AgriStability under discussion | Ag ministers to meet in Whitehorse to form a five-year plan
Federal and provincial agriculture ministers have negotiated new farm support rules largely in secret, but British Columbia minister Don McRea figured his producers should be in on the secret.
Beginning in June, before any other minister, he began to brief farmers in the province about proposals for drastic cuts in business risk management program funding that are scheduled to be approved next month in Whitehorse and implemented April 1, 2013.
Led by a push from Ottawa, ministers have been negotiating new rules that will reduce farm support levels, reduce government BRM spending expectation by more than $2 billion over the next five years and switch some of those savings to investments in innovation and productivity enhancing programs.
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The bulk of lower spending will likely contribute to deficit reduction.
B.C. farm leaders resisted when McRae outlined details of proposed cuts, insisting that programs such as AgriStability are valuable even if operating under flawed rules.
“Farmers told me they did not want to see BRM programs destroyed,” he said. “They see value in programs like AgriStability. It is clear there will be changes and reductions in triggers, but it is important that the programs remain.”
The result is what some provincial ministers are calling a “B.C. hybrid” proposal for the Sept. 12-14 Whitehorse ministers’ meeting, where the principles of the next five-year program will be endorsed.
The hybrid proposal accepts significant cuts and the lowering of AgriStability triggers from 85 percent of historic margins to 70 percent.
However, the programs will be retained.
“I think we will see a 70 percent trigger as the base,” said McRae. “Many farmers see that as too low, but we have to recognize that changes are coming.”
In fact, many Canadian Federation of Agriculture leaders insist that reducing AgriStability payment trigger thresholds will be a step on the road to abolishing the program because it will be ineffective and farmers will abandon it.
In the ministers’ discussions, other components of existing programs will remain in place, including AgriInvest and AgriInsurance.
McRae said it is important that a deal be reached in Whitehorse so the next five-year plan can take effect next year. Details had not been settled five years ago, and implementation of the new farm policy framework was delayed by a year.
“We want to avoid that this time because a year of uncertainty does not help farmers,” he said. “I am hopeful we will have a deal in Whitehorse.”
Part of the new deal will be a decision by the federal government to give provinces more power to decide on non-BRM program design and how to deliver the money that is largely provided by Ottawa.
“I think the idea of more flexibility for provinces is a good one so we can invest in our own priorities,” said McRea.
At the same time, he advocates a continued role for federal oversight of national plans because Ottawa will continue to fund 60 percent of federal-provincial program costs.
“Provinces can best decide where research dollars or innovation dollars are best invested, but it also is important to have some federal leadership to make sure spending in one province is not duplicating research projects that are being done somewhere else,” he said.
“We will continue to need some federal co-ordination to make sure dollars are being spent wisely.”
