Canada's National Farmers Union Stands
with Indian Farmers -
National Farmers Union - This
statement by the National Farmers Union and their Backgrounder were
issued in early December 2020.  The National
Farmers Union stands in solidarity with farmers in India, who continue
to protest new agricultural laws formally passed in September. This
agriculture reform will effectively undermine the guaranteed prices
farmers receive through government purchase of staple crops and open
them up to exploitation by large corporations. Tens of thousands of
Indian farmers are protesting, demanding that these reforms be
rescinded or that a new law be introduced to guarantee them a minimum
price for their crops. "We in Canada recognize the Indian farmers'
struggle as similar to our own struggle. We support them in their right
to protest, and in their call for agriculture policy that supports the
millions of smallholder farmers growing food in India," said NFU
President Katie Ward.
As shrinking net farm incomes
reach a crisis level for farmers around the world and also in Canada,
Canadian farmers understand the need for government regulation that
works for farmers rather than for those who take profits at the expense
of farmers. "We have experienced the dismantling of institutions that
were vital to the bargaining power and, by extension, incomes of
Canadian farmers," said NFU Vice-President Stewart Wells, "For example
the loss of the single desk marketing system for hogs in the 1990s and
more recently the destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board, among
others." As a result of losing the single-desk
marketing system for hogs, thousands of Canadian farmers could no
longer raise hogs because they could not access the market without a
contract. The intentional shift to corporate hog production has left
that sector fully vertically integrated and dominated by only three
meat processing corporations. Prices are regularly below the cost of
the production. The industry is heavily dependent on government safety
nets to ride out the highly volatile market. It is an industry now
largely devoid of family farmers. The change in hog farming in Canada
was swift and brutal for family farmers raising hogs -- a direct result
of agriculture policy aimed at assisting corporations instead of
farmers. While the circumstances of Indian farmers
are vastly different than Canadian farmers in many ways, it is clear
that agricultural policies that serve to undercut farmers' livelihoods
to make room for large corporations to profit will have devastating
consequences for the millions of smallholder farmers and their families.
India's food security is threatened, as the new laws will
shift its agricultural economy from "food production" for people to
"commodity production" for trade and export. Farmers take on more debt
and risk in a system of contract farming. The new laws will lift the
ban on hoarding food by corporate buyers, which will allow them to
capitalize on ups and downs in production by price-gouging consumers
during shortages and depressing prices to farmers in times of abundance.
"Farmers did not ask for this reform, and it is not in their
interest. The impacts will be devastating and far-reaching. Canada's
NFU supports Indian farmers in their opposition to these reforms," Ward
stated, "We object to the suppression of democratic protest taking
place in India this week. We stand with Indian farmers, and their right
to protect their livelihoods by protesting the imposition of these
unjust laws."
This article was published in
Volume 51 Number 2 - February 7, 2021
Article Link:
Canada's National Farmers Union Stands with Indian Farmers
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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