How Can Farmers Fight Back Against The New NAFTA?
Briarpatch|March/April 2019

NAFTA 2.0 is chipping away at policies that guard Canadian farmers from price volatility and ensure high labour and environmental standards. The National Farmers Union says the fight has to combine grassroots and policy advocacy.

Erin Innes 
How Can Farmers Fight Back Against The New NAFTA?
In the 1960s and ’70s, Canadian farmers were in crisis. Farmers producing perishable products like dairy and eggs were trapped in a boom-or-bust cycle by powerful processors and distributors, who would wait until large quantities of perishables came on the market and then pit farmers against one another in bidding wars to force prices down. Farmers were forced to sell their products for less than they cost to produce, because distributors could simply refuse to buy them. The result was shortages of perishables for consumers, as well as a disastrous loss of income for farmers.

This crisis was met by a nearly 20-year-long countrywide campaign of protests, letter-writing, educating consumers, lobbying, and farmer solidarity. Out of it was born Canada’s supply management system, which maintains a consistent supply of goods for public consumption and ensures that farmers receive a price for their products that has a realistic relationship to the cost of production. Supply management has become the envy of other countries, like the U.S., in which price volatility and inconsistent supply impact both farmers and consumers.

Since the early 1990s, neoliberal free-trade agreements have been relentlessly chipping away at supply management and other agricultural policies, like quality control for grain exports, which are crucial to maintaining incomes for family farmers in Canada. Since Trudeau, Trump, and Peña Nieto shook hands over the new NAFTA agreement, those chips have gotten bigger. Dairy farmers are hit particularly hard in the new agreement, with U.S. farmers gaining access to an extra 3.9 per cent of Canada’s dairy market.

It brings the total of imported dairy on supermarket shelves in Canada up to almost 20 per cent of the national supply, says the advocacy group Dairy Farmers of Canada.

Denne historien er fra March/April 2019-utgaven av Briarpatch.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra March/April 2019-utgaven av Briarpatch.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA BRIARPATCHSe alt
PLATFORMS FOR PEOPLE, NOT PROFIT
Briarpatch

PLATFORMS FOR PEOPLE, NOT PROFIT

Digital platforms boast that they’ve “democratized” cultural production. But what would truly democratic platforms look like in Canada?

time-read
10 mins  |
January/February 2020
ORGANIZING THROUGH LOSS IN THE HEART OF OIL COUNTRY
Briarpatch

ORGANIZING THROUGH LOSS IN THE HEART OF OIL COUNTRY

The story of climate justice organizing in Alberta, at the heart of the tarsands, is the story of a group of young activists learning what it means to lose, and keep on fighting

time-read
10+ mins  |
January/February 2020
GROWING THE LABOUR MOVEMENT
Briarpatch

GROWING THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

How unions are using community gardens to engage members, nourish communities, and help strikers weather the picket line

time-read
10+ mins  |
January/February 2020
A NEW ERA FOR OLD CROW
Briarpatch

A NEW ERA FOR OLD CROW

In the Yukon’s northernmost community, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation is reckoning with how to preserve their land and culture, amid a warming climate and an influx of tourists

time-read
10+ mins  |
January/February 2020
“At Least Hookers Get Wages”
Briarpatch

“At Least Hookers Get Wages”

The risky business of sex work in the gig economy

time-read
10+ mins  |
November/December 2019
The Literal – And Literary – Futures We Build
Briarpatch

The Literal – And Literary – Futures We Build

Briarpatch editor Saima Desai talks to two judges of our Writing in the Margins contest about Idle No More and MMIWG, ethical kinship, writing queer sex, and their forthcoming work.

time-read
9 mins  |
November/December 2019
The Cost Of A T-Shirt
Briarpatch

The Cost Of A T-Shirt

In Honduras, women maquila workers are fighting back against the multinational garment companies that they say are endangering their health and safety.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November/December 2019
Milking Prison Labour
Briarpatch

Milking Prison Labour

Canada’s prison farms are being reopened. But when prisoners will be paid pennies a day, and the fruits of their labour will likely be exported for profit, there’s little to celebrate.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November/December 2019
Bringing Back The Beat
Briarpatch

Bringing Back The Beat

In mainstream media, labour journalism has been replaced by financial reporting and business sections. But journalism students are raising the labour beat from the grave.

time-read
10 mins  |
November/December 2019
There's No Journalism On A Dead Planet
Briarpatch

There's No Journalism On A Dead Planet

Corporate media owners are killing local newspapers – which is making it impossible for everyday people to understand the on-the-ground impacts of the climate crisis

time-read
10+ mins  |
September/October 2019