Rural / Urban Divide: Closing the Gap

Mar 01, 2013

Ontario Federation of Agriculture Argues Prosperity Depends on Success of all Communities

Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) President Mark Wales participates in a panel discussion at the Ontario Good Roads Association (OGRA) and the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference on the topic of whether or not Ontario’s prosperity still depends on the fortunes of its rural communities.

It’s the cause of friction among our rural and urban communities that most don’t care to acknowledge – the rural and urban divide.

At this year’s OGRA-ROMA conference, which is held annually with the purpose to engage and debate about how municipalities should respond to new and growing challenges and tackle the topic of the rural and urban divide. The conference was well attended with more than 1,400 municipal leaders, over 20 provincial cabinet ministers, MPPs, and even the Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne.

A resolution was put forward for debate on the topic if whether Ontario’s prosperity still depends on the fortunes of its rural communities and two presenters from each side presented arguments for and against the resolution. Two raised compelling arguments about why urban Ontario can stand alone, while OFA President Mark Wales and MPP Randy Hillier (PC Critic for Labour) spoke on behalf of rural Ontario against the resolution.

Wales spoke passionately for rural Ontario and argued that the fortunes of rural Ontario are sometimes qualified by more than economic value. Wales also went on to state that while farmers may only represent less than 2% of Ontario’s population – farmers also own almost 80% of all privately held land in the province. With that, farmers are multi-generational stewards of the land who play a pivotal role in producing safe and healthy food for all Ontarians. Perhaps the heart of the argument is this – the fortunes of rural Ontario translate into the fortunes for urban centers. Economically speaking, according to a 2010 report on the Economic Contributions of the Ontario Farm Sector, found that 13% of Ontario’s GDP is derived from agriculture – which doesn’t include other industries that are closely linked including mining, forestry and tourism.

Video: Is China Buying US Soybeans + USDA Nov 14th Crop Report could be “Game Changing”

After a week of a U.S./China trade truce, markets/trade is skeptical that we have not seen a signed agreement nor heard much from China or seen any details. There are rumors that China is buying soybean futures & not the physical. Trust in Trump?
12 MMT of U.S. soybean purchases by China by year-end is better than 0 but we all need to give it more time and give it a chance to unfold. China did lower the tariffs on Ag and is buying U.S. wheat and sorghum.
U.S. supreme court could rule against Trumps tariffs, but the Trump administration does have a plan B.
U.S. government shutdown is now the longest in history at 38 days.
But despite a U.S. government shutdown we will be getting a USDA November crop report next Friday and it could be “game changing.” If the USDA provides a bullish surprise with lower U.S. corn and soybean yields and ending stocks that are lower than expected both corn and soybean futures will break out above their ceilings at $4.35/bu and $11.35/bu respectively.
The funds continued their selling in live and feeder cattle futures on continued fears that the Trump administration want to lower U.S. beef prices. The fundamentals have not changed, only market psychology has.
Stocks markets continue to worry about a weak U.S. job market, but you can blame ChatGPT for that. In the future, we will have a more efficient, productive and growing economy with a higher unemployment rate until we have more skilled AI workers.
After 34 new record highs in the S & P 500 and 124 new records in the NASDAQ in 2025 we are back to a correction and investor profit taking as AI valuations may have gotten too stretched near-term ahead of NVDA’s 3rd quarter earnings announcement on Nov. 19th. But this is not an AI bubble.
75% of Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk!
It has rained in South America in the last 7 days, but both the American and European models agree that Central Brazil remains dry in the next 14-days!

Canadian Agriculture Literacy Week Kicks Off

Horse Slaughter May Soon Operate in the U.S.