Farmers see both sides of rail blockade

With no trains running on CN Rails in eastern Canada for a week, many farmers are becoming anxious about the potential impact on their livelihoods.

It's been nearly two weeks since Tyendinaga Mohawk protesters set up camp along the tracks near Belleville, Ont., in solidarity with Wet'suwet'enopponents of a natural gas pipeline in B.C.Their actions prompted CN Rail to suspend service, and Via Rail to cancel dozens of passenger trains.

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Keith Currieis president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) and vice-president ofthe Canadian Federation of Agriculture. He's alsoa hay and sweet corn farmer near Collingwood, Ont., whose operation relies on propane.

"When it runs out, I don't know what I'm going to do," Currietold CBC's Ottawa Morning.

Currie saidfarmers are now planning for springand are worried about the supply of fertilizer, which is normally shipped by rail. He saidthe shutdown will also affect farmers' ability to ship livestock.

"There's a lot of moving parts here, and certainly at the core of this is rail transportation," he said.

Currie says the OFA acknowledges that "Indigenous Canadians have fundamental issues that we need to deal with,especially in order to reach full reconciliation ... [but] these protests that are paralyzing the country are not helpful in that process.

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"Canadians are getting upset," he said. "We are humans. We do get emotional. And it certainly is crippling the economy."

Tactics from the farmers' playbook

But not all farmers are blaming the protesters. The National Farmers Union (NFU) has come out publicly in support of them.

AylaFentonruns a small organic vegetable farm near Perth, Ont., and is the Ontario vice-president of the NFU.She recognizes the rail shutdown is hurting some farmers, but told CBC'sOntario Morning "land defenders are also suffering from 500 years of colonization and removal from their land."

In fact, Fenton said,the blockade and similar tactics are from the farmers' own playbook.

"Farmers in Canada have a very long history of using non-violent direct action to assert our rights and defend our economic interests."

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To farmers who are speaking out against protestors, Fenton had this to say: "Other people who are sufferingare not your enemy.The anger that exists amongfarmers about the rail blockades needs to be directed at those with the power to resolve the situation."

On that point, Currie and Fenton agree.

"The federal government needs to step up here and resolve this as soon as possible," Currie said. "They can debate it in the House all they want. The reality is they need to get on with having discussions with [the protestors] to finally resolve this situation."