Hans has an interesting option, but as someone who has worked in the field (pardon the pun) the economics of it just aren't there and with natural gas and oil supplies increasing they Likely won't be for decades.

For your information, farming families supported by government subsidies, like any public sector unionist, have 100 percent of their gross income paid for by people who do work and pay taxes. Therefore, their taxes are paid by the taxpayers, and they don't pay any taxes at all themselves. Possibly the arithmetic of gross, taxes, and net is a little too complicated for you to grasp.

The successful farmers in Canada make a lot of money, and they have no need to be supported by taxpayers in any way. Farming is the easiest occupation in the world, and making a lot of money farming is very easy as well. All that's required is an IQ above 85.

And how many hogs were "depopulated" this year, using millions in government subsidies to do so? And this after governments spent billions in the 1990s subsidizing super hog barns to the point that the market could no longer absorb the production?

As an example of how silly this all got, consider that Manitoba has a population of 10 hogs for every person in the province, largely because of ridiculous subsidies over the past 15 years to "encourage diversification amongst Manitoba's farmers." (That's 1 million Tobans; ten million hogs.) Precisely how did the government ever think that could end well?

I highly recomend reading this!

“Waste” happens in all aspects of a capitalist economy. (how many thousands of paper copies of macleans go unread some aftr being shipped across the continent?) In fact it is a Principle tenet of capitalism that there needs to be ‘creative destruction’. Compare the surplusses of food that permit us as consumers to be picky and only buy the best. Ever see a potato that was grown in poland before the wall fell? Try peeling the lumpy scabby mass. To single out the AG sector for the frankly necessary waste is to dmonstrate ones ignorance of hoiw markets work and in the long run result in less, not more, waste. Take for instance apples. Technology was developed for controlled atmosphere (CA) storage that enabled apples to be stored in pristine condition for up to a year. The only difficulty is that any scabby or damaged apples that type of storage will cause the entire lot to rot far too quickly. Thus very strict culling is required. The result – some waste at harvest but far less than would occur if CA wasn’t used and over time breeding, cultural and harvesting practices have resulted in far far fewer culls – the economc pressure on producers begat it.

Thus pointing to (very) isolated incidents of attempts at supply control is wrong-headed if well-meaning. (some of the most evil acts of humankind were well-meaning, i digress) This includes the culling that happens at the shop level – a spoiled banana causes the others to rot more quickly, and it turns off consumers so less are purchased and presumably eaten. The trickle-down impact of bad food handling in a shop will either put the shop out of business or make it handle and manage it’s inventory better.

And if you are someone who still thinks it is unacceptable you either never eat bananas or any other tropical fruit because of the evironmental impact of the transport involved or you are a hypocrite.

I feel this problem of too many people wasting good food has a spiritual base to it – ingratitude. A lack of thanksgiving to God for giving you your daily bread.

I went through some interesting times when younger and once ran out of money – with only 4 cents in my pocket – and was homeless for awhile, but would not beg or steal, so went three days without food, before I got a job with a temp agency – this was in Toronto. This taught me a good lesson in humility and taught me to appreciate my daily bread which God gives me. Rarely go to restaurants, but this evening I did go out for a meal, and ate every last little tiny morsel.

Ray Wegner

David Blume has the perfect solution on a farmer's level what to do with the waste. All that waste can easily be turned into ethanol for fuel in cars displacing gasoline. the material left over from making the ethanol is perfect organic fertilizer! Se his site:

http://www.permaculture.com/

Hans Duerichen, PEng

If you want to support a type of food production that people are always saying that they want, you need to buy a variety of foods, and a varieties of particular types of foods. So not only should you be buying things of every shape and colour, you should also buy individual products (say tomatoes) that are different shapes, sizes and flavours.

Factory farms are good at producing very few monocultures which are best suited to that type of farming. Smaller units of production are able to give personal attention to products that require it. Why should you care? Because varieties selected for appearance, tolerance of hardship, and fast growth aren't usually the most nutritious or tasty.