A commentary on behalf of the National Farmers Union Ontario, by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

Comedian Steven Wright has a line that goes like this; “if worse comes to worse we are all screwed”.  This line has been rolling around in my head a lot lately – especially when it was announced that 129,000 jobs had been lost in Canada in January.  Of that total, a staggering 71,000 jobs were lost in Ontario alone.  That is the equivalent of the city of Sarnia or Peterborough all losing their jobs last month.

Another quote that has been rolling around in my head lately is from the author Douglas Adams.  Adams says: “Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.”  This economic crisis we are facing is precisely because of the type of economic system we have set up.  It is a system in which we continue to off-load the wealth producing areas of our economy to the lowest bidder, which usually means the area with the lowest labour, environmental and health standards.  Yet, somehow government and many others think we can just keep on keeping on without repercussions on the standard of living of Canadian workers.

Government is now in the business of trying to stimulate the economy.  That means government dollars (your taxes) flowing into projects in the hopes of creating jobs directly and also stimulate further job growth through that economic activity.  Here are three solutions that the NFU has been promoting for some time that will help farmers- who are wealth creators in our economy, but also have tremendous spin off value through the broader economy.

Invest in on-farm environmental goods and services.  Right now any work of an environmental nature that needs to be done is cost shared with farmers.  Most farmers have no ability to recoup those costs from the marketplace and many are working off farm jobs just to pay the basic bills.  That means a lot of potential projects are not occurring.  Skip giving money to the banks.  Go directly to the source and pay farmers for doing this work.  This will mean many, many people from contractors to manufactures will receive work as this money will simply flow through farmers to those carrying out the work.  Thousands upon thousands of employment hours could be created.  Those workers will then be paying income tax which will help pay for the funding in the first place.

Invest in young and beginning farmers.  The debt load for most pondering farming is such that many realize that they will either be working off the farm to pay the debts or be looking at a massive bank loan, where the return on investment is very tight and narrow.  Those that are thinking about farming, and many who currently are, are competing for jobs when our society would benefit much more from their labour being focused on food production.  Low and no interest loans for those who have a solid business plan will spur economic activity and free up employment for others.

Invest in local food production.  Many of our own markets are now being served by off-shore imports that often do not meet the standards we set for ourselves as Canadians.  This sends wealth production out of our communities and undermines local jobs and businesses.  Government should invest in local processors and abattoirs, and assist farmers to re-focus, but more is needed.  Much of our regulatory framework is acting as a barrier for local people to be able to get local food.  We need to examine those regulations- keep the ones that promote food safety and other positives and jettison the rest.

Now is the time for solutions, not just doing more of the same.  The NFU will continue to promote a positive vision of primary food production and of a rural Canada that is healthy, vibrant and an economic driver of our economy.  The question is though, whether government is simply going to keep doing the things that have undermined that vision or whether they will learn from their mistakes.  If not, then Steven Wright may turn out to be just a little too right.