Ray Zehr of Shakespeare did an analysis of an article I wrote in the Aug. 14 issue of Ontario Farmer saying that farmers on average are
only getting a return of 22 per cent.
"If
50 per cent of farmers are quota and 50 per cent are non-quota farmers, and quota farmers have a
return of 50 to 60 per cent then non-quota farmers have a return of minus six per cent," Zehr writes.
"If you take
into account that non-quota farmers manage expenses better, they are probably
close to zero.
"The fact is if you exclude capital costs quota farmers have
a return of 70 to 80 per cent.
"The fact is farmers are being robbed by people who know it’s
all too easy to take money from farmers.
"Quota farmers have nothing to worry
about. They know they will be the only ones left in 10 years and that thieves
don’t care who they take money from.
"It’s up to governments to publish earnings of farm suppliers
as a group and if necessary enforce ‘price freezing'," Zehr says.
