Food security without farmers

Canada’s inability to protect farmers from economic disaster and instability will turn rural Canada into a third-world agricultural ghetto. Without economic stability for farmers, this nation’s food security is at risk, and the rise of a third-class of persons is very possible.

The recent mad cow media storm and subsequent political lethargy has made it clear that enshrined in the Canadian psyche is the belief that food security does not include economic security for our farmers. In May, when a single case of mad cow made national headlines and international borders were slammed shut, the Canadian public was assured that Canada’s food was safe and secure. And indeed it was.

In the meantime, federal and provincial governments continued to bring in more policies to protect consumers. What’s more, the feds allowed beef imports in the first six months to increase by 11 per cent. But while beef consumer prices have barely been affected, farmers have been losing money and some could go into bankruptcy.

All of this is leading down a dangerous path. According to the World Bank, one of the key reasons for the fall of the former Soviet Union was that "communism couldn’t provide the food that the people needed."

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, one of the wealthiest countries on earth, instituted a food self-sufficiency program in the 1970s because it understood the need to limit its dependence on external food sources. Saudi Arabia offered up to 1,000 acres of free farmland and 50 per cent discounts on farm machinery. The result: agriculture’s share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased from 1.3 per cent to more than 7 per cent and the area under cultivation has jumped from 400,000 acres in 1976 to more than 9 million acres today.

Recent WTO talks in Mexico failed because the G-20 and less developed nations did not want to open up markets to a flood of food imports that would put farmers out of business. These nations are trying hard to ensure their food security by protecting farmers first, not consumers. At the same time, they are aggressively going after western markets.

Third world countries and international support (lobby) organizations bemoan how multinational corporations and commercial farming practices thrust upon them policies that perpetuate poverty and denigrate the soul of non-Western people. In response, these nations are promoting self-reliance while fighting trade liberalization, except where they have an opportunity to take other countryies’ markets.

At the heart of the matter is food security. There are two sides to food security. First, there is the need for safe food. Secondly, there is the need to have access to food, which means both the availability of food and the ability to purchase food. At the heart of this movement, in the words of "Inter Pares" (a Canadian charity that is funded by CIDA), is the development of policies and programs that will "enhance the livelihood of farm families".

Yet Canada’s food security policy protects the consumer by providing affordable, safe food without providing economic policies that sustain farmers. Unless that changes, Canadian consumers will become more and more reliant on food imports. Then how will all these food safety hoops governments are putting our farmers through be enforced? We’ll be at the mercy of Mexican and Chinese food inspectors.