OTTAWA – The next major challenge for the farm lobby is to convince governments that agriculture is part of the future, not the past, according to Canada’s chief agricultural lobbyist.
The food sector, already subject to sharp budget cuts, must convince governments it can create jobs, Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Jack Wilkinson said March 3 at the CFA annual conference.
“There are a lot of people around cabinet tables and bureaucratic circles who don’t see agriculture as the employment centre it could be,” he said.
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Already suffered cuts
Wilkinson complained about governments that are planning agriculture budget cuts even after agricultural spending has been heavily curtailed in recent years.
Meanwhile, challenges to single-agency marketing and the increased encroachment of non-farm interests on farm policy are threatening the future of the sector, he said.
A crucial issue facing farmers, said the CFA president, is “whether we will be second-class citizens simply because we choose to farm in the hinterland.”
He said the focus of the farm lobby will switch from advocating high profile support programs to the day-to-day task of making sure bills and regulations moving through Ottawa are not detrimental to farmers.
“We have a lot of work to do, a lot of fighting to do,” he said.
CFA executive director Sally Rutherford said the national farm lobby will be changing its focus to meet new times.
Times are not as simple as they once were and the farm lobby finds itself dealing with a broader range of issues and groups than it did during the past decade, when support policies and interest rates were the high profile concerns.
“CFA has not lost its focus,” she said. “It has returned to the focus we had for many many years. Sands shift. Times change and you move where you need to go.”
