Rookie Manitoba agriculture minister Ron Kostyshyn was an oddity among federal and provincial agriculture ministers who signed onto a new five-year farm policy vision in September in Whitehorse.
Kostyshyn was a rare New Democrat among a sea of Conservative and Liberal ministers approving a Growing Forward 2 policy document that will reduce government farm income support and increase emphasis on market returns and government support for market development, research and innovation.
But in a mid-November interview, Kostyshyn did not diverge from the cross-party consensus.
“Let’s be realistic,” he said when asked about the future of agriculture in Manitoba.
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“Producers out there aren’t waiting by the mailbox, waiting for the brown envelope. They look to government to put forward market ideas, research ideas to provide them dollar savings in their operations.”
The former long-time municipal politician said he considers consultation with producers, rather than directives from government, to be the key to the farm sector’s evolution.
“The Manitoba government, the Saskatchewan government, the federal government do not want to run your farm business,” said Kostyshyn.
“They’re there to provide assistance and the key issue is communication with farm groups so we can see what they need to be profitable and that they get some respect.”
He said a key component of future government programming will be providing support for farm insurance schemes that will cover losses no longer covered by general farm income support programs.
“From the Manitoba agricultural perspective, we are there to help design and support insurance programs, to provide innovation and the research component,” he said.
“But most important, we need to have that communication with producer groups to see where we can best help, and most efficiently. The insurance component is there for the days when farmers have some bad luck, and finding better models will be part of the research, but at the end of the day, producers have to accept fluctuations and insurance rather than a government payout.”
When asked about the impact that climate change could have on the industry and the need for government programming, he said the industry and government cannot plan for the future based on assumptions of climate change.
“We are looking at that, but we have to be very cautious about thinking that climate change is here forever and a day,” he said.
“I think that is in question. I don’t think it is for me to draw a picture of disaster in the future.”
And despite a significant push by the Manitoba government to boost the flow of immigrants to the province, Kostyshyn said he does not see immigrants as a major factor in farm ownership or the farm community anytime soon.
Instead, immigrants will continue to be needed as workers on farms and in agricultural plants.
“Definitely, immigrants are welcome to come here to fulfill our labour needs,” he said.
“But I don’t see immigrants coming here to farm, to grow crops for their communities or to sell to communities overseas.”
