From the Editor: November 2013

With never-ending predictions that supply management will be doomed in X years, it’s important that the public understand how the system not only helps farmers remain profitable, but also benefits the consumer. The average person dwells ne’er on what the acronyms WTO, NAFTA or TPP actually mean, but they do want to know the bottom line: should I support supply management, if and when it comes down to that?

Biased ruminations on the subject can be irritating and allegations that farmers may have consistently overcharged consumers for poultry and eggs can arouse feelings of being done wrong . . . but life tends not to be fair and journalists tend not to be forgiving. In fact, it sometimes seems that some media commentators are on a mission to haunt supply management into a premature grave.

Enter a recent column in the Globe and Mail online, which details, albeit simplistically, Ontario chicken price determination under supply management. The author doesn’t mention that Canadian agriculture, as a whole, is misaligned regarding supply management. Instead, and more damagingly, he focuses on the discord within the system. The article methodically shatters the image of united farmers. It tells of processors at war with producer marketing boards (neither of whom, the article implies, is really concerned about consumer interest). And, as icing on the cake, it mentions “tight-lipped” spokespeople who (it reads) would not speak to him at any great length.

Defending supply management to the public isn’t easy to do when journalists are armed with the knowledge that even within the system, consensus isn’t easily achieved. The media is smart enough to know – and to tell it – how it is.

So, is it really fair to expect industry spokespeople to address our skeletons and balance the picture? To gain the confidence required to represent an industry takes time – and practice. And the sooner that process is begun, the better.

This month, the winners of the Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture (CYSA) will be announced at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, in Toronto. Asked to prepare speeches on one of five not-so-easy topics, these youngsters are on their way to representing the industry well in their later years.

Sure, they’ll be rough around the edges and the spit-and-polish won’t be there just yet. But the passion and enthusiasm will be.

Rebecca Hannam is the 2006 CYSA Senior Champion.“The exposure I received as a speaker opened many doors of opportunity within the industry,” she notes. “Once you go through that type of experience, the skills you gain are invaluable tools for success in the future.”

So, if anyone must talk to the Globe about my industry or the system I operate under, I’ll take the person who realizes that less than two per cent of Canadians grew up on a farm, and that explaining the intricacies of supply management to those far removed from it takes time and patience. When it comes to an articulate explanation of supply management, I do know who I want media to call: any one of the alumni of this program.

Kudos to the CYSA for shaping the spokespeople of tomorrow. For more on CYSA, visit http://www.cysa-joca.ca/core/. n