Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz said agreements reached during European meetings last week on research investment and creation of ways to control volatile food prices will help Canadian farmers.
In Paris at the first agriculture ministerial meeting of the G20 global group June 23, ministers agreed to create an information network that will inform members about production prospects and food supplies held around the world.
At the first ministerial meeting of the Global Research Alliance, Canada announced $16 million in funding for projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture, including in Saskatchewan and Alberta on new feed systems for cattle and more efficient irrigation systems.
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Ritz said in a telephone news conference from Rome on June 24 that Canada successfully argued at the G20 meeting that the best way to deal with food price volatility is through science investment, innovation and trade, not internal regulations.
“Where Canada stands is well known,” said Ritz. “The best way to stabilize, rather than regulation, is to produce more food and have good open trade flow.”
He said the G20 agreement to establish an agricultural market information system will be useful as it compiles and distributes monthly information about food supplies.
“I think it’s a good news story for Canadian farmers in that it will help us assess what we should be planting, knowing what’s out there in stockpiles in the rest of the world,” he said. “The whole idea, of course, is to smooth out the spikes and valleys for consumers and for producers as well.”
Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett, in Paris for the G20 farm leaders’ meeting last week, praised the ministers and Ritz for taking a measured approach.
“To just decrease food prices would actually exacerbate the problem,” he said in a news release.
“Those on the front lines – farmers – are experiencing increased input and fuel costs and would end up on the losing end if food prices were artificially lowered.”
Meanwhile, the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, along with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, released a report predicting that high food prices and price volatility will continue into the future including a 20 percent increase in cereal prices over the next decade and as much as a 30 percent increase in meat prices.
“While higher prices are generally good news for farmers, the impact on the poor in developing countries who spend a high portion of their income on food can be devastating,” OECD secretary general Angel Gurria said in a statement accompanying the report’s release.
“That is why we are calling on governments to improve information and transparency of both physical and financial markets, encourage investments that increase productivity in developing countries, remove production and trade-distorting policies and assist the vulnerable to better manage risk and uncertainty.”
After the ministers met in Paris, the aid and development group Oxfam said their response to rising global food prices was disappointing.”
“As a major food producer, Canada has a responsibility to ensure the smooth functioning of international markets,” said Oxfam Canada’s policy co-ordinator, Mark Fried, in Ottawa.
“Fixing the problem of rising food prices requires major surgery and the G20 produced little more than a band-aid.”
