A national food strategy could fix the broken link between farmers and consumers, said the president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.
Laurent Pellerin, attending the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan annual meeting in Regina in March, said few people have a direct link to the farm anymore but everyone still eats.
“We want to use this food link with our consumer, telling them how good we are, how good our products are,” he said.
The eight-point proposal includes a mission to ensure that food is safe, secure, accessible and healthy and available through a sustainable Canadian agricultural sector.
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Pellerin said farmers have to be able to make a living and Canadian farmers should be recognized for the care and attention they take in producing food.
Consumers who shop by price and choose cheaper imports have to remember the conditions under which that food was produced, including the way farm workers are treated and paid.
CFA endorsed the strategy at its meeting in February and is preparing to discuss it with others. Pellerin said bringing farmers together is no easy task, considering the range of conditions and commodities produced in Canada.
CFA’s members represent 16 different commodities.
But Pellerin believes common ground can be found.
Ideally, the federal government would also endorse a national strategy, he said.
“For years, government tried to put in place programs and politics that define farmers to be the same all over the place, which is not the case,” he said. “The case is that we are very different.”
All farmers need better income, however, and that can be achieved by working together, Pellerin added.
