Getting through the drought and dealing with the supply chain woes of the late pandemic dominated addresses by government agriculture department and farm leaders at Keystone Agricultural Producers’ annual meeting Jan. 25.
Long-term issues such as labour and climate change remain a focus for provincial and national players.
“While we understand there is a need to protect public safety, some of these measures may overall cause more harm than good to the Canadian public,” said Mary Robinson, president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, referring to the vaccine mandate for truckers that has led to a sudden shortage of hauling resources for farmers.
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KAP President Bill Campbell highlighted the same issue at the beginning of his speech.
“We’re all aware that farmers rely on an efficient although strained system to deliver products and receive shipments. Any challenges can seriously affect food security and economic competitiveness of individual operations,” said Campbell, who was re-acclaimed president at the meeting.
“The federal government has to ensure that farmers have timely access to domestic and international markets.”
As they spoke, a collection of convoys made up of truckers opposed to the federal vaccine mandate and their supporters were descending on Ottawa to demonstrate their opposition to the federal measures.
The meeting was a chance to hear directly from Manitoba’s new agriculture minister Derek Johnson.
He showed no signs of diverging from the existing department approach previously headed by ministers Ralph Eichler and Blaine Pedersen.
Getting farmers’ recognition for the sustainability and carbon control activities they undertake continues to be a focus for Manitoba Agriculture. Gaining more incentives for “de-carbonizing” will be part of how the provincial government approaches climate change mitigation.
Johnson announced the provincial crop insurance inclusion of polycrop establishment insurance, improved insurance for potatoes destroyed before harvest, and a reduction in required acreage for vegetable producers.
Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau lauded the Hay West campaign that saw a national concern for western Canadian farmers translate into thousands of bales of hay moved from one part of the country to the another to help drought-damaged farmers with much-needed cattle feed.
Robinson said the program has directed 32 million pounds of feed to people feeding 17,000 cattle.
Bibeau said labour issues are “a key priority” for the federal department as it tries to boost Canadian agriculture’s stability and productivity.
“Labour is a vital resource for a competitive sector,” said Bibeau.
Bibeau talked about the federal government’s financial support for “sustainable” food and agriculture development.
Helping transition Canadian farmers from too much carbon reliance is being supported by carbon pricing, which now contains refundable tax credits for things like grain drying, and funding for “clean technology” adoption.
Campbell said KAP was happy with some of Transport Canada’s changes to private grain crossings, which came in November.
He urged the federal and provincial governments to “work together” to form a carbon pricing system that would work in Manitoba.
“Farmers are price-takers and they can’t pass on those costs to our consumers,” said Campbell.
The federal rebates on some carbon emissions from farming are “a good step forward” but “doesn’t go far enough,” he added.
For more content related to drought management visit The Dry Times, where you can find a collection of stories from our family of publications as well as links to external resources to support your decisions through these difficult times.
