QUEBEC CITY — Politicians are loath to talk about it, but at least one provincial agriculture minister says a long-term agriculture policy for the country will include a program to help farmers leave the land.
Saskatchewan’s Clay Serby said that federal and provincial ministers mean many things when they include “transition” in their list of issues that a long-term policy must deal with — moving people into more profitable forms of agriculture, improving skills, and helping the industry move beyond “crisis management.”
But he said it must also include helping farmers leave.
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“There may be instances when farmers are saying they need to move on — they can’t do this any longer.”
In that case, farmers should be able to ask for training to help them move to a new career “so people can do it (leave the industry) with dignity and success.”
Serby quickly noted that it is politically dangerous to talk in general terms about the need for a program to help farmers leave the land.
“What will happen the moment we talk about it in a broader generic way, opposition people will say this is about getting people off the farm,” he said.
“This isn’t about getting people off the farm.”
Instead, it is a strategy to help farmers prepare for the future.
“Transition is about taking all the opportunities,” he said after a federal-provincial agriculture ministers’ meeting on March 7 in Quebec City that affirmed their desire to build a long-term policy, beginning in late June at a Whitehorse meeting.
“It will be about ‘this is what you could do if you want to stay in the agriculture community and make a difference. But you also need a new set of skills.’ “
He said “transition” could include helping farmers learn how to move from wheat to exotic livestock, buy a computer or pay the bills while the farmer goes back to school.
“There might need to be some social safety net money for farmers, too, while they’re making that adjustment.”
Federal officials have talked for more than a year about the need for a policy that helps farmers leave the farm once they decide they cannot make it with existing costs and revenues. Federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief has said it is a necessary debate. But there has been no official federal government endorsement of the idea, even though many farm groups say it is logical. Politicians fear they will be accused of plotting a farm depopulation.
Some farmers have condemned Vanclief for his comments, but Serby noted that in past decades, the number of farmers has been reduced by more than half, with or without a formal exit strategy.
