The farming community is not a monolith; there are different kinds of farmers, just as there are different types of people. But, even so, I think a few generalizations may be fairly made.
Most farmers I know – and I know a good number in Canada – are people who place great value on their families, and the fact that farming is a family lifestyle.
Farmers place great value on the land they work. They know their livelihood comes from working the land, and in their own way, they are great environmentalists.
Farmers take great pride in providing good food for the people in their communities, whether that is milk, cheese, chickens, beef, a variety of grains, or a dozen other things.
Farmers are also business people, and know that they are in business to make money as well good products. If they can’t make money, they can’t do anything else either.
Which brings us to the issue of fertilizer.
Fertilizer is really expensive stuff. Necessary, but expensive. If you could show a farmer how he or she could spend 10% less money on fertilizer, and still have a good crop in the field, I am sure he or she would jump at the chance to save that extra cash. In fact, they are pretty smart people, and if there were a way for this to be done, I guarantee they already would have done it.
The fact is, however, they are already operating at their optimum capacity.
Our Canadian ruling party (I won’t say government, since that word carries other implications, like good governance) is wanting to decree that farmers decrease their use of fertilizers by 30%. Thirty percent – one third – is a huge number, not to mention arbitrary. Presumably, they think such a measure will be good for the global climate (there are those who posit conspiracy theories involving the WEF, but I will not go there).
Farmers are protesting this measure because they know it will not help the environment, or benefit them or the people coming to shop at the local grocery store. I hope that Canadians, and the Trudeau junta, will listen to them.
J & S on Mission 