Quote:
Originally Posted by Berger_4_
well said, well said...do you actually farm? just curious...oh and way to go, now we're just spreading the rumour that all farmers do is bitch and moan until they get a hand-out from the gov't (although the way things are going, i think we almost have a right to)  |
No, I do not farm. But I grew up on a family farm in Saskatchewan, just a bit north of Regina, along the north side of the Qu'Appelle Valley, gorgeous country. My grandfather homesteaded that farm and built the house I grew up in, my father was born in that house, and he bought the farm once my grandparents were dead. We had a hell of a time getting my father to retire, that was the only place he had known and it had been his whole life. When he finally moved into town, he was 75 years old and still actively farmed from town for a few years.
So that is my background, most of my relatives still are there, some are farming, others are not, but I know all about growing up on a family farm, what prices were then, what prices are now, how things have changed so much and not all for the better.
Farmers have NEVER asked for handouts, that is not in their blood or in their nature. But they have asked to be treated fairly. I doubt that many would know that most farmers outside of Canada are subsidized by their governments. Our farmers can not compete because of that and thus, the hole for them gets bigger and many are only hanging on to the farm by strings. If it were not for the fact that most farm wives now work off the farm (of course, they also work on the farm), a lot of those farmers would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. In many instances, that is what puts food on the table and helps to pay some bills.
Tell me, when the BSE crisis hit, if it were not for some compensation to the farmers who had cattle, what would have become of them? Would having them on welfare be a better choice? Who picks up the bills then? Is it not you and I and every taxpayer in Canada who would then be supporting all those farmers who would have gone bankrupt?