Farm Groups on the Canadian Prairies Want Ottawa to Penalize Railways for Grain Shipment Backlog
Winnipeg Free Press
Prairie farm groups frustrated by delays in shipping grain this fall want the federal government to do more to penalize rail companies that don't deliver crops in a timely way. Details here.
Surplus grain stored on a
Manitoba field. PLT stock photo.
Comments
In her book, "Consumed. Food for a Finite Planet," Canadian author Sarah Elton chronicles the history of small farmers in developing countries being forced off the land and into urban slums by floods of cheap, imported food coming from overseas.
The push to "modernize" the developing world has actually seen tens of thousands of poor farmers in India commit suicide. In their efforts to adapt to these new methods, they've incurred heavy debts, trying to pay for the expensive inputs needed for patented seeds and GMO crops. Tragically, many took their own lives by drinking the very pesticides which, instead of making their lives better, drove them to despair and suicide.
Obviously, things aren't that serious here in Canada. Still, a culture which favours larger, wealthier producers over smaller, more sustainable ones remains firmly entrenched here.
And, given that modern agriculture is a significant contributor to climate change, which - because of more frequent and severe droughts and floods, is casting a long and ominous shadow over our very ability to produce food for the future, time is running out. So new ways of growing our food are not just just desirable. They are essential.
Do they really think such penalty costs would not be passed on?