EDMONTON – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture fears farmers may be excluded from planning a new whole-farm income protection plan.
It could be a matter of poor communication but word came on Feb. 28, during the CFA annual meeting, that the agriculture policy assistant deputy ministers are assembling a program and have “downplayed the mandate of the committee.”
That mandate called for input from all groups concerned about a new safety net program, including farmers, said CFA president Jack Wilkinson.
Ron Leonhardt, chair of the CFA safety nets committee said, “This program was designed for producers. Producers are supposed to pay a third of the premiums so it is absolutely essential that producers be there in the design of this program.”
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Ministers of agriculture must remember farmers can’t be ignored as the new program is put together for a July deadline, Leonhardt said.
A resolution and a letter signed by all members at the CFA meeting were submitted to federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale. Farmers want to be equal partners or the programs are unacceptable, Wilkinson said.
“All hell is going to break loose if they think they can go through changing these programs without the farmers being there and agreeing to whatever is taking place.”
After a February meeting on safety nets, where it was decided to form a steering committee to write a new program, Wilkinson and Leo-nhardt said they thought everything was on track. Perhaps there were too many issues on the table and communication went askew, Wilkinson told reporters.
The deputy ministers were told to have a plan together for this summer’s agriculture ministers’ meeting in July.
Quebec stays out
On the other hand Laurent Pellerin, president of the Quebec farm group L’Union des Producteurs Agricoles, said his province doesn’t want to be involved in any new program, nor does it want the Net Income Stabilization Account or the proposed value-added program. Quebec has a provincial farm program that has satisfied producers for more than 20 years, Pellerin said.
However, he shared the concerns of other groups about the apparent exclusion of producers.
“I know this is definitely not a good process in talking about revenue stability in the future,” he said through an interpreter.
Further, he doesn’t believe a whole-farm program can be designed by July, given the diversity of Canadian agriculture.
