"We're living in 1930s conditions and farming in 2001," fourth- generation cattle and cash crop farmer Michael O'Hara, told the Militant at a rally of 350 farmers here. O'Hara, 45, was with his teenage son Scott. "He should be the fifth generation, but there is no future for him in this," O'Hara said of his son.

Gerald Demers, 51, who has been farming for 32 years, explained, "In 1966 my father could buy a pickup truck for $2,200. Today we are getting 1972 prices for our crops, but a pickup costs $30,000."

Hog producer Don Carruthers from Coburg accused the government of backing giant companies like Maple Leaf Foods at the expense of farmers. The family that owns the company "controls the [food] chain from the farm to the supermarket," said Carruthers. "He sets the price we get."

At the rally here, tractors, combines, flatbed trucks, and other farm machinery filled the parking lot at the Metro East Trade Centre. Many had traveled 300 kilometers from Windsor in a 20 kilometer-long convoy on Highway 401, Canada's busiest highway (1 kilometer = .62 miles).

The convoy was organized by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) which represents 40,000 farmers. At the short rally sending off the convoy, Bill Mailloux, OFA vice president, said, "Today we are sending out an SOS, which means Show Our Solidarity. Many farmers are selling their crops below the cost of production. The federal government needs to support us. We need a level playing field with farmers in the U.S. and Europe."

The overwhelming support for the farm protest was shown by truckers honking in solidarity and by farmers and other working people with tractors or pickups lining overpasses to greet the convoy even in the most remote rural areas.

Kipp Stratatichuk, a fourth generation grain farmer out of Amherstberg, said in an interview that farmers "need a level playing field with farmers in the United States. Then we will be able to compete fairly. Farmers in the U.S. get subsidies for not planting, which we don't have. The Chicago board of trade controls the pricing and we don't stand a chance. The federal government needs to do something. That's why we're here."

Edward Hansen, a 24-year-old farmer from Brooklin who brought three tractors to the protest, grows corn, canola, wheat, and soybean and raises emu. "The most important thing is to educate the general public about the situation farmers face," he said, "which is the only way we will force the issue on the government. My father, who is retired and in Florida, met some farmers from Nebraska, so I know that farmers in the states face the same kinds of problems that Canadian farmers face."

Dairy farmer Allan Thompson helped organize a group of farmers who went to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation building in downtown Toronto to ensure the farmers' message was covered by the media. Twenty trucks and five floats with tractors on them converged on the CBC building, reported Thompson. After meeting with the media they joined the Pickering rally. "We have unified ourselves across Ontario and across Canada. This has never happened before," he said. Thompson reported that 700 farmers had rallied at Guelph, a farming center an hour west of Toronto.

OFA officials speaking from a flatbed truck in the bitter cold called on Lyle Vanclief, the federal minister of agriculture and agri-food, to raise federal farm aid from a promised $500 million to $900 million. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), representing 200,000 farmers, and the Union des producteurs agricoles du Quebec (UPA), which represents 50,000 farmers, are demanding $1.5 billion in immediate aid from both the federal and provincial governments. Farm protest leaders point out that the $500 million promised by Ottawa, plus funds that are supposed to be paid by the provincial governments, would only amount to $830 million in aid nationally, a far cry from what is needed.

In Ottawa, Canada's capital, protesters drove some 5,000 farm tractors and trucks past the parliament building then to the fairground for a rally, according to the National Post. "Canadian farmers cannot put a crop in and break even," Alain Leduc, an Ottawa area farmer who grows corn and soybeans, told the crowd, the Post reported. "If the federal government continues to ignore agriculture, the farmers will mobilize and become more militant. My son doesn't understand why we are doing this," said Leduc who has been farming for 19 years. "My daughter says the farm is a drag, why don't we get rid of it. We are losing a generation."

At the provincial legislature in Regina, several hundred Saskatchewan farmers rallied in the heart of Canada's grain belt. "If you stand shoulder to shoulder from coast to coast, they'll have trouble getting by us. We're standing united across the country," Lee Cook, a Bengough-area farmer and an organizer with the Pro West Rally Group, told the Regina Leader Post.

Yorkton-area farmer John Makowetski decided to protest, the Leader Post reported, because the aid packages like the Agriculture Income Disaster Assistance (AIDA) don't work. "I applied under AIDA two times and all I got was a $400 bill from my accountant," he said. A number of farmers burned Vanclief in effigy. "Mr. Vanclief self-destructs once more," yelled Court Linford, a Semans farmer and protest organizer as he set the gasoline-soaked effigy on fire. Farmers also rallied in the Saskatchewan cities of Swift Current and Saskatoon.

According to the Toronto Globe and Mail, hundreds of grain farmers drove their farm vehicles and pickup trucks to the Manitoba legislature in Winnepeg, rallied for federal and provincial aid, then marched through the downtown area. A sign on a combine parked in front of the legislature read: "Farming is everyone's bread and butterwithout any doubt." Thirty of the farmers entered the legislature and held a sit-in, leaving on March 16.

The newspaper also reported that in response to the nationwide protests, "all parties in the [federal] House of Commons paid homage to farmers yesterdayand then the politicians promptly took turns accusing one another of callously disregarding the country's food producers." Prime Minister Jean Chretien boasted about the $500 million in aid pledged by his government in February, but refused to commit his government to more.

"This action really began with the January 29 protest at the opening of Parliament," Saskatchewan grain farmer Bob Thomas told the Militant in a phone interview. Thomas is the chairman of the On to Ottawa Trek Committee. "We're happy to support farmers in Ontario and Quebec and other provinces. These protests are going to intensify. The tears have dried. Now there is bitterness and anger."

Chris Hoeppner from Detroit and John Steele from Toronto are meat packers and members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
 
 
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