This Harvest Season, Let’s Do Everything We Can To Support Our Local Farmers

“The fight to save family farms isn’t just about farmers. It’s about making sure that there is a safe and healthy food supply for all of us.”                                                                   – singer/songwriter legend, and Farm Aid founder, Willie Nelson

A Brief Commentary by Doug Draper

Posted September 22^nd, 2025 on Niagara At Large

With the once-every-tear sight of that harvest moon up there in the sky just two weeks away, farmers markets, road-side stands and what few independent, locally owned grocery store outlets we have left across Niagara and other neighbouring regions of our province are brimming with vegetables and other produce grown by our local farmers.

Some of you may have tuned into CNN and watched the Farm Aid Concert featuring artists like Willie Nelson, Canadian-born Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Dave Matthews calling on everyone listening to support family farms that are struggling to survive in a David vs. Goliath competition with monster-size factory food corporations.

In this harvest season, here is one of best chances of supporting our local farmers in that same fight for survival, right here in this and neighbouring regions.

In all of the years I generated news and commentary on citizens fighting to prevent developers from buying up ever more of our farmland to build roads and highways and low-density urban housing, I have also heard from farmers who have said that if citizens living in urban areas want to save farmland, they have to start by supporting the farmers who work that land.

That, in and of itself, is a powerful point.

And finally, in a world where we can no longer risk (as if we ever could) being dependent on countries, including our once friendly neighbor, the United States, for the essentials we need to survive and thrive, each and every one of us, including our politicians and people in the development industry, need to protecting all of the capacity we have left for grow our own food.

That is absolutely vital.

So this harvest season, let’s make a pledge to ourselves and a pledge to each other to do everything we can every season of the year to support our local farmers.

• Doug Draper, Niagara At Large

NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.

“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders