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By Lauren Kennedy

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No bull about it, farmers at the national and even local levels are facing a crisis and it took three delegates from New Brunswick to calm their fears.

Local farmers are becoming starved for profits because of the price and profitability crisis gripping family farm producers. In light of this, three delegates from New Brunswick attended the 39th annual National Farmers Union (NFU) conference with a theme of Food and Community:

Local to International that happened in Saskatoon recently.

All three are extremely concerned about the steady loss of family farms in New Brunswick due to rising expenses and declining revenues. They have since returned and have improved faith in the fate of the family farm.

Due to a cumulation of a year-long inquiry into the cattle sector and the profits that stem from that, it was shown that Canadian farmers and independent feeders are receiving half as much as they did over two decades ago. It pinpointed the drop in cattle prices to the period around 1989.

Along with this problem comes the issue of packaging the final product.

Right now the “Product of Canada” label can be used on foods grown anywhere in the world if they are processed or packaged in Canada, and there is no label specifically for New Brunswick grown product in stores.

To help local farmers sell their product, the NFU in New Brunswick is lobbying MPs and MLAs for mandatory labelling stating where the food products are grown.

According to Statistics Canada, last year N.B. farms averaged a loss of $24,746, which means that at least one family member must work another job off-farm to keep the farm alive.

Barb Somerville, an award-winning dairy farmer from Juniper and secretary of the NFU in New Brunswick, was one of the three delegates to attend this year’s conference.

“I found it very exciting to be part of this dynamic, committed group of farmers, as we met to discuss current issues and make policy recommendations,” said Somerville. “It is by working through the NFU in N.B.

that we hope to make a better future for farmers throughout the province and beyond.”

For Somerville the highlight of the convention was the talk on the cattle sector by Darrin Qualman, NFU director of research, titled Building Solutions to the Livestock Crisis.

Prices for cattle are dropping and local cattle farmers are now receiving less than half the price for their cattle that their parents and grandparents received.

“These half-price cattle are bankrupting family farmers across Canada and creating the most severe crisis in the sector since the Great Depression,” said Qualman in his talk.

Betty Brown, a local Carleton County beef producer, market gardener and a national director of the NFU, feels that though economic times are tough, the family farms and local small farms will be able to make it through this crisis.

“We’re all hurting (financially), some more than others. The livestock sector has been hit pretty bad and even those that are involved in potatoes have a gloomy story to tell,” explained Brown.

“The economic crisis is affecting farmers across Canada, but I did leave the conference with hope.”

The hope that Brown saw was in the way in which farmers at all levels are marketed toward the public.

For Brown, who produces beef and vegetables, she sees first-hand what the consumer really wants from the local farmer.

“What I’m finding is that more and more people are buying local. They want to know their beef doesn’t contain growth hormones, or have been inhumanly treated, and, in general, a lot more people tend to like the taste of fresh local product rather than the kind you would find in stores,” she said. “It’s this kind of feedback that will make the smaller producer (of agriculture) make a living. That’s what I’m finding.”

Another thing that really made Brown believe the family farming industry is here to stay is the amount of younger people attending the conference.

“Lots of times you see silver-haired people like me there, but there were lots under the age of 30, and they were young and surviving,” she said.

Somerville said members of the NFU in the province are currently working hard with their fellow farmers, farm organizations and government to try to improve net-farm income so farmers can remain on the farm doing what they do best. The organization is also contributing to policy changes at the local, provincial and federal levels to improve the labelling of food products and to improve consumer access to safe, healthy food products.