Less than 1% of Canadians are farmers. 100% of Canadians eat.
Water, food and shelter and the three basic needs for survival and Canadians rely on less than 1% of the population to not only ensure a safe and accessable food supply but these people also protect our water sources through land stewardship. What an incredible group of people to care about the health of their country's people everyday they go to work.
When I think about farming this way, I am amazed by the farmers I work with even more. Farmers work tirelessly to produce food for Canadians under strict government health and environmental regulations even though other countries can undercut their market without the same regulations impeding them. Our farmers support and uphold our regulations because our standards ensure quality and safety for Canadians.
When pets die because we import tainted Chinese wheat gluten it means we aren't holding other countries to the same standards. What is the point of our farmers working so hard to produce high quality food if Canadians buy foreign products that are obviously not held to the same standard? Is the slightly higher price we pay for the quality and safety of Canadian products too high?
Each time a food scare is reported I vow all over again to choose the food grown at home when I have the choice. I hope you will do the same.
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I really like the idea of eating only what has been grown less than 100 miles from my door. It's a bit hard in the winter for sure, but now that Ontario asparagus has started to arrive, I won't starve.
We ALL need to spend a little more time thanking the people who feed us. Few of us like the idea of "factory farms", but if we don't all wise up, and start supporting the individuals who put food on our plates, that's all we will have.
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