Dairy Farmers of Canada got it wrong when they told a parliamentary committee that Ottawa’s proposed new farm safety net program will not help dairy producers facing losses because of their inability to sell cull cows, says Agriculture Canada.
In fact, the Canadian Agriculture Income Stabilization Program will help dairy farmers facing lower income because of lost cattle sales, even though CAISP does not cover supply managed sectors.
“Dairy producers who are experiencing a loss in income from the sale of cull cows and breeding heifers may receive a payment from the CAIS program if their income drops by less than 30 percent,” said Agriculture Canada business risk management communications specialist Ellen Funk in Winnipeg.
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“The CAIS program treats cull cows and breeding heifers as non-supply management commodities and therefore, declines in income from these commodities may be covered.”
That contradicts evidence given to the House of Commons agriculture committee by Bruce Saunders, vice-president of the dairy farmer lobby.
He insisted that while the agricultural policy framework and its business risk management safety net program may help other sectors, it would not help dairy.
The key, said Saunders, is that the APF triggers disaster funding only after revenue drops by at least 30 percent.
Cull cow sales, sharply reduced since May because of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis that closed foreign borders to live cattle exports from Canada, represent between 10 and 20 percent of most dairy revenues, said the DFC vice-president.
Would the APF help dairy? he was asked directly.
“My answer is no,” said Saunders. “It relates to the fact that we are supply management. For 80 percent and for some farms 90 percent of our income is based on supply management, based on a product that isn’t affected by this. Dollars would not be available or a dairy farmer would not trigger the payment.”
The department quickly tried to correct the record.
Payments to a dairy farmer suffering hurt because of the lack of cull cow sales would be compensated with the payments “prorated to account for the percentage of total sales derived from supply managed commodities.”
The federal government is concerned that, as the process of ratifying the APF and putting it into effect drags on without enough provincial support, critics have misunderstood or misinterpreted how the CAISP will work. Critics have started to create the public perception of the program.
The department is considering a national campaign to try to sell the benefits of the controversial program, which still needs the signature of the agriculture minister in either Ontario or Saskatchewan to bring it into force.
