You make a difference

You make a difference.

Thank-you!

Thanks to you, and all others like you, for what you do, even if it's limited to reading this misguided, rebellious, and seditious Blog for the first time.

Some of you have taken a more proactive approach.  For this, I am even more thankful for your efforts.

For example, on Jan. 3, 2014 I received an email from David and Brenda Linton that included info about poultry farming in Connecticut USA and the recent improvements the government made to help small flock farmers.

So that David & Brenda would know that I appreciated their efforts, I immediately thanked them for sending me the news clip.  At that point, I had no idea what it was all about, other than chickens in Connecticut.

Not being familiar with Connecticut's situation, it took me a while to figure out what had changed, and how it compared to Canada.  I eventually understood, and did yesterday's posting (see Connecticut Can, Why Not Ontario? ) based on this news item from David & Brenda.

If it hadn't been for David & Brenda's efforts, I might never have learned, or never motivated enough to write about this issue.  After they sent it to be, I felt obliged to do something with it.  It isn't easy trying to research something and Blog about it in an enlightened, reasoned manner.  I need all the motivation I can get to do that every day.  It would have been unfortunate to have lost that opportunity.

As of today, we've had 34,174 pageviews of this Blog since Feb. 28, 2013.  I believe we have to get to 8 million pageviews before we move to Phase II of our campaign.  The Blog stats suggest that 60.4% are new people who never visited before.  To me, that seems to be a very health ratio of new to repeat visitors.  It's a sign of our exponential growth.

After finishing the Blog posting based on David & Brenda's tip, I again emailed them and gave them the link to the Blog posting made yesterday AM.  The Blog posting went up at 8:00 AM, and by 9:38 AM, I got a return email from David & Brenda.  Here is what they said:

"Awesome article. Your research and logic is first rate.  Glad we could supply the tip.  My son put the article on “Twitter” and it has since been reposted several times.  Good news travels fast I guess."

OK, so what, we have a couple of happy Blog readers.  But does it really make a difference in the grand scheme of things?

Yes, I believe it does.  Here's the proof.

When I went to the Blog this morning, I saw this big spike on our stats page for the number of pageviews.  I wondered what had happened.

Figure 1:  SFPFC Blog pageviews trend Jan. 6 to Jan. 7th, 2014.

After I read David & Brenda's email, I knew.  The spike was likely the Twitter posting and re-posting that intrigued the Twitter followers.  Intrigued people tend to click on links, and see what it's all about.  We ended up doubling our Blog pageviews because of David & Brenda & son.

Thanks again David & Brenda (and their son).  Your efforts do make a difference.

OK, enough on David & Brenda, what about you?

Are you able to follow the sterling example of David & Brenda?

That is the only way we are going to get the word out about the plight and persecution of small flock poultry farmers in Canada.  The public doesn't understand yet.  Most of them are asleep.  They sleep while they assume they are safe, and all is well.

That is what the Supply Management Mafia is counting on.  Just like a burglar who has broken into somebody's house, the burglar wants the owner to stay asleep while they rob them blind.

Canada and Canadians need to wake up.

We, as good neighbours, may be the only ones who spot suspicious activity in a neighbour's house in the middle of the night.  We need to sound the alarm so as to protect our neighbours, our fellow citizens.

We need to warn everybody about what the Supply Management Mafia have been doing, and what they will continue to do until they are stopped dead in their tracks.

It's only neighbourly for us to do this.

If the roles were reversed, wouldn't we appreciate the helping hand of our neighbours?.

So I encourage you to link to a posting that stirs your blood.  Send it as a link to all your family and email friends.  When you go for coffee, bring it up as an interesting piece of conversation.  Tell the people at work about what you have read here.  Tell them how you feel about being screwed continuously by the #ChickenMafia and their henchmen.  Tell everybody you know how the continual screwing has rubbed you raw and sore, and you want it to stop.

It's our only hope. 

Think Global, Act Local

We have been getting attention at this Blog, mostly in Canada, but now from 8 other countries, including Nepal.  As curious as that may be, we need to focus on the local scene, starting with our neighbours.

In alignment with that philosophy, I blew the marketing budget this week.  I printed off 1,000 copies of one of the Blog posts ( $10.8 Billion of Fascist Chicken ), fixed it up so it could be read out of the Blog's context, and did a bulk mailing to my community.

Canada Post has a pretty good deal, about $0.16 per piece for un-addressed flyers.  Now everybody knows, and perhaps some will care enough to get involved, or to discuss it further.  I hope to get 1% actualized, so I expect 10 people to do something with their new awareness.

I felt that was a better option than sitting here, waiting for the government to do something.

I encourage others to download the file, print some off, and post them at the various bulletin boards in your community.  For those who are too far gone to stop themselves, feel free to do a mass mailing like me.

We need to focus on our local community, for it is our friends and neighbours who know us, trust us, and will listen to our pain.  Think about all Canadians, from coast to coast to coast, suffering under the chicken tyrants, then act locally in your community.

We're Not Alone

They want us to think we're all alone.  That's called "Divide & Conquer"

I hope their plan fails in that respect.

Just like the Arab Spring, we have the Internet.

There are people who are watching what happens, and telling others about it.

Check out some of our friends and faithful scribes who are reporting the significant happenings:

http://agri007.blogspot.ca/   Jim Rohman has been a reporter on everything Agriculture for more than 30 years.  He has been doing his Blog for almost 3 years.  When I discovered Jim last week, and saw his postings, I realized that was the way to go.  I've been feeding Jim my info, and he has faithfully worked overtime to include some of it in his daily postings.  Thanks Jim!

Last night, I read a very interesting report on Canada's Supply Management systems, sponsored by the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario ("CFFO")   http://www.christianfarmers.org/images/discussiondocuments/smjw12.pdf   Since they commissioned the report written by the consultant they hired, then had nerve enough to post the report for all the world could see, they must have a stake in the game.  I read the report and learned a lot.

Neither the consultant of the above report, nor CFFO want to destroy Supply Management.  I don't necessarily want to destroy it either.  They feel, and I agree, that the system is not perfect.  I believe that any imperfect system must be willing to change for the better.  I also believe that Supply Management is not a right, it is a public trust, and must be run for the greater good of the public, not to create nor benefit special interest groups at the detriment of the public.  Recommended reading.

Pat Learmonth is a Director at Farms at Work.  http://farmsatwork.wordpress.com/  She recently shared with me that her organization feels, "...that supply management in and of itself is not the problem. It is the WAY that it is being applied that makes it impossible for mixed farm producers/pastured producers (and anyone outside the big barn system) to participate. Including the fact that the market has determined the value of quota and is therefore driven by forces that are not relevant to non big-barn production methods. As a result it is entirely inaccessible to the non-privileged, and there are no other options provided.

The concept of supply management is not all bad, has protected Canadian producers from dumping from the US in various commodities for years and could be viewed as relating to food security ie ensuring we are producing what we eat."

Practical Farmers on Ontario's small flock exemption campaign http://www.practicalfarmersontario.ca/small-flock-campaign.html has been going for about a year now.  Sean McGivern has been very helpful and supportive.  I believe we have similar, complementary approaches to the same problem.

Sustain Ontario http://sustainontario.com/small-flock-exemptions has been busy for a while on the locally produced, sustainable, and affordable food issue.  I think they make a great partner to work with the Small Flock Poultry Farmers.  See their Flocking Options website as well, their on-line petition, and MPP postcards, it all helps:   http://sustainontario.com/small-flock-exemptions

Eat Local Sudbury http://www.eatlocalsudbury.com/ has been busy for some time encouraging the 100 mile diet, as well as a retail store to showcase those local products.  They have had to import chicken from Southern Ontario because of the chronic shortage of locally grown chicken.  They now have a campaign We Want Northern Chicken that is trying to gain awareness, and solutions.

I got a call from Susan Mann at Better Farming magazine http://www.betterfarming.com/homepage  Susan did an article on the launch of my struggle over a year ago, and came back for a second helping with my re-launch.  Since they are the medium with the largest farming circulation, they should be able to aid in us getting the word out.  Susan just posted an article summarizing my CFO complaint at http://www.betterfarming.com/online-news/manitoulin-island-farmer-takes-chicken-farmers-task-small-flocks-policy-11744

That's all for now, I've got to get to bed.  If you know anybody else, send me your suggestions.