Grandpa said: “take a look back, before you take any big or small step ahead”. For years, I was envious of our great neighbour south of the border. Now when I look south, I feel more sorry than envious. How could a great country fall so far, so fast? Twenty years ago, a very smart animal science professor from the most advanced U.S. agricultural university in North America told a large group of dairy farmers at a meeting in New York that China would soon be the “world leader” in agricultural research. That professor and many other ag researchers from leading ag universities had spent a couple weeks in China at a world conference for both agronomists and animal scientists. An old veterinarian friend told me many years ago that 90 per cent of animal health problems can be linked back to what their diet was. Sixty years ago, ag research (both plant and animal) was carried out either at provincial or federal government research farms, or at universities funded by the governments. Then, some bright politician decided that twice as much research could be done with same government funding if “shared funding” was implemented where half the funding would be provided by the government if equal funding was provided privately. Since many research projects can take five or more years to complete and the average political elections come every four years, often the results of a research project don’t get published until a new government is in power to brag about the findings. Private companies like seed companies, fertilizer companies, or big pharma who make the drugs and sprays for animals and crops, were fast to catch on that this new method of research funding could pay for half of their research. If those big companies could also control studies and end that study if the results were not looking favourable to their new product; the research suddenly became more favourable to the private company. Research in countries like Russia and China was never controlled by a private company. That means that research is more favourable to farmers and consumers and their government who pays for health care and eventually any added cost to production of food!
For 20 years I have been driving Jeannie to health appointments in the city and spend a lot of time counting cars at parking lots. Now, most (about 85 per cent) are not North American cars. Half-ton trucks are still mostly “big three” trucks. Some of the SUV’s may have one of the “big three” names but are made in China. When farmers look around the farm, they may see tractors from Japan, South Korea, as well as those made in the U.S.A., Canada, of Europe. When we look around the house, where was the TV, radio, microwave, stove, washer, weather monitor, or even the clothes that we ware made? When we look in the drug cabinet, where are the vitamins and drugs made? When I was a kid, only cheap plastic toys were made in China. Now even our shoes and rubber boots come from China. Many of the companies that our consumers made rich like; GM, Holiday Inn, insurance companies, investment firms, computer and computer software companies now call China home. Companies didn’t move to China or South Korea because of poor quality in North America. They moved because of less expensive labour. It’s not just because of lower wages for the low wage earner, but the engineers and CEOs salaries are also a lot less than in North America. The cost of engineering and building almost anything in China is much less and often the Chinese product is better engineered.
While Canada is struggling financially to improve our environment and slow down or reverse climate change, the great U.S.A. has just abandoned their aim at reducing emissions and cleaning up the environment. China had the largest population in the world and the most to do to improve their environment. However, China is now leading the world in addressing the enormous challenge of cleaning up pollution. China is now number one in developing the best EV battery, the worlds largest producer of EVs, and China will be “energy self-sufficient” within three years! The great U.S.A. has believed that if big business makes huge profits, there will be a trickle down effect that will bring the wages of workers up at the same time. It just didn’t work that way! The rich are getting richer while the lower class are becoming poorer. There has been extensive lobbying at the government level by big oil, big pharma, and food processing, trading, and retail by use of a revolving door policy, where private company people would get jobs in the EPA, federal health departments, and other positions that could influence federal positions that could influence environment and health of the country and planet. At the same time, private industry employees have been made available to work in government positions. You may have noticed that “forever chemicals”, micro plastics, chemical residues in our food, and fibers from synthetic materials in clothing have been slowly destroying our water quality, our air, our food safety, and our own health. Although most of the products that are causing those problems were deemed “safe” only a few years ago, neutral scientists and our medical profession is now having second thoughts about that “safety”. Many European and Asian countries have condemned most of those products years ago.
I still have trouble believing that a country that was the world leader in almost everything could drop to a country that has lost many of it’s allies and it’s citizens now wear a Canadian flag on their coat to avoid being demonized while in other countries. Let’s keep being proud Canadians.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations.
