Marketing Boards

I like marketing boards. I like them for the simple reason that they provide an almost level playing field so that small farms can compete against the large factory farms. The Canadian government and their corporate sponsors dislike them for exactly the same reason. The argument on the part of the large corporate farms is that the market will establish, without government intervention, its own balance and if someone cannot compete, it is because they are not being efficient enough. The reality is that the large factory farms don't want competition and will do all that they can to ensure that small players cannot compete. Marketing boards such as the Egg and Milk Marketing Boards have enabled the small producers, the family farms to survive. Does that make our egg and milk a bit more expensive? Yes, but that seems to be a small price to pay to ensure that there is a consistent quality and that our food production does not devolve any further into a Walmart or other box store-like mentality. It is still unclear whether or not the Harper government will bow to the pressure from those commercial interest who want Canada to be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement. The price of our participation will be the dismantlement of our marketing boards. Without that protection, our markets will be flooded with cheap milk from the USA and Australia resulting in the destruction of our farms.

The Government of Canada has already dismantled the Canadian Wheat Board which was formed by Parliament in 1935 to guarantee western farmers would get fair prices for their wheat and barley (Globe and Mail). They did so under the argument that wheat farmers would be better served if they could negotiate directly with the corporations who wanted to buy their product. This means of course, that farmers are competing directly with their neighbours to see who can get the best price (as opposed to everyone getting the same price for their wheat). It means that large factory farms that can afford to invest in larger equipment etc., can produce their wheat cheaper and therefore drive the smaller farms out of business. The Harper government's first step was, in 2012, was to allow farmers to drop out of the Canadian Wheat Board -that is they could sell their wheat to whomever and for whatever cost. The second step for the dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board happened this week when the government sold 50.1%, what use to be a farm based cooperative, to a consortium of multinationals including the Saudi Arabian government.

The agreement, for which the government received $250 million,  gives Global Grain Group access to “All the assets ....... thousands of rail cars, the port terminals, the ships on the Great Lakes" (Globe and Mail). This has to be one of the greatest sweetheart deals of this or any other century. It makes the corrupt land deals that our first Prime Minister made to get the railroad built look positively benign in comparison.  It feels as if we have not only given away everything in the store but as well the very land it was built on.  So now a foreign government and a multinational will be in charge of selling Canadian wheat. While farmers will still be able to sell directly to buyers, for many farmers this is not an option. Farmers who lack the capacity to negotiate with global food market will have no choice but to sell their product to this multinational. Corporations' (as opposed to cooperatives) sole function is to make money for their shareholders.  Anyone who believes that the first priority of this company will be Canadian farmers is living in a fantasy world. Anyone who believes that this is a good deal for consumers is living in that same fantasy world.

What other country would give away control of a valuable commodity ? Why are we not alarmed?