The federal government fulfilled a budget promise on July 31 with an announcement that it is creating a two-year, $550 million program to help low income farm families raise their incomes, develop a business plan and upgrade their skills.
Farm families with total gross farm revenues of at least $50,000 and total net income from all sources of less than $25,000 in 2005, or individual farmers with net income of less than $15,000, will be eligible to apply for a cheque to raise them to that level.
Political and farm lobby critics quickly condemned the program as a disguised attempt to push low income farmers off the land or to give them skills to get off-farm jobs to supplement their income.
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Agriculture minister Chuck Strahl told a news conference in Winnipeg that as many as 26,000 farmers or farm families may be eligible to apply, based on 2005 tax filings.
He called the Canadian Farm Families Options Program an “innovative” part of the Conservative government’s plan to strengthen the ailing farm economy.
“Our new program not only gives short-term financial relief to those struggling farm families but helps them look at ways to improve their incomes for the long term,” Strahl said.
He called it a two year “pilot project” and said farmers can apply until Oct. 31. Cheques for low-income “commercial” farmers will start to flow this autumn, once their income situation has been verified.
Information is available by calling 866-367-8506.
There is a requirement that farmers receiving help must submit to an assessment by the Canadian Farm Business Advisory Service, which can help set a business plan to improve the operation, or apply to the Canadian Agricultural Skills Service to enroll in a skills training program.
Strahl said it is not just a handout, since there are upgrading strings attached. Some farmers who have the business assessment or take skills upgrading may decide their best option is to leave the business or pass the farm on to the next generation.
“We’re sending the message that … you can’t stay on the farm and make no income and expect there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said during his news conference. “Something has to change.”
Critics jumped on the announcement as a sign of the failure of agricultural policy.
Liberal MP and agriculture critic Wayne Easter said the Conservatives were “blaming the victims” by perpetuating an old departmental view that a lack of farmer skills and efficiency is the problem.
“The real problem is the low farm commodity prices because of foreign subsidies and the government refusal to meet those subsidies dollars for dollar,” he said.
National Farmers Union official Terry Pugh said it likely is a hidden “transition” program to get farmers off the land or raise their skills in order to get an off-farm job to sustain the family.
Manitoba farm leader David Rolfe, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, said he appreciated Strahl’s attempt to address the issue of low income farmers but he too worried that it will end up being a way to get farmers off the land.
“It identifies one of the fundamental problems in agriculture in Canada, that there are 26,000 farm families trying to feed Canadians and they can’t feed themselves,” he said.
