Our poor grain and hog prices could probably be blamed on two things. One being the free-trade agreement and the other being large or sometimes called corporate farms. These two things have not only been the downfall of grain and hog farms, but have also created problems for the dairy and beef industry.
Free trade was to lower the cost of imports, instead what it has done is created a major agriculture war. It seems the Americans will do almost anything to get into our markets, but we dare not try to get into theirs.
Big farm or corporate farms need a lot of cash flow and overhead to operate, whereas the smaller farms are more self-sufficient. When these larger farms are struggling financially they look to the government for bailouts. The smaller family farms usually look for another lending institution, or catch their losses in time to make the necessary changes …
Who pays the bill? You do, the taxpayer. Bigger is not always better, and change is not always good.
– David Wiebe, Osler, Sask.
