Published: July 08, 2009 3:00 PM
in the Abbotsford News
I am writing in response to your recent articles, editorial and letters about
blueberry cannons.
Cannons woke me up this morning, again – just like they do every morning in the
summer. The only difference is they are blasting outside of the regulated
time-frame of acceptable use – an hour and half before my alarm and a half hour
before they can legally start at 6:30.
Already the farmers are not playing fair, and let me tell you it is a lousy way
to start the day.
Now, at 6 a,m,, the next thing is to determine where the blasts are coming
from, so we can get the blueberry liaison to ‘speak’ to the offending farmers.
Good luck with that, as we are surrounded by farms now. With the sounds
carrying so far, it is impossible to nail it down.
Our only other option is to call or write the Blueberry Council (formed by
blueberry farmers for blueberry farmers) and we could do that after every
infraction until we are blue in the face, but guess what? One hundred
complaints from the same household only count as one. So when the council tells
you they only had 146 complaints last year, take that with a grain of salt (and
maybe some aspirin) and know that at least 146 homes have complained, and most
likely way more than once.
And 146 might not sound like a lot, but what about all the people who were
bothered but just didn’t complain? How about the legion of people who have been
complaining for years, to no avail and have simply stopped a gigantic waste of
time? Or how about the people who spend far too much time writing the Blueberry
Council, their MLA, city council, the Farm Industry Review Board, Ministry of
Agriculture, and occasional newspaper editor.
As for letter-writer Gertie Pool, we can only assume two things; a) she is
deaf, and/or b) lives nowhere near a berry cannon.
Then there is that small percentage of folks living outside of ‘cannon hell,’
who wouldn’t know a berry cannon if it came up and bit them. They do get fired
up by the idea of farmers and their ‘right to farm’ when they have absolutely
no idea what life is like for those caught in the crossfire.
How dare you? You have no business speaking about something you know nothing
about. Occasional inconvenience? If your sleeping patterns were altered
adversely, you could no longer read a book quietly, put a child down for a nap
or even keep windows open in the summer, and the torment had been going on for
years, I believe you might have a problem with it, too.
I think here in the heart of blueberry country, Ms. Pool, some might consider
you to be the “smug armchair opponent.” What about our right to a peaceful,
normal life?
Andrew Holota’s editorial has a very good point about buying “cannon-free”
berries. Unfortunately, fruit is not marked as such in the grocery stores.
There are local growers like Onninks on Downes Road, and thers who are known
for their ability to grow bountiful berries without destroying the sanctity of
the neighbourhood – we need to reward these socially-conscious farmers with our
business.
The sad truth is that berry cannons do not work. They simply inform the birds
where the best fruit is. Studies have proved it.
Most of us doing the complaining are also farmers; living here in the country,
side by side with other like-minded individuals and all manner of farming
practices, and have been doing so for many, many years – long before the berry
cannons moved in.
Nobody should have to live this way
P.K.
Abbotsford
