Quebec's Catholic bishops urge province to protect family farms

Published: 2008-04-24

MONTREAL (CNS) -- Quebec's Catholic bishops have urged the provincial government not to leave the fate of the declining family farm in the hands of globalized agribusiness. "We need a social contract that involves the state, citizens and farmers, rather than merely providing service to the farming industry," said the social affairs committee of the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops, quoting Jacques Proulx, president of Rural Solidarity. "The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food must reappropriate its power to influence agricultural development." In their May Day message released April 24, the bishops commented on a report by the Quebec Commission on the Future of Agriculture and Agricultural Food Production. The report highlighted the changing agricultural patterns in Quebec, where industrialization has led to the abandonment of many traditional family farms. The bishops also decried the steady decline in the rural population since the 1960s when large multinational corporations began dominating agricultural production, requiring specialization and high productivity and leaving many family farms unable to compete.

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