are not familiar with Food Freedom Day, there are several think tanks in Canada who calculate everything from how much more income a person will make in their lifetime if they have a university degree compared to a high school leaving certificate, to things like Food Freedom Day and Tax Freedom Day.

Food Freedom Day is calculated by averaging the income of everyone in Canada and averaging the total food purchases for every family member and dividing the total yearly food purchases by the number of days in a year (365). Food Freedom Day for 2020 is calculated to be Feb. 8.

That’s the day that a citizen’s average salary could have paid for the year’s food if it was all used for food. In comparison, if that same consumer used his or her entire income to pay taxes, the tax bill would not be paid until June 14 this year.

If you look back through history, you will note that Food Freedom Day is about a day earlier each year but Tax Freedom Day comes about a day later each year.

If we look at the cost of the first three necessities in life, food, shelter and clothing, the average consumer spends less on those three essentials than taxes. As we watch a smaller percentage of our income spent on food each year, we also see more and more of our income spent for health care and drugs, some which are paid for with our tax dollars.

Our busy lifestyle demands that we spend more of our food dollars eating outside the home, which is good for our economy but a portion of the restaurant bill is for more than the actual cost of the food eaten.

As our farmers have became more efficient and produced much more food per farmer, farm profit margins have plummeted, farm bankruptcies, stress, mental health problems and farm suicides have increased putting more pressure on our health care system and entire farming communities in general.

As the farmer reads about environmentalists telling the world that cows are burping and farting too much and polluting the atmosphere, he looks out the window at a jumbo jet taking off for the sunny south, spewing out more pollution and half spent fuel than his entire herd of cattle would for several years. Those vacationers probably don’t walk home either.

Veterinarians have told me that 85 per cent of animal sickness is related to their feed and nutrition. People are animals too, but we like to think that we are at the top of the scale. Nothing made me happier than watching healthy, well fed animals enjoying their feed. Let’s know what our needs are, know what we are eating, enjoy our food, and remember our most important exercise, pushing back from the table. Let’s also get our priorities straight. We need good food, adequate shelter, clothing that suits our climate and good friends.

Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.

gladcrest@gmail.com

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