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My Farmer is My Friend
All FARMERS have a STORY.
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Small Farms <:> Large Farms
Farming Consortiums
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January 6, 2025
OPEN Letter to America
Farmers Caught like Monkeys in the Middle – AGAIN!
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, aka RFK JR… pinky-pledged to make Americans skinny again, and healthy. Ideally, this gargantuan task should be handed off to progressive Alt-AG farmers, the pioneers who already grow healthy chemical-free and nutrient-rich food. Unfortunately, as always, small farmers are caught in the SPIN cycle between governments and large corporations that control industrial and factory feedlot farms.
Will president Trump’s new American health-hope pilgrimage affect Canadian farmers and food consumers? Yes, of course, because the same U.S. factory farmers who are already influential in helping write legislation for a healthier America, also have substantial political influence over the Canadian food supply. Plus, we already know from Trump’s first chaotic kick at the can that American protectionism will desperately try to leverage their position to its full extent.
According to the International Trade Administration; “In 2022, the United States imported just over US$37 billion worth of agricultural products from Canada. Canada is the largest destination for U.S. exports of high-value agricultural products, with a 24% market share in 2022 and a value of US$19.7 billion.”
What the ITA fails to clarify, is that Canada also exports mega-tons of low-quality unhealthy food to Americans, i.e., 94.4% of our farmed Atlantic salmon, and 86% of our canola. According to Trump, Americans will eat anything, and everything. It’s how they became so unhealthy.
The Canola Council of Canada claims that Canada now generates an average of $43.7 billion worth of “unhealthy” (my word not theirs) Canola oil annually, and exports 90% of it with a large portion going to China. Asia indicated it would purchase our entire canola crop, which means Canada could bypass America completely if we wanted to dive even more deeply into the misguided global bio-fuel industry and continue to seriously deplete the health of our soil.
Canola isn’t the only crop grown in Canada that other world markets would eagerly purchase, so please tell me again why Canada needs the U.S., a country that is literally coming apart at the seams? If the U.S. were a good neighbor, I can see helping them out, but the reality is that Trump states clearly that he’s trying to unhinge Canada so he can annex us as the 51st state. I’ve had considerable experience negotiating with Trump and his team, and I’m familiar with how he leverages passive-aggressive. He’s a man-child, and in his mind, he’s not kidding.
The U.S. waited too long though, and now Canada has other trading partners with fat bank accounts. The best CHESS move for us, is to protect our King and KEEP CANADA GREAT! Check. (not “that” King mate)
Considering just one single element of the agricultural financial spectrum; U.S. farmers dumped over 20.5 metric tons of chemical fertilizers on their crops last year, and that number has not decreased at all over the last decade even though we all know how destructive chemicals are to soil, our local and global food ecosystems, and human health.
Most Alt-AG farmers who cultivate food on the natural side of the fence, usually, but not always use ZERO levels of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides, while traditional farmers’ use of these poisons, the stuff that food consumers ingest daily, increases every year, especially in United States.
The task of writing new healthy U.S. food legislation is already being funneled in an expected and biased way to old-style farmers who use massive amounts of chemicals in their operations. In farmers’ parlance, the fox is guarding the henhouse.
Some of the more aware and highly specialized Alt-AG farmers who already use healthy alternative agriculture processes like regenerative, permaculture, and organic et al, are watching slack-jawed as their competition, factory farmers who regularly use pesticides, herbicides, and antibiotics, quietly partners with governments at all levels to write the new rules and legislation that good-guy farmers will be forced to follow. Food consumers today need to choose their farmer friends wisely, because not all farmers are good folk anymore. Based on Trump’s allegations, and for once I agree with him, industrial farmers incrementally poison food consumers–ChatGPT it 😉 Even Ai gets it right occasionally.
The core tragedy here though, is that all farmers, American or Canadian, and regardless of whether they grow food that harms us; FARMERS COMMIT SUICIDE at an alarming rate three and a half times more than other occupations–3.5X. In Canada however, where we have much better agriculture and health systems, the rate is only twice that of the general population, which is still a horrendous number PM Trudeau, so don’t pat yourself on the back. Many people erroneously believe that most self-inflicted deaths happen at Christmas, but the sad truth is that more suicides occur early in the new year after credit card bills arrive and the reality of life and despair sinks in.
Will it be better this year? Hopefully yes, considering that American political types like RFK JR are winding MAHA up to make it sound like something new in agriculture is going to save farmers and consumers in one fell swoop.
If we’re fortunate, and regardless of whether the hope is realistic, there could be less suicides this year simply because desperate farmers now see hope on the horizon. Historically though, false hope over the long term is often worse than no hope because it usually comes back to bite even harder when you least expect and can afford.
Most Alt-AG farmers still don’t know that they can and should be an integral part of the legislation development process. Most also don’t know yet that the STALLED MYTHICAL MOVEMENT does NOT have enough Alt-AG organizations in place with the depth of experience necessary to help them communicate widely and effectively about growing healthy food. Change is not easy, and unlike momentum, knowledge transfer doesn’t happen through osmosis. According to today’s Alt-AG Adoption Curve, the permaculture “movement” stalled long ago and left ten percent doing ninety percent of the work. As a result, there is now a predatory sales cohort of unqualified “educators” quietly shifting from permaculture to regenerative ag. For several years, struggling permaculture farmers have been stalked by pseudo-educators like they were runaway teens at a bus terminal, and now today, greenwashing is ramping up again under the regenerative corporate flag. Chaos like this keeps small farmers off balance, nervous, and wondering wtf is happening?
Without a MAINSTREAM NEWS SPOTLIGHT, it’s going to take friendly Alt-AG farmers on both sides of the border a while to first realize that they haven’t been invited to the table to help write new legislation, and then another extended period to understand that farmers won’t be allowed to show up in hordes at government meetings. Instead, farmer representatives will be executive directors from agricultural marketing organizations and associations who often have some type of professional political lobbying experience, which doesn’t sit well with loud Alt-AG “extremists” who are more interested in making noise than in achieving community results. The healthy food change-process is not as simple or pure as most farmers would like to believe.
Some Alt-AG farmers are so frustrated and confused that they mirror sales predators, and identify as A-Political, which means that unless there is a real revolution, they have zero chance of contributing to legislation. Cutting off your nose to spite your face is not a good way to improve and support democracy. At this juncture, it’s more revelation than revolution.
For Trump to make America healthy again, protectionism will see tariffs placed on food on both sides of the border that will substantially increase costs for everyone. Trump fired his first unfriendly shot at us during his inaugural term. He’s barely in power for round two, and Trump is already attacking Canada.
Unknown to the president though, regarding our competitive advantage north of the border, unlike Americans, Canadian growers per capita already have much stronger Alt-AG associations and organizations for regenerative and permaculture processes. We moved past Americans in this regard a long time ago. While America has a haphazard Alt-AG patchwork that resembles an unfinished quilt and is promoted by a lunatic farmer, Canada already has down-filled and weather-proofed agriculture and food networks that reach around the world.
We know where our bread is buttered. It’s one reason Canadians live much longer than Americans, and why we’re happier. For example, Farm Folk City Folk is Canadian, and internationally recognized as one of the best organizations of its type in the western world. Plus, Regeneration Canada is also highly respected and at the top of the international list. (I have no association with either of these groups.) While Canada and the UK lead the Alt-AG charge, America stumbles along searching for a healthy fix to keep them off of life support. CLEAR!
One of the most visible HEALTHY FOOD farmers in the U.S., Joel Salatin was recently named by Robert F Kennedy Jr. as the official Alt-AG advisor for the Trump presidency. Salatin, also known as the appropriately-named “Lunatic Farmer”, recently claimed on video with RFK JR, that American Farmers’ Markets are corrupt in the U.S., and that the best way to improve the food supply is for farmers to build CSA – Community Supported Agriculture operations that bypass grocers.
The lunatic is half-right, but Salatin is already back-pedaling on the accusations he made about corruption because as soon as the words left his lips, he became a target. Americans, and the world already know how corrupt the food supply chain is in United States, but when one of their own admits it publicly, it’s a big chunk to swallow. Corporate corruption is a massive challenge in the U.S. and needs to be addressed before anything will improve.
Canada is light years beyond America regarding healthy food. Not only are Canadian Farmers’ Markets some of the best in the world, for several years most have incorporated Alt-AG products raised using permaculture and regenerative processes. The unfortunate reality though, is that we also have factory farms, but much of the industrial food produced in Canada, like farmed salmon and canola, is dumped in America, Europe, or China. Most humble Canadians, don’t realize that we’re smarter here and that we don’t consume the bulk of this type of unhealthy food ourselves. For example, most of our farmed salmon goes directly to America because Canadians in general don’t consider farmed fish a healthy choice. We keep a healthy supply of wild salmon, the good stuff, at home in our Canadian kitchens and restaurants.
T-Shirt advice for the great white north;
KEEP Canada Great! … F*ck America
Just kidding, America is more than capable of f*cking itself.
In Canada, my farmer is my friend, while in the U.S., investor profit is their bosom buddy.
Unlike America, Canadian farmers and growers of all types, including urban gardeners, are more than prepared and ready for rapid growth into a healthier food future. If Americans really want to lose weight and catch up, Canadians can hold your hands, and guide you to a healthier food lifestyle, but don’t expect our expertise to come cheap.
The biggest mistake Canada could make at this critical juncture, is to continue to blindly integrate itself into an American food supply chain that admits it failed and is harming its people. Compared to Canadians, Trump and verified data indicate that Americans suck at living.
Who knew?
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Farmer Suicide
https://farmersforum.com/farmers-at-much-higher-risk-of-suicide/
Canadians Live Much Longer than Americans
https://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/life-expectancy-aspx/
Permaculture Movement Stalled – 56 Peer Reviewed Interviews – Mount Royal Uni https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10455752.2023.2285458#d1e370
RFK Jr and the Lunatic Farmer video – illuminating and incriminating
https://youtu.be/vghXDaPMRQw?si=TUox5F_tbMRFifHq
Canola Council of Canada
https://www.canolacouncil.org/news/canolas-contribution-to-the-canadian-economy-reaches-43-7-billion/
Salmon Business News – Maurice Cardinal Feature https://www.salmonbusiness.com/canadian-seafood-company-gold-river-developing-a-new-approach-to-in-land-farming-that-will-benefit-salmon/
Maurice’s CBC Reel: http://area46.com/Portfolio02/OlympicReel.html
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