http://www.cbc.ca/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2009/12/17/pei-loblaw-farmers-appalled-584.html#socialcomments
I'm posting the website of a news story which has grown in the past couple days regarding a donation made to a local food bank by the Weston's of Loblaws (Superstore here in the Maritimes) fame. The story itself is interesting, but it's the pages of comments which really shook me. I am astounded at how many are anti-farmers. I could only read a few pages worth before I had to shut it down in disgust. Galen Weston Sr. finally articulated exactly the attitude that farmers have been dealing with when it comes to large corporations for generations, which is basically, "Too bad, so sad."
Agh, oh I have so much to say about this. I wish I could be as articulate as one of the local farmers here, Ranald MacFarlane, well known for his outspoken opinions. He's also a representative of our region for the Nation Farmers Union, and I think is one of the best educated on the realities of the farming crisis in the area (and doesn't mind sharing it). I would love to know his first reaction upon reading this article. I know that he already refers to The Superstore as "The Satanstore". Since I don't deal with big stores with my products, and don't ever intend to I am a bit disconnected from how it exactly works, but I DO have friends whose farms have shut down in the past couple years, after generations of working as hard as the rest of them. Agriculture is a dismal place sometimes, and the attitude expressed by Weston, and most of the commenters of the article doesn't show a bright light at the end of the tunnel. Does the food crisis concern no one? I guess it's probably like the Copenhagen mentality right now. Let's worry about our current problems and hope that the future figures itself out.
Sorry for the downer dump in my usually light hearted blog. I just cannot believe that there are that many naive people who sincerely believe that a farmer who goes out of business is getting what he deserves for not being able to compete. While Loblaws made $186 million in profits this last quarter.
Hmm..sounds about fair to me!
Ok, ok, soapbox is tired out for the night.
I hope this finds you in better spirits than me!
-Sally
You would have thought with the bridge being shut down for two days and empty shelves appearing in stores across PEI that people would /wake up a bit/ and realise how important our farmers are to us.
ReplyDeleteI share your grief for the anti-farmer comments. I would have hoped that here, of all places, people would still have (and want) a connection to their food and understand how difficult it is to produce. Sigh.
It is disheartening isn't it? Living in Alberta food ranks somewhere below sea-doos, ski-doos, ski boats, brand new and lifted 4x4 trucks, ATV's, beer and a million other things. It isn't just Alberta or Canada though is it? I read a post in a blog from a guy in NYC who was going on and on about how stupid people are for paying more for an organic carrot at a farmers market. N. Americans don't understand that good food is one of the true pleasures in life. It'll come around eventually...probably in the form of some sort of catastrophe though.
ReplyDeleteSally, you've convinced me to never set foot in Supersotre (A.S.S., as I like to call it)again. Several things about that company, and my store have been irking me recently, but it's just so hard to change old habits (and they do have the most organic produce around at this time of year).
ReplyDeleteThis post, and the article were "the final nail in the coffin".
So, thank you muchly!
Melanie