Based on the buzz around the corridors of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture meeting last week, optimism is breaking out in rural Canada.
The official theme of the CFA’s annual meeting was “connecting with consumers.”
The unofficial theme was that farmers’ time has arrived. The industry is on the cusp of great times and farmers, whether or not they feel it on their own bottom line, are heading into a golden age.
“There is a sleeping tiger in agriculture and we have to take a look at how we capture it,” Ontario farmer Ron Bonnett told the convention after winning another term as president.
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Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz joined the optimism parade.
“The agriculture industry is a key economic driver here in Canada and today the industry is looking better than it has for some time,” he told delegates.
“Crop prices are up, canola prices are at a two year high, wheat, corn and barley prices are up sharply since last summer, dairy genetics are increasingly becoming a hot commodity out there on the world stage, the livestock sector is recovering and producers are seeing higher and more stable prices out into the future.”
Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff piled on.
“I am fantastically optimistic about the future of Canadian agriculture,” he told Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Bette Jean Crews.
On the ground, the numbers do not seem to reflect the rosy predictions.
Realized net income is projected to fall 38 percent from what Ottawa says was a 2010 record, farm debt is growing, program payments are falling and farmers continue to complain about excess freight costs.
Yet even farmers are feeling frisky, according to Farm Credit Canada.
President Greg Stewart told the CFA that the annual FCC farmer survey showed most farmers consider themselves better off now than they were five years ago and three-quarters said they expect the next five years to be even better.
“That could be a ballot question,” quipped Ritz with an eye on an election that may be break out within weeks.
Part of what has put swagger into farm leaders’ stride is the fact that several “mainstream” newspapers have started to write about the food industry as if it matters. This, industry leaders say, means the farm and food sectors are finally being recognized as economic engines.
Of course, that attention, if it lasts, could be a double-edged sword.
With more attention comes more scrutiny.
What if the story that food matters suddenly morphs into questions about whether food is safe enough, whether modern farm practices are humane, sustainable or ethical, whether it is right that agriculture has one of the few legalized price-setting or sales monopolies, whether taxpayers should really have to put up billions of dollars each year to support an industry that allegedly is heading into the best of times?
Sector leaders undoubtedly have answers for all those questions.
Once they get over the thrill of being centre stage, they should start to prepare for the scrutiny that the spotlight brings.
