There is a lot said about social contracts and social enterprises and how we can use our consumer dollars to right a wrong, fair trade products, etc. We can’t afford to lose any more farmers.
We need to make a social contract within our province to not lose any more control of our food system, not lose any more soil fertility and such resource that it is, and not lose any more farmers. All farmers are over-worked and way underpaid for the amount of critical mass they generate for the Island economy.
The filthy rich will make record profits like they always do and it is the farmers and environment that will lose. Let’s look at the beef plant Islanders paid for and subsidized. Beef is super expensive in the store but the payout on beef carcasses is way too low. The point of the plant was to at least get P.E.I. beef farmers the Ontario price and it doesn’t. The beef price in the stores doesn’t need to get higher; farmers just aren’t getting their share.
When this farm had potatoes, the rule was you could grow an acre of potatoes for every two cows or six pigs you had on the farm. Potatoes were grown once in seven years in a rotation. If we in P.E.I. had a social contract to pay a way better price for beef cows to the farmers, not to mention hogs, dairy, etc., then the land fertility could be saved, more wealth would circulate in the economy too. We need to get re-engaged with our food fate. We will have to toss out the governments that are OK with an oil company taking over our food system. We will be better off in the end without them
Ranald MacFarlane,
Fernwood
