For the independent producer, it is a different story. Prior to the 1990s, small-to medium-sized farms raised several hundred sows as a hedge against fluctuations in grain prices. When, in the mid-1990's, corporations moved into the market, building mega barns to produce up to 150,000 hogs annually, independents found themselves with less access to the packers. Also, the independents are very vulnerable to price fluctions; the collapse of hog prices in 1998 saw between one-third and one-half of hog producers forced out of the business. Grain farmers are equally embattled. Record low commodity prices, drought and, in some parts of the prairies, floods have combined to force many into bankruptcy.
Now, 20 per cent of prairie farms produce 80 per cent of the grain and livestock. But, life at the top of the food chain isn't necessarily easy. In an effort to remain profitable, big farmers are forced to purchase more and more land that needs to be worked with expensive, computerized equipment. Farmers also face a huge psychological shift. Bob Stirling, who teaches sociology at the University of Regina, worries that as producers become more firmly tied to corporations like Monsanto, their control over their farm operations is destroyed and they become mere managers of corporation interests.
For the 80 per cent of farmers who produce the remaining 20 per cent of grain and livestock it is a fight not just for
a dwindling piece of the marketplace but for the survival of everything they have worked towards and fought for. No one likes losing control over one's life. But that is what many producers are facing. No longer can ranchers and farmers be mythologized as stalwart, independent-thinking Marlboro men. In an attempt to make ends meet, most
farm wives and almost half the men rely on off-farm work. Disheartened, some leave before bankruptcy overtakes them. Others, whose ties to the land can extend back generations, cannot walk away easily from their heritage or their
concern over the husbandry of the land. In a culture where the status one enjoys in a community is tied to how good a farmer or rancher you are, bankruptcy destroys both your standing in the community and, above all, your self-respect. As the bills
mount, the intense psychological, as well as financial, pressure to keep the family farm afloat leads to a sense of, first, anger, then shame, and, finally, hopelessness and despair. Suicide in not uncommon.
For those who remain, there are mixed blessings. Many benefit from the foreclosures, picking up, literally, good deals at farm auctions of their bankrupt
neighbours. As neighbour after neighbour packs up and leaves, problems which rural communities have not had to face before
become apparent. There is the growing physical isolation that destroys the supportive network of social relations that family farms rely upon.
Cameron Harder, assistant professor of systematic theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Saskatoon, who works with rural people and comminutes, says that many producers see the traditional co-operative practices of prairie farm life being replaced in the new free-market economy by "intense, even cannibalistic competition." As villages and small towns shrivel, the sense of community is diminished. Depopulation has led to a hemorrhage of social
capital—community-shared knowledge and skills, as well as a
volunteer base that small towns depend
upon—that took years of common experience and trust to build. Governments see the demographic shifts as a reason to justify regionalization of education, health, and postal services, thus further encouraging the move to larger, regional centres. This is especially true for young people; while some return to rural life, the vast majority remain in the cities.
The outflow of social capital is only one of the problems facing rural
communities. To help diversify the rural economy, governments have encouraged value-added processing, offering low taxes and a business-friendly environment that sees labour and environmental standards lowered. The mega hog barns are one such example. Rural municipalities are
divided over the benefits that accrue back to the community. On one hand, hundreds of workers are thankful for jobs despite the low pay and health risks due to the dust and ammonia. On the other hand, the stench and environmental concerns over the pumping of liquefied manure into lagoons and underground pits have galvanized local residents to mount legal battles to
keep companies such as Taiwan Sugar out of their community. "It is likely that the rapid buildup of pathogens and chemicals in our surface
water—much of which is due to the improper handling of animal
wastes—will lead to some kind of major disease outbreak or health problems in the next few years," predicts the Organization of Competitive Markets.
Heritage Community Foundation Presents
