The next phase in the battle between farm organizations and Ottawa over the design of farm safety net programs may be a skirmish between competing consultants.
Agriculture Canada is hiring consultants to do a quick analysis of departmental calculations of benefits under the agricultural policy framework. The report is due April 17.
Farm groups say the government plan is inadequate. They plan to hire a consultant to do a broader comparison of benefits available under government proposals, farmer counter-proposals and the last array of farm programs.
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“We’re looking into hiring someone but we have to see about timing and availability,” Canadian Federation of Agriculture executive secretary Brigid Rivoire said April 7. “This is a busy time for accountants.”
It is a sign of the tense relationship between farm groups and the government that even the attempt to organize an outside analysis of competing designs degenerated into name-calling. The CFA said the minister was “reneging” on a promise and suggested he is being pushed around by his own department.
In late March, days before the scheduled April 1 launch of the APF, federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief promised CFA leaders he would authorize an analysis aimed at determining whether his proposals would offer farmers better risk management protection than existing programs or farmer proposals.
The CFA applauded the commitment. Then it learned it was a limited analysis of whether official calculations are valid, rather than how they compare to other options.
CFA president Bob Friesen said it was a case of the department undermining the minister, designing a review that will not expose the proposals to comparative analysis.
Friesen said departmental officials have been trying to sell the APF using “misleading” claims “and they’ve been doing everything in their power to prevent a third party from doing a good objective analysis.”
Meanwhile, the department plans to continue its campaign to sell the APF to non-farm audiences by meeting bankers April 11 to explain the proposals.
Since there were no provincial agreements, the APF did not officially launch April 1 and old Net Income Stabilization Account and crop insurance rules still apply.
However, Vanclief says once provinces sign implementing agreements, with or without farmer support, they will be retroactive to April 1, 2003.
