechnology and greater public and international scrutiny of genetic modifications appeared on several farm writers’ lists. So did the related stories of food labeling and organic production.
A British Columbia writer identified the impact of rising natural gas prices on farmers, particularly in the greenhouse industry, as an agricultural story to watch.
At the other end of the country, a writer from the Maritimes had a succinct list: the annihilation of the Nova Scotia department of agriculture, the annihilation of the New Brunswick department of agriculture and the threat to annihilate the Newfoundland department of agriculture.
Farm writers with a lighter approach identified the burgeoning prairie pulse crop industry as a big one for 2000. In similar vein, another suggested too little attention was paid to successful Canadian farmers who have rolled with the punches.
One survey respondent, recognizing that brevity is the soul of wit, gave this answer as the top ag story: weather.
Any way you slice it, 2000 was full of farm news. And 2001 will be too.
