Things are very different down on Blackberry Farm than they once were.
The milking parlor stands empty, a hollow reminder of better days. The dairy cows are all gone now, replaced with dashed dreams and stolen hope. A few sparrows exchange places in the steel girders and an occasional barn cat happens by to check on the availability of a carelessly spilled meal.
Richard and Ann Barber started dairy production in 1985 when they bought the struggling operation and, through the relentless hours of hard work by the entire Barber family, returned it to a viable business. After meeting Canada Immigration requirements that they be self-sustainable once hitting Canadian soil and after an extensive search through southern Ontario, the Barbers settled on a 150-acre parcel in Sydney Township. Immediately they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. It didn’t take long for Richard and Ann to turn things around and eventually expanded the operation to its present 362 acres. The Barbers were by now milking 48 cows. Although they endured many hardships and continued to overcome farming’s many hurdles, the hard work and unforgiving hours eventually took its toll on them both. Because of health reasons, Richard and Ann milked their last cow in January of 2004. With the children unwilling to take on the heavy burden of keeping the dairy operation going, the Barbers decided to pin their farming hopes on with purebred Charlois breeding stock. They had hoped that this less labour intensive approach would enable them to continue on with the lifestyle they had put so much into, but this was all quickly thrown into disarray with the onset of B.S.E. (Mad Cow Disease)
One of the major issues facing beef farmers is of course the Mad Cow Disease scare. It isn’t anything new and has been around for years, only now it has become a valuable tool for the government south of us. With other counties afraid of losing their alliance with the US, they have followed suit and shut down the Canadian beef industry. With the largest meat processing operations now located on the wrong side of the border (See: Free Trade Agreement) the United States seems to have Canadian beef farmers by the throat. Unless the Canadian government finds the will and backbone to get behind Ontario farmers, the outcome will not be good for the beef industry here.The Barbers large investment, dreams and hopes now stand waiting in the field. They are waiting for a change and answers that just aren’t forthcoming!
As more and more urban housing starts to crowd out existing farmland and with the ever-tightening restrictions on things like nutrient management and environmental issues, farmers have to make major adjustments in farming strategy. In an uncertain environment where they are quickly going broke, they are being asked to invest major amounts of money in an industry that may be on its last legs.
There is a large disparity building between farmers and urban dwellers that just want to live in the country. “ The public has a lot of misconceptions about farming,” says Ann. “They think that the (Factory Farms) we have in this area are big operations, when in fact, compared to other areas of the world and even other areas in Canada, they are really very small operations.” The public fear seems largely unfounded and farms are complying with the Nutrient Management Act put in place to protect the public from careless farming practices. Upon reflection the Barbers pointed out that things in Quebec are somewhat different in the way that their government has maintained help inside the province. Ann points out that this has also helped the situation in Ontario in keeping the price up on bull calves. In Quebec, red veal producers have received subsidies and they in turn are buying most of their calves in Ontario. Ann adds that in Quebec the culture is very different and somewhat unique in the way that farms are inherited within the family. Far more people in Quebec have a vested interest in the farming community as well as a financial stake in the family farm, because the farm tends to be divided amongst the children and each one owns a part of the inherited business. As well, with only one umbrella organization to oversee farm concerns in Quebec, they are more capable to withstand any anti-farming pressures. If they want to mobilize their farmers, they can count on every aspect of the union from corn growers to sheep producers to make sure their message has been heard. However, in Ontario, farmers are less than one percent of the population and hold no political clout. “We are a fragmentation of separate organizations,” adds Richard, “any negotiations on trade, whether it’s with the United States or the World Trade Organization, we have the farm industry coming from many sides.”
  The problems facing Ontario farmers are many and without intervention, farms in Ontario will soon disappear. Only one thing is certain, today’s farmer will be facing many difficult decisions.