Something's Wrong Somewhere: Globalization, Community and the Moral Economy of the Farm Crisis

Bruce Grainger is head of the Public Services Department, Macdonald
Library, McGill

University.

Those who depend upon the prairie grain economy have always struggled
against the powerful external forces threatening their livelihood and
way of life. The current farm crisis, which began in the 1980s, has been
especially pronounced in Saskatchewan, the province most dependent on
cereal production. Inflated land prices in the 1970s were followed by
disastrously low grain prices and the increasing cost of inputs. The
debt crunch that followed resulted in nearly one-quarter of all
Saskatchewan farmers going through provincial or federal debt review
processes by the end of 1992.

Christopher Lind, a professor of Church and Society at St. Andrew’s
College, University of Saskatchewan, has tried to put a human face to
the misery that this economic dislocation has caused. Lind presents his
views of the problem in terms of a moral and ethical crisis caused by
the competitiveness, domination, and indifference that he attributes to
the trend toward globalization. How successful his proposed solution of
combating globalization by an ethic of co-operation, solidarity, and
compassion will be remains to be seen.