The first economist who touched my life was an agricultural economist who taught at McGill. He was also on retainer to Canada’s federal government. He was a bit eccentric, smoked a cigar in class, walked around and wrote on the walls with chalk as he lectured. One fall, we held class in the local pub watching the world series.

He taught us to look at all economic aspects before making any decision but to always look at long term effects. Dr. McFarlane was an economist with true common sense.

The majority of today’s so called economists whose articles we read in the newspapers, or see on TV are very shortsighted and only look at today’s economics, with little or no thought of the implications of their ideas on tomorrow’s consumer prices or safety.

I once had the opportunity to attend a week-long session of farm management seminars where most of the best agricultural economists in the United States were lecturing a group of north eastern dairy farmers. After a day-long session, some of us congregated in the bar to continue the long term vision of dairy farming in the US.

After an hour or so one of these economists disclosed that he had invested a couple million in a large dairy project. In the mid-1980s, new dairy projects built for a profitable future were designed for 700 cows or more with room for expansion. At that time, the United States was still number one in the world for agricultural research. Today China has taken first place in agricultural research.

After another hour in the pub, this group agreed that if anyone wanted to succeed in dairy farming they should go to an underdeveloped country where land and labour were cheap, there were no labour or environmental laws, rainfall was normal and no earthquakes, floods or droughts were a threat.

During the 1980s food processors, food traders, and even the governments had began to encourage farmers to produce for an export market. Because of its superior quality and reliable delivery system, Canadian wheat had been an export success story for decades.

The construction of a couple very large efficient beef abattoirs in western Canada encouraged an increase in Canadian beef production.

The supply managed food industries like dairy, eggs and poultry were reluctant to buy into this export trade because they and their economists kept a close watch on world prices and often the world price was less than the cost to produce the product.

As trade agreements like the WTO and NAFTA were signed, it became illegal to subsidize dairy, eggs or poultry because they fell under supply management.

If farmers wanted to export anything, the export price had to be the same or more than the price our domestic consumers pay. When the world price of grains, beef or other commodities is lower than the cost to grow or produce it, subsidies are paid to the farmers who produce it.

In the US they do not pay subsidies but they make excessive loss payments to their farmers when they get around to it. The US farm bill is in excess of a trillion dollars. When any product is exported at less than what it costs to produce it the domestic taxpayers are subsidizing a foreign buyer.

Many of our farmers don’t think it is fair for our Canadian taxpayer to subsidize the food that people in a foreign country eats, unless it is donated for humanitarian reasons.

Lately some of the trade retaliations of our neighbour to the south have upset some of our trading partners and resulted in a tremendous drop in grain, meat, and milk prices. The Canadian farmer and consumer are paying for actions of our southern neighbour.

A few years ago, our president of the Quebec Farmers Union told us that 95 per cent of Quebec’s farm production was consumed domestically but a lot of effort and expense was spent on dealing with trade to export the other five per cent which is usually sold at or below cost.

Only you, the Canadian consumer can control what you buy or eat, or how much of your tax dollars that we use to subsidize consumers in other countries.

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

for generations.gladcrest@gmail.com

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