I Signed the Petition to Stop Bill 6

Yesterday I wrote that I would not sign the petition to stop Bill 6.  Today, I signed the petition.

Did I lie to myself and everyone else when I said I would not sign the petition?  No.  I had no good reason to sign the petition yesterday.  If I had, it would have been a reaction, which is what I wanted to avoid.  I wanted to respond, not react, to Bill 6.  I have continued to research and think carefully about the issue.  Today, after careful consideration, I signed the petition.  Let me tell you why.

Yesterday I wrote that it might be time for the family farm to die, in order to make agriculture more efficient.  That may or may not be true.  I still don't know.  What I do know is that it is not realistic to think that agriculture is anywhere close to making that change.  Family farms still make up a significant portion of our agriculture sector in Alberta.  Not only that, but agriculture isn't just an industry.  For many people, it is still a way of life.  Farmers don't clock in at 8 am and clock out at supper time.  Farming is a hard job, but we don't ask for shorter hours, better pay, or more vacation time.  The difficulties are a non-negotiable part of the job.

I wouldn't want anyone to find me ungrateful, but all these city folk who are worried for the safety of the farmers need to understand that we don't want them speaking for us.  We teach our children, workers, and guests to be safe when they work on the farm.  We don't like the government to interfere in our business too much because it makes us inefficient and costs us a lot of money, for very little benefit.

I think maybe it is time for some of these safety regulations to come to the agriculture industry.  Unfortunately, a lot of the things being proposed by Bill 6 will bring more harm than good to the farmers.  I want to believe that our government is genuinely concerned about our safety.  I also believe that our government officials are genuinely ignorant.  They have no idea about the agriculture industry, and even less understanding of the people behind it.  The one and only reason that I signed the petition is because the government has not consulted with farmers and ranchers on this Bill.  Even so, they plan to implement major portions of it by January 1, 2016.  They plan to consult with farmers after the Bill has passed.  I do not think that is right.

I watched a portion of Question Period, in which the leader of the opposition questioned the wisdom of implementing Bill 6 so quickly.  Every response I heard focussed on the length of time it has been since OHS has been implemented in Alberta.  Our NDP government does not want us too wait "another 98 years" without our "rights".  I won't claim to speak for everyone else in the industry, but I don't want those rights.  Are they even still considered rights if they are forced on a person?  Besides, those are all city folk in the government.  I don't want them speaking for me.  I have my own voice and if I need something, they'll hear it from me!

If the government would consult with farmers before passing the Bill, I would not have signed the petition.  A rushed job like this, though, will have no support from me.  That is why I signed the petition.

I Won't Sign the Petition to Stop Bill 6 (even though I'd like to)

Those of you who were born and raised in the city might be a wee bit confused about why all the farmers are all up in arms about Bill 6.  I'd like to bring my perspective, and hopefully some clarity, to the issue.

Bill 6 is being brought in, as far as I can tell, in response to the tragic death of three young girls on an Alberta farm earlier this fall.  The provincial government would like to bring OHS standards to farms and ranches, which are currently exempt from those standards.  They would also like to bring WCB insurance, employment standards, and labour relations (unions) into the mix for the agricultural industry.  This all sounds fine and dandy on the surface.  After all, most other industries have these things.  Farming, though, is different.

All of these new standards will cost farmers a lot of money and some will lose valuable workers because of the changes.  Farms will need to become more efficient, which means they will have to get bigger.  The family farm will become a thing of the past.  Is that bad?  I don't know.  I'm generally not a fan of change, so my first reaction is to fight all of this as hard as I can.  I don't want to react, though.  I want to respond.  That means I have to put my thinking cap on, do some reading, get as much information as I can, and really figure out what all of this is going to mean.  Only then can I respond properly to these changes.

So what have I been doing lately?  Well, I'll tell you.  I read as much information as I could.  I read a few media reports, all of which were wildly biased, either for or against the proposed changes.  Then I went straight to the source and began to sift through all the government documents I could lay my hands on.  It's heavy reading, but I managed to get a handle of what the government wants to change.  I also managed to get a handle of the motivations behind the proposed changes.  I don't think our new NDP government is evil or in league with the unions, or anything like that.  I think they genuinely want to keep us safe.  They just don't quite know how to do that, because most of them are ignorant.  They just don't understand how daily farm life works.  They need help from farmers to make these changes as realistic as possible.

There is a petition going around social media to stop Bill 6.  I really want to sign it.  I want this all to go away because I don't like change.  But...what if it is time to change?  What if it is time to say goodbye to the family farm?  What if, in order to make agriculture really and truly efficient, effective, and sustainable, the concept of the family farm needs to die? I hope that isn't the case, but it may well be.  Maybe I need to be ready for change.  Maybe it is my responsibility to make sure that the coming changes happen in the best way possible.  I think maybe that is how I am supposed to respond.

So, I will not be signing the petition to stop Bill 6.  Instead, I have filled out this government survey to help those city-bound official make proper decisions.  I will also be attending a townhall session at Olds College in December to learn more.  I will continue to do my research and look at the issue from all angles until I can do nothing more to make this coming change (and yes, it is coming), as good for everyone as it can possibly be.

Resources: 
General Info:
http://work.alberta.ca/farm-and-ranch.html
FAQs:
http://work.alberta.ca/documents/farm-and-ranch-QAs.pdf
Fact Sheets:
http://work.alberta.ca/documents/Adolescents-and-Young-Persons.pdf
http://work.alberta.ca/documents/minimum-wage.pdf
http://work.alberta.ca/documents/Vacations-and-Vacation-Pay.pdf
http://work.alberta.ca/documents/General-Holidays-and-General-Holiday-Pay.pdf
http://work.alberta.ca/documents/Overtime-Hours-and-Overtime-Pay.pdf
http://work.alberta.ca/documents/Hours-of-Work-Rest-Periods-and-Days-of-Rest.pdf
An example of the reaction I am tempted to give, from another farmer:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/daniel-schneider/a-small-voice/10156239997620282

Blessings

It's been difficult lately to count my blessings.  The projects are piling up, tests and quizzes are looming, and the end of the semester is getting closer all the time.  Add a bout of illness and a dose of depressing world news to all that and I'm getting downright cranky.  Sometimes, though, I have a wee bit of time to stop and remember the good things in life.  Here's a short list of my blessings:

1.  Good food from home (a.k.a. Mom's cooking)

2.  Callouses, because the keep the blisters at bay

3.  Safe travels home and back for me and my friends

4.  Medicine to keep me healthy

5.  Warm clothes when the winter starts coming

6.  A good herd of cows

7.  The sight of snow, a beautiful sight to behold

8.  Family to love and be loved by

9.  Friends to miss when they're away (or when I'm away)

10.  Worn clothes and boots, a testament to hard work and a good life

And with that, here is a blessing for you:

May your hands be ever calloused, your boots be ever worn, and may your sorrows never overshadow your joy.

Agri-Trade

Last year about this time, I wrote about my adventures at Farm Fair in Edmonton.  Today for the first time ever, I attended Agri-Trade in Red Deer.  The experiences were similar in some ways and very different in others.

I have attended Farm Fair many times in my life and so was familiar with how it worked and how the booths are typically set up.  As usual, I attended Farm Fair with my parents last year.  I had an assignment to do last year.  I had to talk to at least five people at the booths and collect their business cards to prove I had done it.  It was a bonus assignment, not really worth any important marks.

This year I found myself on a bus at 8:00 this morning, surrounded by class mates and heading to an agricultural fair that I had never seen before.  I had an assignment to complete again, this one worth 10% of my final mark.  Agri-Trade is huge.  I think I must have walked a few miles today.  I am generally reluctant to strike out on my own in strange situations, so I stuck quite closely to my classmates until we crossed paths with some other students.  Those other students are from a different program, but one of them is a friend of mine, so I switched groups and followed them about as they worked on completing their assignments.  Finally, after we had lunch, I decided it was time to really strike out on my own.  When I am surrounded by people it is incredibly hard for me to do my own talking.  My assignment this time was to talk to a bunch of different people.  I had to get answers to specific questions about precision cropping systems, about which I understand very little.  For some of the questions, I didn't even know what companies to approach.  Eventually, I got up the courage to approach some vendors and ask my questions.  I was rather frustrated to find that many of the vendors seemed surprised to find me asking questions about their products.  They seemed to give me the minimal answers (which was not helpful in completing my assignment) and since I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be learning, I couldn't ask good questions.  It seemed to me that the vendors took one look at me and assumed me to be just a girl who didn't know much and wasn't very important.  That's certainly how I felt; I was a just a girl who didn't know much.  It was incredibly frustrating.  So, whenever I could I would find a woman salesperson to talk to, because the women never made me feel that way.

I don't usually have much of an issue with being both a woman and a farmer.  The salespeople and technicians at the parts places and machinery dealers back home know who I am and they help me out just like they would do for my dad.  I know there are people who think I shouldn't be a farmer, that I don't know my place as a woman.  They don't make much of a fuss anymore though, and I typically ignore them because I know I can't change their minds.  The teachers and other students at school are used to seeing girls come and plan to return to the farm, just like I do.  They treat us just like the men at school.  But those salespeople at Agri-Trade, they don't know what to do when this shy, scared girl tiptoes up to their booths and starts asking question about technology she knows nothing about.

I wish I was more sociable.   The friend that I was hanging out with at Agri-Trade is far more sociable than me, and so are her classmates.  They are reasonably comfortable talking to people.  They even dragged me over to one of the salesmen at the John Deere booth and got me started with my questions for him.  That was a bit embarrassing, but it sure made my job easier.  I often think that if I was more sociable it would be easier for people to treat me like a farmer.  They would see my confidence and understand that I am well within my rights to be asking questions about steering guides, combine yield monitors, and prescription mapping services.  But with me as myself, all those salespeople see is a scared little girl who doesn't know anything and doesn't have any right to be wasting their time.  And I know that they think that.  That's why I was so frustrated by the end of the day, even though I eventually got all of the answers to my questions.