While it could stand some improvements, the controversial Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program continues to be good for the Canadian hog industry, said the president of the Canadian Pork Council.
“We support CAIS but we do support a renovation to CAIS,” Ontario hog producer Clare Schlegel told a meeting of the House of Commons agriculture committee. “So I don’t think you should hear from our perspective that CAIS is bad and we want to see it thrown out.”
In an interview, he said the improvements announced by the government make the program more effective.
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“It’s a backbone that can help the hog industry succeed in this country.”
The government decision to spend almost $900 million retroactively to compensate producers for inventory valuation changes in the CAIS years 2003-05 will help many hog producers, he said.
The pork council also is pressing the government to move forward with a production insurance scheme since many Quebec and Ontario producers have been losing tens of thousands of dollars because of the spread of circo virus in the herd.
“We continue to support production insurance in some form and our organization has been involved in conversations with the government on that,” he said. “We believe that in a lot of situations, the program as it is will help those who have suffered disease even without production insurance but then the concern is that with losses, the margin will deteriorate and then we are into the declining margin thing that some other sectors are in.”
CAIS works better for the hog industry than for the grains and oilseeds sector because it has income cycles and producers are able to establish margins that trigger payments when revenues plunge. However, Schlegel said his industry also suffers from unpredictable program payouts.
Meanwhile, the hog industry has joined with other livestock groups to try to win improvements in the next version of the agricultural policy framework that is supposed to take effect in 2008.
The government is organizing consultation meetings across the country this winter to ask for advice on what is being called APF 2 and the livestock coalition will be there.
“We support a national farm animal health strategy and believe it is absolutely critical to maintain focus on this between government and industry,” he said. “We need a strategic plan to first keep foreign disease out of Canada and if we do get one, how do we respond? We’re putting the concept forward that we think animal health should be a sixth pillar in APF 2.”
Schlegel said it would have implications in areas ranging from border security and investments in the national animal disease laboratory system, to making it easier to have access to disease-preventive drugs.
He said the current APF structure is too limited with its five pillars of business risk management, science and innovation, environment, food safety and renewal.
“The temptation to put traceability and all these files under food safety is not right. Food safety stands on its own. Animal health stands on its own.”
