The Manitoba chapter of the National Farmers Union (NFU) held it's annual meeting yesterday in Portage la Prairie at Canad Inns. NFU Manitoba board member Dean Harder says they're talking about issues of the day and things that concern members as well as their organization, and where they go from here.
"It's important as a farm organization to connect to grass-roots members and to engage where possible," he says. "We discussed why there needs to be opportunity for farm choice in terms of stable funding for farm organizations in Manitoba."
Harder explains, "There are two general farm organizations, and National Farmers Union in Manitoba is one of them. Unfortunately it's been an unfair system for so long. But we know that the Manitoba government is looking into changes in terms of administration. And we have a petition signed by farmers and others who want to see us gain that type of fair payment --- still by farmers, not by anyone else --- through a stable funding mechanism that the other farm organization has."
"We believe iron sharpens iron," Harder continues. "It's important that you're not only open to just one perspective. And so we've always done our work in working to have professional policy and research . And we just want to do more for the benefit of rural communities and farmers. And that's why we're here. Many times we hear rural voices are not heard enough. And that's part of our role as an organization. So, we just encourage people to get involved. Our values are based on the idea that we should have more family farms, not less of them. We very much believe in the local food movement going on. There's a lot of potential. People care about their food. We want to see even a stronger Canadian food inspection agency. And there are a lot of things we're dealing with. We want to tie in those relationships between rural and urban. The more people that get involved in the National Farmers Union, the better and stronger our message can be."
"The Nationals Farmers Union has just been doing some really good groundbreaking unique work on reducing greenhouse gas and emissions," says Harder. "It's not enough to talk about how this can work that doesn't. there needs to be comprehensive research, and what actually is going to make a difference in terms of improving soil, and reducing the amount of gas that goes out into the atmosphere. We can talk about zero till, but it's actually a topic of that needs good research." Harder says, "It's not simple to know whatever mechanism goes out there. We're definitely going to be talking about it, and our lead researchers are going to be talking this afternoon about a comprehensive plan for farms. And it's a per-farm issue, right? And I believe farmers want to help. They're definitely concerned that they're going to get the squeeze by being in the middle if there's a carbon tax. And rightly so. But there might be a way to do it right. It's important that we're involved and others are involved in getting whatever system that exists as right as possible."
Board member and Manitoba Coordinator Ian Robson adds, "You don't want to be squeezed by a carbon tax. There are two sides to the carbon tax. There's the other side where we need better farm income. If we earn better farm income, then we can pay all of our taxes. And we do want to pay our debts and our taxes. That's what makes an economy work," he notes. "We can't get stuck on one idea about expenses. We have to think both expenses and income. And we have to get a better income from the marketplace. We know a lot of our farmers, for example, in dairy or egg; they do get paid directly by the consumer with no subsidies. This we like. A lot of businesses operate on a margin. Farmers don't do that. That's a troubling aspect of farm accounting and it needs to be changed."
Source : Steinbachonline