A number of times through the years I have reported on life "down on the farm" owned by friends who are north of Sharbot Lake. It is a little bit of heaven in terms of location, with 200 acres of rolling hills which are a mixture of pasture and woods. The 2,000 feet of shoreline on the Mississippi River don't hurt when it comes to beauty and attracting wildlife.
Our friends are hurting this year, thanks to last summer's drought in much of Ontario. They can't turn out the sheep and cattle on the grass because there isn't any yet, the result of a slow Spring. But livestock have to eat, so it is hay -- expensive hay. Last year at this time one of those large round bales cost about twenty dollars. This year, and after a miserable 2012 crop, it is fifty dollars for the same bale, and even though our friends sold off a few cows the critters can go through one in twenty four hours. Lambs and calves gotta grow, and the bigger they get they more they eat. These animals won't to go to market for a while yet, so there is no income but plenty of outflow. And worry. Consumers aren't keen to have costs passed on to them, even when they enjoy the product.
During the couple of days we spent with these wonderful folk immediately after my last service we were aware of the toll all this takes on them. Who would stay in small farming in Ontario these days, and yet we all have to eat.
In Bay of Quinte Conference of the United Church scores of congregations are in rural areas which were once thriving farm communities. All that is changing, and its not hard to see why a younger generation just doesn't see farming as a viable option for gainful employment. Our friends have a keen younger couple who are considering buying their land for organic market gardening, so maybe there is hope. It would be a bittersweet end for Ellen and Bill.
Thoughts?
2 comments:
I feel for your friends. That has just got to be the most unsettling feeling in the world.
But I also have a question: if farms like your friends are on the way out, what's replacing them? I assume the new form is some mega-farm, industrial grow-up? Where in Ontario are the bulk of these located?
I have the utmost respect for farmers. I got to know a lot of them at my first posting in rural Saskatchewan. The stress they endure is unbelievable - like the hours they work. Something always needs to be fixed, and that takes time away from seeding, etc. And farmers can fix anything!
Farming is so important to this country, I wish there were some way they could be helped when going through circumstances such as your friends.
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