Wednesday, January 17, 2007

What's the alternative?

Nova Scotia pork producers are in financial trouble, and are threatening to slaughter their animals if they don't get more government support.

I'm sympathetic -- as one farmer said to me, "I'm not looking to get rich, but it would be nice to actually make some money and not just get my ass kicked all the time." But threatening to slaughter your animals? What exactly are the farmers planning to eventually do with those hogs if they do get government support. Raise them as pets?

posted by Philip Moscovitch Link

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2 Comments:

Anonymous andy said...

This item reminds me about an unfortunate billboard erected by Saskatchewan's pork producers a few years back. See it yourself here.

1:21 PM  
Blogger jodi said...

I wish we could get a few more people writing (whether on blogs, to editors, to MLAs) about the predictament that our hog producers find themselves in. We have a similar problem here in the Valley, Phil, as you likely know; the local Maple Leaf Poultry plant is closing at the end of April, throwing hundreds of people out of work. And these weren't just Wal-Jobs, either; they paid well, had benefits, and some people had been there since high school.

I'm still mulling over what I'm going to write to the Herald in response to the shortsighted piece by the guy from the 'think tank', AIMS. He seems to think farmers live in a vacuum. If they go under, who will buy feed from the feed mills, farm supplies from the hardware and supply stores, equipment from the tractor dealers...and of course, other things like, oh, cars, furniture, electronics...or take vacations to Cape Breton.

Oops, sorry Phil. Great blog, and a lot of thoughtprovoking material to read.

cheers, jodi

12:54 AM  

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