Between 1996 and 2006 Canadian farmers lost money every single year, while agricultural income to large multinational players has reached record highs. Small-scale family farming is in the greatest crisis in Canadian history as a result. In 2004 realized net farm income (subtracting government payments) was negative $10 000, with most farms supporting themselves through a combination of off-farm labour and government subsidies. These numbers are worse than the Great Depression. Meanwhile, 76% of agri-business related firms had their best year, or nearly their best year to date. Small farmers in this country, like every other country in the world struggle to stay afloat in an international market controlled by large corporate interests where largess is the only way to make a living. A new Canadian film called Overland presents an emotionally poignant portrayal of this ongoing struggle from the point of view of the Sudermans, a multi-generational farm family from near Gladstone, Manitoba.
Overland was nominated as a finalist in the 2009 Canadian International Film Festival. Patriarch Rick Suderman struggles to keep his dream of a multi-generational family farm together through bad weather and the broken word of a prominent potato processor. The bank then threatens to withdraw financial support and the following year is documented in the film.
Filmmaker Steven Suderman grew up on the farm, but hasn’t worked on it in many years, while his brother Chris and his wife Darlene still dream of having their own family farm. The eldest brother Mike has had it with the letdowns and trials of farm life and can’t do it anymore. Agriculture is a dream of the Suderman family and it is quickly dying thanks to a combination of government policy, globalization and the consolidation of food production in Canada. As Rick himself puts it:
“As we lose control the local people just become labourers…it has happened before in history…it’s not a new phenomenon. Does it have purpose to think that we should stop this from happening? Where do you begin? Does it matter, does anybody care?”
No, Canadians don’t seem to care enough. “That’s too bad,” one might reply while they continue to support the very policies that cripple family farming through the act of voting at the ballot box and act of purchasing at the grocery store. Unfortunately, their story is the story of thousands of Canadian family farmers in the last thirty years. Increasingly, American firms control the Canadian food supply, while Canadian companies and individuals continue to be removed from the equation. What does it say about our country that we would allow one of the most, if not the most important element of our economy and daily lives to be dictated by undemocratic organizations and policy decisions beyond our control and mostly outside our borders? How can we do this to the people that keep us alive and keep our food system democratic?
Canadians need to acknowledge the fact that our system is unjust and unsustainable. We need human beings to work and care for our agricultural land more now than ever with the lingering crisis of climate change and the world economic crisis. Are we up to the challenge? Are we up for a tremendous opportunity to do it right this time?
Further reading:
“The Farm Crisis & Corporate Profits,” a 2005 report by the National Farmers’ Union.
“Who’s Cooking the Food System?” an introduction to contemporary food system issues by Nettie Wiebe, a professor of ethics at St. Andrew’s College and former president of the NFU.
An extended DVD version of Overland can be purchased for $20 by emailing Steve Suderman.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s painful, sure, but that’s the way the industry’s going. We can’t return to the days when entire families committed their lives to the farm – and we shouldn’t want to, either. The family farm has an undeservedly romantic past. It was a hard, marginal life until a few decades ago. In my own family, there are examples from before WWII of people travelling to Detroit for work during the off-season, and at least one uncle who died from a farm accident.
I would never suggest that giving up agriculture to big agribusiness is a moral improvement, just that there doesn’t seem to be a realistic alternative. If family farms are going to die, the government should help them out of it, in the same way it should help autoworkers.
The fact is that “the way the industry’s going” is unsustainable. Fossil fuel use, the deployment of high-cost and dangerous pesticides and the depletion of topsoil makes the current way impossible to continue without major damage to our planet. And don’t forget GMO’s–of which the ecological consequences are unknown thus far.
I would never say that a return to family farming is the only solution to this problem. However, the family farm–if done properly–is one proven method of ecological stewardship and economic efficiency. In fact, studies have shown that small organic effort intensive farms produce more per acre than industrial farms. The problem is that they can’t produce at the scale, nor receive the proper return for their work–as is being shown in the film. If we wish to live sustainably, the family farm can be an important part of the equation.
And the fact that farming is a “marginal life” I can see. However, with modern technologies and methods, combined with a fair rate of return for products farming can be a time-intensive though economically comfortable endeavor. It’s easy to say “no one wants to go back to doing that.” The thing is we probably won’t have a choice if there’s a prolonged economic and ecological collapse. The alternative is far more expensive and inefficient.