TORONTO – Canada’s farmers need money, vision and leadership from governments, Canadian farm leaders said last week as they debated the state of the farm crisis and what they consider an inadequate government response.
“I think everyone in the room believes agriculture needs the (policy and program) tools to survive this,” Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Bob Friesen said at the end of a CFA-organized National Farmers’ Summit Dec. 7.
“But until we get them, or when those tools fail, we need more money. We also need a clear vision of what kind of agricultural industry government wants in the future.”
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It was a theme throughout the day.
In Western Canada, a century-old farm policy was dismantled in 1995 with the end of the Crow Benefit and nothing has replaced it, said Manitoba farm leader Don Dewar.
“We need an answer,” he said. “Is the government of Canada prepared to participate in agriculture in a meaningful way? If not, give us the word so Manitoba farmers can get on with their lives and let someone else figure out how to take the Prairies back to tall grass and buffalo.”
Saskatchewan Wheat Pool vice-president Marvin Shauf said part of the government commitment must be to raise support levels closer to levels paid to American and European competitors.
Little chance
Federal deputy agriculture minister Frank Claydon left little hope there would be a significant increase in support.
“If you’re looking at the kind of support the EU (European Union) pays, I don’t see how that can be done in Canada,” he said.
Shauf responded that the government may be looking at the question the wrong way. It says it cannot afford the cost of competing with other treasuries.
“I wonder if they also consider the cost of not competing with other treasuries,” he said. Farmers will be driven off the land and there will be financial costs of support and relocation, as well as social costs.
“We don’t want to see agriculture die a slow death.”
The next day, Friesen and Quebec farm leader Laurent Pellerin took the message directly to agriculture ministers as they met to do battle over the shape of a long-term safety net scheme.
He said after the meeting he told the ministers farmers need help and the safety net system is inadequate.
“We do need more money in the short term to help those producers who are falling through the cracks,” he said. “We may have to compensate them on a social level. We may not be able to do it through the safety net package but it has to be done.”
Canadian governments have been loath to consider social payments to farmers, considering it too close to the EU argument that farmers should be compensated for their “multi-functional” roles, including food production, rural stewardship and maintenance of a rural social structure.
Friesen also told ministers the Net Income Stabilization Accounts program needs more funding. Many of those NISA accounts could be empty by next year.
He suggested farmers continue to be able to contribute up to three percent of eligible receipts, and the government contribution should not only match but double the farmer deposit.
“All we would have to do is double our safety net package to bring it up to where some of our trading partners are at and then our producers wouldn’t have to compete against government treasuries in other countries,” Friesen said.
