I was in Vermont this summer, as they say, on business. As I drove through the most eco-friendly state in the U.S., I expected to see a landscape of pastoral agriculture with beautifully painted red barns typical to the New England landscape with a few sparsely populated towns built along the edge of tall green mountains.

Curiously, what I saw was a series of recently constructed dairy farms, which occasionally belonged to people of French lineage, such as St-Pierre, with 1,000 to 2,300 cows, carrousel, and some Mexican or Guatemalan workers, I’m not sure. I don’t always lose my common sense, even when I travel. And so I asked myself some questions: does society want or need these huge farming installations? It would seem to me that several independent family farms, with 50, 120, or 200 cows, are better than a few farms clustered in one area, don’t you think?

So I put the question to our southern neighbours. Some of their responses made me seem rather old fashioned. Rémi, in his sixties, stated: “Most city dwellers don’t care about the size of a farm. There’s a wide variety of cheeses; milk is fresh, tasty and abundant, and there are so many yogurt brands on the shelves we stopped counting.” I reminded him that there was a significantly active movement in Vermont that promotes organic farming, fair trade, and the buy-back of small farms through special state funds. Walter responded: “You’re kidding? There is certainly an interesting level of awareness, but it doesn’t account for much in the global picture.” For Chris from Stoneridge Dairy farm, a motorcycle riding farmer who drives around without a helmet (!) says: “If you want to be huge, then you are. It’s nobody’s business. Live free or die!” Just like his republican colleagues, he provides the standard bombastic response as he speaks about personal and entrepreneurial freedom.

It needs to be said – there is an implied support on the part of the current government. America’s basic policy is volume at the lowest cost. This is true for milk, but it is also applicable to other types of productions. This cheap food policy is partly responsible for the United States incredible wealth. These mega-farms, which are less than two hours from Montréal, are an alarming reminder of the challenges we would face should our borders be more open. In fact, this guy, Pascal Lamy, General Manager of the WTO, who is as stubborn as a mule, is travelling the world over to have “his” agreement confirmed and open all markets. He has just performed an amazing feat by bringing the two largest opponents, India and China, to work together on a new compromise. He’s now setting his sights on the USA, which is still hesitant. At his point in time anything is possible.

What about Canada? What about it? Will it sign? Absolutely. Everybody knows this. With the electoral campaign in full swing, Prime Minister Harper has been deathly quiet about this delicate issue. Farmers are quiet. This is a virtually stress-free campaign. And those dull press conferences on food sovereignty aren’t about to cause any trouble. Hey, Mr. Harper, are you going to accept the Doha development round even if supply management gets kicked around and mistreated? That’s only a hypothetical question, however, the house adopted a unanimous motion when…. zzzzhh.

Is it true that the agreement currently on the table plans for a 21% general decrease in tariffs? Shhhh. These are just rumours. Does the Canadian government, like Switzerland, have a plan B in the event the agreement is upheld? Huh! What? Where is Switzerland? Regardless: is this insane? Sheesh…

I’ll stay on my toes and probably step on a few as I return to writing this column. If I want you to go on reading my column I guess I should stop ranting and raving. Next time, I’ll be just like Harper, I’ll move forward while standing still with my eyes closed.