Recently, I have read many articles describing the rise in food prices globally as a very bad thing. I would like to disagree with this view point, and argue that rising prices are actually a blessing in disguise.
Many developed nations will spend billions of dollars every year to subsidize farmers so that they can earn a viable living on their own. Some people complain about rising prices around the world, but this is actually a good thing for farmers. The production of food requires a great deal of maintenance, effort, and financial input. Many farmers in Canada and countries around the world are forced to go into debt in order to acquire the capital to plant their fields in the spring.
Wouldn't it be better if higher food prices meant that these farmers could sustain their operations on their own?
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4 comments:
Rising food prices aren't the end of the world for the wealthy in the West. We'll get by just fine. It's all those not lucky enough to be born or make their way to the West for whom rising food prices can mean famine and death. That's a pretty horrible thing, eh?
Don't kid yourself that the impact of high food costs will not be felt in North America. I know a lots of people in Toronto who will be going hungry. Food bank use has only every increased every year since the first ones were established. Food bank usage increased through three LPC mandates. Why do you suppose that is? Why do you think that principals in Toronto schools servicing poor communities have stated publicly that they need more money for food programs.
I am all for fixing the environment but the LPC and GPC are prepared to do it by screwing poor and working class Canadians and that can't be the way. It won't work politically and it won't work period. It will cause massive social unrest. And don't talk to me about tax shifting. The poorest Canadians don't pay tax as it is and if the plan is to send out quarterly cheques, that won't help folks because they have to pay the increased cost of food daily. A quarterly cheque will be of minimal value. It would also mean folks would actually have to do their taxes in the first place. As someone who has worked with poor people, there is a high non-compliance rate even with the added 'incentive' that they would qualify for GST and other tax rebates. This is why the NDP is looking to balance a comprehensive environmental policy with a social justice agenda that won't throw poor and working Canadians under the hybrid bus (www.ndp.ca)
Oh and the argument that it will be better for farmers... The prices are raising for a couple of reasons. Fuel cost - that is not money that the farmers will see in profit to them, it is a cost that will only benefit the oil companies. Switching to energy crops - yes farmers will make more money but they will produce less food.
I want to see farmers do better but rising food costs because of these two factors is not the way to do it.
Rising food prices equal hardships for all Canadians that struggle to get by.
Higher food prices mean higher production costs. It also means that the farmer who can't eat the grass like his animals will also suffer. A farmer pays for a loaf of bread just like his urban neighbors!
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