Welcome!
Recently, hundreds of donors have joined with the membership of the NFU to fight for a safe, fair food system. Welcome to all of you! Thank you for uniting with us to build a system that provides safe food while ensuring fair returns for those of us who grow the food. These are new relationships for all of us! We're in uncharted waters - on the cutting edge of a global movement to reclaim our food system. We're bringing together people with diverse needs and wants: rural and urban folk; producers and consumers; organic and conventional growers; justice-seekers and pragmatists; young and old. No matter how we classify ourselves, we are people with common goals. Safe food. Vibrant communities.
We want to let you know about us - what we believe in; some of the work that the NFU has done and is doing to ensure a safe food system. This expanded issue of the Union Farmer Quarterly will give you some of the history of our organization, describe its goals and objectives, and outline some of the specific actions that we have or are currently undertaking.
Who are we?
We are a direct membership organization.
No special privileges are held by commodity groups or other groups related to agriculture.
We are a national organization.
We have members in virtually every province, except Quebec. Right now, we are more active in some areas of the country than in others. With your support, we can certainly change that!
We are a cross-sectoral organization.
Farmers are notoriously easy to set against each other - farmers against ranchers or grain growers against livestock producers. We believe that agricultural and farm policies can - and should - be framed in ways that do not set primary producers against each other. We advocate for policies that benefit all primary producers.
We are a democratic organization.
Each year, we elect our leadership from members at our Annual General Meeting and Convention. These individuals, along with regionally elected National board members, form the board that governs the organization. The National President functions as the chief administrative officer of the union, and together with the Youth and Women's Presidents, constitutes the Executive Committee.
Our members are families - men, women, youth (14 - 21 years). All are full members of the National Farmers Union and enjoy all rights and privileges within the Union. This structure recognizes that every family member contributes to the farm by working on it, or providing income through off-farm employment.
Member families put forward policy resolutions at local, district and provincial meetings.
Delegates at the AGM debate resolutions, which once approved by the convention, provide direction for NFU leadership.
Where did we come from?
Happy Birthday to us! This year marks our Thirtieth birthday! In July 1969, it was clear to farmers that they needed to speak with one voice. At that time, four provincial farm unions amalgamated to form the National Farmers Union. By the time you receive this issue, we will have celebrated our thirty years of working for a food system that meets the needs of farmer and consumer.
On July 11, 1970, the NFU received formal recognition by the Parliament of Canada, when the Act to Incorporate the National Farmers Union received royal assent in the Parliament of Canada. The NFU remains the only general farm organization in Canada incorporated by an Act of Parliament.
What is our purpose?
We believe that a strong rural community in Canada is an essential part of our national culture. We work together collectively to strengthen the farm community by:
What policies do we support?
We focus on the policy areas of marketing and domestic food, transportation, and international issues.
Marketing and domestic food:
Orderly marketing is an essential management tool for small and medium-sized farms. It provides producers with advanced technology and selling expertise, equality of delivery opportunities and pooling of costs and returns.
In Canada, fresh milk, eggs and poultry reach shoppers through supply management marketing boards which are the envy of producers and consumers around the world. The system is farmer-managed, matches supply (production) with demand, and balances price with production costs. Our products are held to higher standards than those from other countries. These made-in-Canada marketing alternatives safeguard domestic and local food supplies.
In the past, the federal government limited imports (ie. set import quotas) of similar products produced more cheaply in other countries. This prevented imports from underselling Canadian foods for which farmers were being paid a fair price. Many consumers have unhappily commented that they pay more for their milk under this system. However, farmers in Canada argue that the price paid for milk reflects the true cost of production.
Farmers would argue two other points: a) that milk produced elsewhere is cheaper because farmers are not fairly compensated for labour and capital investment; and b) that the only way farmers can expect to cover costs is to reduce margins on production. That means increase volumes - produce more milk with more cows on fewer, larger farms in a depopulated countryside.
Under the new rules imposed by NAFTA, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the World Trade Organization, temporary tariffs have been substituted for the protective import quotas that kept cheaper products out of Canada. These rules require that temporary tariffs are eventually phased out, so that imported and domestic products compete at par. The result will be that cheaper milk from the USA, where rBGH is used and lower quality standards prevail, will be allowed into the country. Under current rules, retailers would not be required to indicate country of origin on the milk. As well, the new trade rules mean that supply management cannot be extended to include other foods. Other food sectors will not be allowed to establish marketing boards to ensure consistent, high quality supplies of product for consumers and cost-recovery for farmers. (1)
Transportation:
Railways remain the most cost-effective and environmentally safe way to transport grain and raw food products across this huge country. Given the commitments that our federal government made under the Kyoto Accord, it would make some sense that our rail system be strengthened and expanded. However, the reverse is happening. Our national railway system is currently being 'consolidated', as rail and grain companies, with the undeniable blessing of provincial and federal governments, close 'unprofitable' branch and feeder lines. Closing branch-lines means that farmers must haul grain greater distances to larger in-land terminals over roads that were never designed to withstand their extra weight and traffic. The burden of maintaining over-stressed roads then falls on the shoulders of Rural Municipalities, which are ill-equipped to raise the tax dollars required to upgrade and maintain them, especially given the crises of weather, price and trade wars that farmers face every year.
The NFU is currently participating in the Kroeger process, which the federal government has established to implement transportation recommendations made by Justice Willard Estey. At that table, we represent the interests and well-being of farmers, their families, their communities and by extension, Canadian consumers. (See article on p???).
International Issues:
Globalization may be inevitable, but NFU members believe that farmers in Canada and all around the world must have their say in how it happens. The NFU is a founding participant in a global movement of peasant, farmers' and farm workers' organizations, Via Campesina. Farmers' and farm workers' organizations from Asia, Europe and the Americas formed the Via Campesina in 1993 to formulate strategies that would take farmer concerns into the international policy- and decision-making arena.
The NFU, through the Via Campesina, participated in the Rome World Food Summit (1996), and is scheduled to again represent farmers' views at the November WTO Ministerial meetings to be held in Seattle, Washington. In speaking on their own behalf; in calling for a food system that respects its foundation, the small to medium-sized farmers; farmers also protect the interests of all who eat.
Footnotes:
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