Running with the Bulls

["Elbert van Donkersgoed" <evd@christianfarmers.org>]

Corner Post
Farm & Rural Commentary by Elbert van Donkersgoed
January 5, 2001

The year 2001 looks like another year of running with the bulls.

Every morning between July 7 and 14 the good citizens of Pamplona, Spain
send a herd of bulls charging through their narrow city streets while a mass
of human daring-do officially "takes the bulls to the bull fight ring." It's
a crushing, three-minute headlong dash. Some in the crowd are more equal
than others.

This week, in a matter of minutes, U.S. stock markets rocketed to a new
wealth plateau in response to a surprise interest rate cut. Once again we
have invented trillions in wealth. This time the context is more risky than
most: wealth that is the result of earned profits reinvested or weekly pay
packets saved rather than consumed are in the throes of decline. What comes
out of nowhere can disappear just as quickly -- usually more quickly.

Running with the bulls attracts hordes of spectators. The exploit itself,
while edged with fear is momentary and above all, exhilarating. The
financial markets are obviously willing to give us at least one more
spectacle.

In the U.S. farm and food processing sector the bulls just got a whole lot
bigger. U.S. farm giant Tyson has swallowed IBP, that nation's largest beef
processor. Tyson paid $3.2 billion to outbid Smithfield foods, positioning
itself as dominant supplier of the "main course" on U.S. dinner tables.

For farmers, running with the bulls has become a necessity. Massive
agribusiness conglomerates manage the food chain. There are fewer and fewer
buyers for farm products. The competitive marketplace has become an
endangered species. But farmers are an accommodating lot. They go along to
get along. They will find the silver lining: economic doctrine says the
giantification of Tyson should deliver the much-heralded efficiencies of
scale. Besides, quasi-independent farmers running as a pack in a narrow
market lane is thrilling: and the bulls can get around to goring only a few!

Truckloads of grain will leave farms across Canada for yet another year of
meager returns. Canadian governments have been counting on the bulls of
international trade, the Unites States and the European Union, to modify
their subsidizing ways.

The good citizens of Pamplona have wisely limited running with the bulls to
their annual Sanfermines Festival. When it's over, they get back to a life
of prudence, discipline and taking charge of their destiny.

I propose a New Year's resolution: Let's get our need for daring-do,
exhilaration and momentary fear out of our systems during the next three
weeks. Then we'll focus on building a stable economy, a sustainable
marketplace for food and a Canadian trade policy based on what can be done
in Canada.
_________
Elbert van Donkersgoed is the Strategic Policy Advisor of the Christian
Farmers Federation of Ontario, Canada. Corner Post can be heard weekly on
CFCO Radio, Chatham and CKNX Radio, Wingham, Ontario. Copyright 2000 Terra
Coeur. Send requests to print, post on a website or circulate electronically
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