Blog 11 May 24, 2014
Some questions and answers about PARITY in order to start the
conversations
1)
Will PARITY cause food price
inflation? No. Comment: There is little
relation between farm price and the food price.
Food prices have risen while farm prices plummeted. Consumers got the
best food price bargains when farmers had PARITY (that is a fact and that is
history).
2) Aren't farmers better off than they
were before? No. Comment: Farmers are worse off
than ever before. Farm debt has reached an all time high. Farm bankruptcy is now the worst it has ever
been in history.
3)
Is it possible to have PARITY program
based on abundance? Yes. Comment: With PARITY farmers
are assigned allotments and acreage goals. These are set and based on domestic
needs. Export needs and food reserves for emergencies and disasters each farm
family unit applies for their allotment each year.
4)
Can exports or alternative uses for
grains solve our problems? No. Comment: Exports have reached an
all time high and farm prices have reached an all time low. Exports make grain
merchants rich, not farmers.
5)
Will PARITY mean more bureaucracy
watching farmer’s every move? No. Comment: It is
the subsidy programs that are bureaucratic and costly. Former PARITY programs were run by elected
farm committees, they were free of bureaucracy cost, the taxpayers very little,
and did achieve PARITY for farmers. Farmers need a voice for what affects their
lives.
6)
Will PARITY help big farmers at the
expense of small farmers? No. Comment: Small farmers lose out
when prices are low. This argument has been used only to divide farmers.
7)
Will PARITY price our Canadian grain
out of the world market? No. Comment: It is stupid to price
grain exports at less than full value and less than cost of production. World
prices are set in North America therefore the international market would be
forced to adjust and tie in to PARITY pricing. This way other countries and
other farmers would benefit from the inevitable positive ripple effects of PARITY.
8)
Will PARITY inflate land prices? No. Comment: Land prices tripled while farm prices dropped. When farmers had PARITY land did not
skyrocket. Since so many farmers have
gone bankrupt, and there is more available land than buyers, land values have
gone down. PARITY would restore land values.
9)
What about government involvement;
won’t farmers have to accept a lot of restrictions on how they operate? No. Comment: By signing up a farmer is guaranteed: 1) minimum price, 2)
his/her share of the market, 3) restrictions will involve allotment, base price,
permitted acreage and appraised yield.
10) Isn't inefficiency and poor
management the reason for so many farmers to leave agriculture? No. Comment: Poor farm prices cost us lost farmers. Good prices stabilize the farm population.
11)
How is PARITY figured? By a statistical means of hitching farm prices to farm costs. If farm costs rise the PARITY figure will
rise accordingly. If input costs go down, so will the PARITY figure. That is
fair ie a base period is selected when the prices and costs were in a balanced
relationship (1910-1914) was used in the 1942-52 price formulations. Each month Agriculture Canada statistically
determine the prices received index for the prices paid index (it would include
all farm costs including interest and taxes).
The PARITY ratio the overall average of farm prices is determined by
dividing prices received figure by the prices paid figure over a 5 year average
figure. The formula is written – we just need to use it.
12)
What would be the effect of cheap food
import invasion of our domestic PARITY prices? Comments: PARITY legislation would protect our domestic prices,
food imports would be subject to tariffs
at the border which would parallel Canada’s PARITY price.
In conclusion
Food self-sufficiency must be the
goal for our survival. Importing approximately 90% of our food when we could
provide most of our requirement shows bad management of our resources. PARITY is a way to correct this situation
which if we do nothing, will effect a disastrous future for our generations to
come.
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