They are from different provinces, different parts of the food industry and different perspectives — bureau-crats, consumers, farmers and agri-tourist operators.
Yet those participating in the Canadian Agriculture Lifetime Leadership program have formed a common opinion — that the Canadian food industry needs better leadership and a vision that all sectors can endorse.
“I think the greatest problem is leadership,” said Leask, Sask., farmer John Coté during a visit by CALL participants to Ottawa in March.
“Nobody seems willing to work with each other.”
Read Also
Agriculture chemical company embraces regenerative farming
Johnstone’s Grain sees the sale of regenerative agriculture products as the future
Honey Forbes of Duncan, B.C., a Consumers’ Association of Canada activist who represents the association on the national milk supply management committee, said consumers want to be part of any national policy.
“This is larger than just agriculture,” she said.
Linda Jabs, a partner and farm manager from the Innisfail, Alta., area joined the discussion.
“I think we need leadership that can lead us to some common solutions. We’re good at telling people that there are problems. We’re not so good at telling them there are solutions.”
Coté, Forbes and Jabs, along with Marc-André Gagnon of the Agricultural Insurance Agency of Quebec and Kathy Weir of Hopewell Hill, N.B., are part of the latest 26-member crop of CALL participants.
They each pay $7,000 for months of meetings, travel and debate to consider issues of leadership, farm policy and food system viability.
The CALL program is organized through the University of Saskatch-ewan and Université de Laval, and is funded in part by the federal government.
It is designed to expose people already active in agriculture to broader issues and experiences.
The group that gathered for an interview was enthusiastic about the opportunities the program offered.
“It is a chance to see what exists around Canada and the world and to learn from that,” Gagnon said. “We have had a very rich experience.”
While in Ottawa, they met with agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief and members of the agriculture bureaucracy, as well as MPs. They also visited Washington, D.C.
They have decided Canada lacks an agricultural vision and a goal.
Quebec has a provincial policy of making sure farmers and rural areas are part of society. The European Union and the United States also seem to have decided national policies will support rural society.
“I don’t get the sense that agriculture and rural things are considered as important here,” said Weir, who is part of a rural agri-tourism operation in New Brunswick and worked with the provincial farm lobby that successfully fought a provincial government decision to get rid of the agriculture department.
“We have to be prepared to fight for our rights, but also to work with governments to make sure our interests are considered.”
Coté said his experience in Saskatch-ewan is that farmers are divided and many different groups emerge to speak for small sectors.
In Quebec, by contrast, there is a provincial agreement that all groups in society must be part of deciding what policies are required to keep a vibrant food industry and rural society.
“To think that we as farmers can stand alone and only develop agriculture policy is living in the past,” he said.
“It has to be broader. And it needs leadership to create that.”
