Feds pledge open door to young farmers

The Canadian government will invite young farmers and those interested in entering the business to come inside to help plan future agriculture policies, says the minister responsible.Jean-Pierre Blackburn, veterans affairs minister and minister of state for agriculture, said May 31 that young people will “never again” be shut out or ignored by the department.He said it is a better promise than merely announcing money or programs.“We are not giving you $5 million or $10 million,” he said to young people gathered on the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa. “We are giving you the key to the door.”Blackburn said the department’s website will be reorganized to include information for young people about programs available, succession planning and other topics relevant to beginning farmers.And he said in the fall, he will host a national workshop with government, industry and young people that will give young farmers a voice in how the next generation of farm programs beginning in 2013 can be designed to better help them get established.Meanwhile, the House of Commons agriculture committee continues to hear suggestions on policies needed to attract and sustain the next generation of producers.Last week, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president Travis Toews told MPs the current debate about attracting young people into the industry is “needlessly complicated.”“I believe a career in agriculture, and specifically a career in the cattle industry, would be the first choice of many talented and motivated young people in Canada but they must first be assured that there’s some expectation of profit for a well-managed operation,” the producer from Grande Prairie, Alta., told MPs May 26.But he said government money is not necessarily the answer. Helping the industry become more competitive by opening more markets, easing the regulatory burden and investing in “cutting edge research and technology” would be the CCA’s preferred policy solutions.“While I don’t believe government, or maybe more accurately the taxpayers of this country, owe us the right to make a living in agriculture, there is a critical function government must perform to ensure that producers have every chance to succeed,” said Toews.Newfoundland farm leader Eugene Legge, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture, was more pessimistic about answers.“The first thing we have to do, we have to put profitability back in farming and it’s not there right now,” he said. “We see some glimmer of hope in some of the supply managed sectors but even then, we’re hearing some horror stories about the price of quota and how we get people to buy into supply managed sectors,” he told the committee.Legge said young people often carry student debt of $40,000 or $50,000. They cannot afford the additional debt that would be required to buy into farming.“At today’s prices, if you can’t get at least five percent or 10 percent return on your investment, you’re not going to last,” he said. “Every time you turn around, someone is out there with their little hand out.”