The ongoing crisis in Prince Edward Island's agricultural sector has prompted Island New Democrat Leader James Rodd to call for a wholescale conversion to organic farming.
But he doubts if either the current Liberal government or the opposition Conservatives will move in that direction.
"The industrial model of farming has been on the rise in Prince Edward Island and elsewhere for at least 50 years and if it isn't soon reversed, the agricultural landscape of this province will soon be limited exclusively to large scale farming operations owned or controlled by multinational agrifood businesses."
Rodd, an organic vegetable grower, cited figures showing the dramatic decline in the farming community under both Liberal and Conservative governments.
In 1921, there were 13,701 farms in Prince Edward Island, with an average size of 89 acres. The total area farmed was over 1.2 million acres, he said. In 2006, the latest census showed only 1,700 farms. Meanwhile, the average size of a P.E.I. farm had quadrupled to 369 acres and the total farming acreage had been cut in half to just over 600,000 acres.
Rodd also pointed to a continuing decline under the current Ghiz government and cited the crisis in both the potato and livestock secto as examples of how things were getting worse.
"Our hog and beef industries are on life support and potato growers are suffering from a chronic inability to recover even the cost of production. Clearly, the current system isn't working and a significant change of direction is required."
The only solution is to implement a long-term plan to convert the entire provincial agriculture sector to organic production. Such an approach would support -the development of a comprehensive Garden of the Gulf branding and marketing campaign, along with an enhanced Buy Local initiative.
It would also involve co-ordination between producers and the provincial government and the investment of public monies to enable the conversion to organic farming on a province-wide scale.
"The first step would be to ban genetically modified crops," he explained. "That's exactly what Ireland is doing, for example, and Japan and other countries have already implemented such a ban."
Ireland could also serve as a model for a plan to convert to organic production, Rodd noted.
"The Irish government has implemented an Organic Farming Scheme that, among other things, provides a phased-in funding system to encourage and support those farmers who wish to convert to organic production. And while its initial goals are rather modest - five per cent of all agricultural land in 2010 - it is meeting with great success. In fact, the program can't accommodate all the farmers that want to sign up!"
The New Democrat leader admitted that it would cost money to make the conversion to province-wide organic production, even if it was phased in over a decade or two. But he sees it as a case of pay now or pay more later.
"If we continue down the path we've been following for 50 or 60 years, Big Business will continue to drive the tractor, while the Liberal and Conservative parties watch helplessly from the sidelines.
"The alternative is to elect activist governments that will show true leadership in working with both farmers and consumers to reverse the decline. We need a rural revival based on more and smaller farms producing organic crops and livestock. As well, this new approach would have to be supported by a strong Buy Local campaign and an integrated export marketing and sales system featuring the Island brand.
Island New Democrats call for wholesale conversion to organic farming
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Comments
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- Slip
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:41:22
Go organic with taxpayer subsidies. Where's the difference?
Go organic and Africa starves. -
- James
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:41:19
We desperately need to move beyond the 2-headed Libervative or Coniberal party in PEI.
The 2-headed party has brought policies that has led to the current situation where we have a damaged environment. The vast majority of the environmental damage in the past 3 decades can be traced to Joe Ghiz's government which approved the McCain plant and the Cavendish Farms plant #2 in the early 1990s.
Our environment would be so much better if the 3 french fry plants were shut down and the demand for potatoes was shifted to other less soil-intensive crops.
It just pains me watching the McCains and Irvings making money hand over fist off our environment, selling the chemical fertilizers to the farmers that are damaging our environment, forcing farmers to buy poisonous chemical pesticides to spray over theirs and their neighbours' properties and into everyone's well water, pocketing the majority of the profits from the hard work of the farmers, etc., etc. -
- Gallant
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:36:21
It will cost an arm and a leg but it will save on health care in the long run. Plus the market wants organic we should be able to provide this service.
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- Trevor
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:32:45
It could be a very smart market positioning move - to become known for all PEI food being organic. It would cost a lot I imagine, to do it at first but it could be a valuable business and Island branding strategy. But our farmers might need a lot of help to make the conversion in techniques. Maybe the Agriculture Minister could go on Dragon's Den to get the money ;-)
More seriously, though, I am always leery of well-intentioned attempts to tell farmers how to run their businesses but it is refreshing to hear some ideas. -
- End to poison potatoes
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:32:42
At last, someone with enough guts to read the writing on the wall.
It reads industrial chemicals now. How about living up to the nature experience that we always want to advertise? -
- Potato Peeler
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:26:50
I agree!
Ban GMOs first, than ban chemical fertilizers, than ban pesticides. -
- 3PO
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:26:12
This scheme was proposed under Dr. Herb Dickieson, based on the UK model that has worked well.
Way to go James. PEI needs this scheme and it also needs a new Third Party Office and some effective opposition with good ideas not just partisan nonsense and bashing.
Here's to hoping it gets it next election. -
- loulouannie
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:25:25
Does anyone realize how many benefits there would be ? we are separate from other provinces and could actually get a hold on the market. Our fish could stop being killed and the cancer rate alone would be minimal. We complain about not having enough Drs. , if we shifted we would not need them. Yes it would be hard to shift over in the beginning but it would pay off for our children and our childrens children in the long run. Wake up! I do not care for the tree hugging side of it either but a smart move is a smart move.
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- Racer
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:21:25
I agree 100%, it would be good for everyone, except maybe the Irvings.
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- PFA
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:20:05
To John MacInnis If PEI has no farmers left, who do is going to feed you? Sure, as long as fossil fuels are relatively cheap you can import food from California and China, but what about when fossil fuels make good transportation uneconomical? When there are no more farmers there is no more food.
To Dundas Sue Actually, going back to 'organic' isn't telling farmers they've been doing it wrong, it is an admission that we've been demanding that they do it wrong for 50 years and finally admitting that they were right in the first place. Distributed farming (aka small, sustainable farms) are what 'society' demanded farmers transition from. Bigger farms, more debt, more diesel, more, more, more. Now we realize that farmers were right after all, and we owe them the assistance to transition back to 'the way things were'
Paul Nobody suggested banning cars or computers. Why does everyone assume that the pro-organic, pro-sustainable crowd are a bunch of luddites? Most of the SOLE food advocates are actually some of the most technologically advanced people that I know. Perhaps it is understanding technology so well that helps them realize that farming is best left to farmers and not the latest technology. -
- Dick
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:19:30
FINALLY....something that makes sense and that might actually help the struggling agriculture industry on PEI!!! These are the types of things that effect the lives of good, honest hard working middle class people on PEI. The snobs who are in politics just for the fame and money, they don't care about farming and fishing because they don't get their hands dirty and do the work so they don't care what happens to the industries, but for the majority of people on PEI who fish or farm for a living, they lose out because the government snobs make all the wrong decisions for these industries just to make a few dollars for their politician friends.
We need to change the ways of PEI politics and get back to politicians working for the people of PEI to make this a better province for EVERYBODY and not just for a few snobs.
Everybody needs to get out and vote at the next election. Let your voice be heard and vote for the party that is going to do whats best for you and your communities instead of voting for the Liberals or Conservatives platforms of personal greed!! -
- bill
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:19:08
organic farming ? imagine what is added to the land in the name of arganic farming ? does human waste get used ?
is organic fertilizing safer than chemical fertilizing ? the answers will surprise some ! -
- Dan
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:11:44
Don't send in the clowns. Mr. Rodd and his posting buddies are already here.
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- John
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:10:32
Now this is scary stuff - the leader of the NDP, who just happens to be an organic famer, wants to socialize the remnants of the agriculture industry on PEI. There are valid reasons why PEI no longer has over 13,000 farms, and valid reasons why the number of remaining farms will continue to decline. PEI can't afford an activist government. The province is almost two billion in debt now, with eight digit annual budget deficits. The numbers clearly indicate that the remaining 1,700 farms will be fading to black sometime in the future. The province has lost farms at a rate of around 135 per year since 1921. The rate of reduction implies that the year 2012 will be the end of commercial farming on PEI.
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- john from NS
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:10:30
Sounds like a typical NDP program....completely assinine!! What pray tell do the farmers do for income during the time it takes to convert from conventional to organic farming? This guy Rodd needs ro do some reasearch. hopefully you guys on PEI are smarter then us Nova Scotians and NEVER get sucked into electing an NDP government....
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- Yes
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:06:16
Yes! This is exactly what PEI needs to do. Let's ban GMOs and become the first place to go all-organic. That'll help with the health of our people, exports, and tourism. Please do it!
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- Dundas Sue
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:05:10
Wanna get a farmer's back up: tell him or her that something they have been doing forever and are good at is now wrong and banned. This is NOT the solution; turning back the clock will not work. We don't live in the 19th century; we need a balanced solution where all sizes of farms are supported by a government that does not think food is made by the man at the store . Is everyone willing to pay a premium price for organic products: NO. Can all farmers convert: NO. Farmers need to be able to choose. Traditional farmers are not poisioning the consumer - GMO's are not all bad. Progress in farming is as a result of genetic research!
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- Dick
- - June 21st, 2010 at 20:00:31
To Young Voter.....since when does the government do ANYTHING we tell them to???? I am 35 years old and I have NEVER seen the government do anything the public has told them to. The government might lie and TELL the public that they will do what the public asks....but it never happens....otherwise there wouldn't be so many people on here complaining day after day about the government and how they are ruining life on PEI as we know it!!!!
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- I Agree
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:58:36
I agree with Democrat Leader James Rodd. I believe it's time that PEI began to phase in organic production.
I also agree with Mr. Rodd that PEI needs to ban genetically modified crops.
I have a great fear that Islanders collectively fail to realize the serious loss we will suffer if we remain on the same path. -
- Young Voter
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:58:05
Does the NDP leader realize that this is a free country where the people tell the government what to do, and not the other way around?
Liberty means that farmers have the choice to run their farms how they see fit, so long as they aren't harming anyone. Since the real issue is saturated pesticides, we should come up with a pesticide strategy, not a communist strategy. -
- John
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:55:53
Good question PFA ! But it's not going to be a matter of IF the island has no farmers left, it shall be a question of WHEN. The only food I eat that comes from PEI is chocolate milk, and maybe something from the dessert section. The fact is that PEI produces a very small quantity of food products, and it's producing less every year. And another fact - organic food is not selling anywhere, because it's too expensive. PEI is going to do an exit stage left from the farming industry, and everybody will still be able to buy the very same products they are buying right now.
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- sick
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:53:31
A few years ago, anyone saying this would have been ridiculed as idealistic radicals (and because it is coming from the NDP, some will continue to engage in partisan name calling). Now, I think there are some economic arguments that would support a planned, supported transition to organic. For the last few years we have heard virtually nothing but bad new and ominous predictions for PEI farmers. This means that the current system/model simply isn't working, and there are no forseeable shifts in the marketplace that will change this gloomy forecast. In light of this, I think we should commit some resources to at least exploring ideas such as this.
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- jimbob
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:52:31
when pei was growing spuds for the table stock and seed market farmers were fussy about the seed they planted(elite/foundation/certifed/etc) along comes fry plants and farmers grow a processing potato, the seed they plant now has more desease problems than before. the solution? more spray!!! 20 to 40 years ago a transition to organic farming would have been almost seamless, unfortunatly peis market share in canada was stolen on a regular bases to facilitate farmers in other parts of the country. those uneducated people farmers from pei that ended up working in ontario took with them 5000 years of agricultural knowledge
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- Paul
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:48:00
Yes, and while we are at it, lets ban computers, cars, and everything else modern, and turn PEI into a museum like Venice.
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- joe
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:44:13
just for the record the tractor is being driven by big bussiness with the Liberal and Conservative parties riding on the tractor and giving it all the fuel that it needs
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- Mark
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:42:43
You people have no idea what you are talking about....that is like telling everyone they have to drive a bicycle in theory it seems easy, but in reality it is more complicated.
If organic food was an exteremly profitable industry the conversation would have been made a long time ago. -
- observer
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:42:40
The industrial model of farming is just not sustainable...it requires a use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides to be profitable because of the size of operation (by the way the fertilizers are already quite heavily subsidized by the federal government)
It is destroying top soil because of the intensive farming practices and large fields. The world is actually running out of top soil!
And on PEI where we depend on ground water for drinking the idea that we are using pesticides that leech into the steams and seep into the water table is really not appealing....who knows what the long term effect of that will be. It's never been studied...it's all guess work! We assume it'll be okay...but who really knows?
Some of you say we have to stick to the way it is now...well I think the way it is now is going to kill us in the long run one way or another.
Why are Islanders so resistant to change....any change?? -
- Mark
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:41:15
You people have no idea what you are talking about....that is like telling everyone they have to drive a bicycle in theory it seems easy, but in reality it is more complicated.
If organic food was an exteremly profitable industry the conversation would have been made a long time ago. -
- Quiet
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:41:05
Ban GMOs first, than ban chemical fertilizers, than ban pesticides, then help farmers with massive bankruptcy onslaught that would follow..
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- Johnnystorm
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:37:49
I can't believe how many people believe that turning organic will save PEI farms. If it was only that simple. I also can't believe how many people believe that organic food is better that conventonally produced food. This is a complete crock. It has been proven that organic food is no more nutritious that regular food and, if you check, there have been more food recalls for items like salmonella from organic food than any other.
