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Manitoba | IMO while all the stuff discussed is true the real issue (and take a look around, this problem or the root of it is nothing local but worldwide) is that there are thousands and thousands of producers who we can call "small" regardless of size and only a few real buyers and they are without question BIG. It is a question of power, plain and simple. The many small do not have it and the few big do. So prices will be kept as low as possible while still bringing in enough product and whether that is above or below the actual cost of production means nothing. And as producers get more and more effecient through whatever means possible the price that keeps the product coming in keeps going lower and lower. Sure there will be blips here and there where markets get out of line and the price may go up a bit for a small time but the trend is obvious and the picture it paints is not pretty for the producer of food. The competition which used to exist on the purchasing end is no longer there with so few buyers and that does not look like it will be changing either. If producers are unable through some means to increase the power they possess as far as dictating what the price is going to be that the buyer is going to have to pay the trend will only continue in the direction it is going. Not saying that is easy as farmers are independant to the point where that is not always to their own benefit but if we don't figure it out things will not change and that will only benefit the buyers. If you look globally at different countries and the different programs or subsidies or whatever you want to call the cash that keeps farmers going the root issue behind them being needed is the same.
And on a related side note there is no shortage of food on this world of ours and our ability to produce hugely more is amazing. Just not everyone has the cash to buy it. Even just locally it is amazing how much more food we could produce if the price was above the cost to produce it.
Not trying to sound dismal but it seems we farmers often focus on so many other points (relevant ones yes) but it seems to me that what I consider the big issue no one wants to talk about. | |
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Where is the livestock industry headed?
