The president of Canada’s largest and most influential farm lobby is getting ready to leave his job in search of a larger soapbox.
Jack Wilkinson, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture for the past five years, has announced he wants to be president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers.
If he wins the job at a May IFAP meeting in the Philippines, Wilkinson said he will step down as CFA president. Under the federation constitution, his term could run until February 1999.
“The way I see the IFAP job, it would be much more full time than it is now and I don’t see that I would have the time to do both,” he said in an interview from his northern Ontario farm.
Read Also
Russian wheat exports start to pick up the pace
Russia has had a slow start for its 2025-26 wheat export program, but the pace is starting to pick up and that is a bearish factor for prices.
If Wilkinson steps down, one strong contender to replace him is Manitoba farmer Bob Friesen, now CFA vice-president.
As president of the national farm lobby, Wilkinson has been a forceful critic of government plans on several fronts: shifting costs and responsibilities for services onto the private sector, cuts to the farm income safety net and the decline of national standards in farm programs. He also has been a strong advocate of more research investment and environmental farm funding.
He said he wants to run for the IFAP presidency because he feels that organization, representing farmers from 60 countries, must become more active in pushing agricultural interests in international affairs.
“I’m convinced that IFAP could play a more aggressive role at the international level in areas like the upcoming WTO (World Trade Organization) talks, the United Nations and elsewhere,” he said.
At the WTO, he said countries are beginning to more aggressively use non-tariff trade barriers.
“We are seeing an increasing degree of protectionism slipping in from the consumer side. I think we need a stronger farm voice to fight that.”
He cited attempts to restrict trade in meat from hormone-treated animals or products created through genetic engineering as two examples.
Wilkinson said the IFAP also should become a strong international advocate of government spending on research and a stronger critic of government support cuts which undermine the ability of farmers to compete and survive.
Current IFAP president Graham Blight from Australia will step down in May. So far, Wilkinson said there are no other challengers to replace him.
The Paris-based world farmer federation is supported by 85 farm organizations, including close to $80,000 annually from the CFA. However, it is a bare-bones, low budget affair.
Wilkinson said he believes the presidency should be more full-time and to help fund his travels if he wins, he has been soliciting financing from Canadian farm groups. So far, there have been promises for close to $100,000 a year and he is looking for $50,000 more.
He said a priority will be to raise the profile and membership of IFAP in South and Central America.
