Food policy | Focus shifting away from business risk management
A House of Commons agriculture committee report on the future of national food policy shows a deep political divide in the current Parliament over the direction of government policy.
The Conservative majority on the committee recommends changes in the next five-year Growing Forward 2 federal-provincial framework to take effect April 1, 2013, but generally sees the government’s market-based approach as correct.
The majority report tabled in Parliament last week said government emphasis should switch from business risk management support to innovation and market development during a period of high commodity prices and expanding markets. It also recommended that the Agriculture Canada Market Access Secretariat receive a bigger budget and that the government should continue to invest in industry-supported science “clusters” with shorter-term market-driven research and commercialization goals.
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Farmers should not expect bigger farm support budgets in the next five years, although the programs will be there if needed.
“What is important is that agriculture should be sustained by market revenue, not government aid,” said the main report.
“The committee’s study shows the need for governments to direct Growing Forward 2 toward a business strategy that would allow Canadian agriculture to differentiate,” the report said.
“By focusing on risk management programs that do not mask market signals, GF2 will enable to industry to better plan and seize opportunities when they arise.”
Conservatives also used the report to criticize Ontario’s cost-based Risk Management Program.
In contrast, a minority report presented by the New Democratic Party stressed what the party sees as government failures.
It called for development of a national food strategy, more money for long-term public research and food inspection, tighter controls on introduction of new biotechnology products through a “prudent risk management approach,” more emphasis on local food production to meet community food needs and a reversal in the government’s recent budget decision to reduce support for the co-operative sector.
The NDP also demanded more government investment in food safety and inspection.
“Given recent cuts to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, New Democrats are gravely concerned that the health of Canadians is at risk,” said the dissenting report.
“The department should immediately cease any cuts to frontline inspectors and ramp up resources in order to ensure the continued quality of Canadian food.”
The Conservative government insists there have been no reductions in food safety funding. Instead, it argues that CFIA funding increases have resulted in more frontline food inspectors than ever before.
The NDP also called for an investigation into the effect of market concentration in the retail and food distribution sectors.
A Liberal minority report filed by MP Frank Valeriote, the lone Liberal on the committee, also recommended developing a national food strategy, reversing co-op support cuts and making tax changes to help the transfer of farms between generations.
The Liberals also suggest that the government consider changing the formula for benefit calculation under AgriStability, including the possibility of building average farm production costs into the number.
