WAKEFIELD, Que. Ñ At 78 and a farmer all of his life, cow-calf producer Robert Newcommon isn’t certain what all the fuss is about when farmers outside Quebec look at his province and see nothing but a strong successful farm lobby and well-protected farmers.
He, for one, is not happy with the performance of the powerful provincial lobby Union des Producteurs
Agricoles.
Beef prices are down and despite moves by Quebec’s farm lobby to buy into the provincial packing sector, establish a minimum price for cull cows and ensure protection for producers, Newcommon figures he is still losing money.
Read Also
Phosphate prices to remain high
Phosphate prices are expected to remain elevated, according to Mosaic’s president.
He resents the $300 he has to pay in fees to the UPA when he is losing money.
“I don’t feel we are represented by any group very much right now,” Newcommon said. “At one time, we used to get a good price and could make some money. I can’t anymore.”
He also complained about the onslaught of new environmental rules that cost him money and time, suggesting the UPA is not keeping those new rules and costs at bay.
“I just think we have people who make rules at one level but don’t know what it is like in the nitty gritty.”
Newcommon’s unhappiness with UPA performance is not the common view among Quebec farmers, according to a June survey conducted by pollster Ipsos-Reid.
Among the Quebec farmers questioned, 68 percent said UPA represented them, which was by far the highest score for a farm organization in Canada.
To farmers outside Quebec, the UPA’s legislated position as the voice of Quebec producers is to be envied.
For the past year, Ontario farm leaders have been co-operating to try to create one voice on key issues, citing the Quebec model as an inspiration.
But on the Prairies, farm lobby unity seems little more than an impossible dream. Canadian Federation of Agriculture provincial affiliates claim to be the appropriate vehicle to represent all farmers, but deep philosophical, ideological and commodity differences keep the farm voice far from united.
“In Central Canada, you see strong farm voices and they are heard at the national table,” Saskatchewan deputy premier and former agriculture minister Clay Serby said in an interview. “On the Prairies and certainly in Saskatchewan, we have a real dog’s breakfast of competing voices.”
That observation brought a sharp rejoinder from Terry Hildebrandt, president of the Agricultural Producers’ Association of Saskatchewan.
“His information is outdated,” said the APAS leader. “For six years we have been working to create a single voice for farmers. To allow governments to divide us is our fault, not theirs.”
Nationally, creation five years ago of the Grain Growers of Canada gave CFA a rival on grains policy, just as creation in the 1990s of the Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance meant competing Canadian agricultural trade visions. That national division is played out in public at every World Trade Organization meeting.
“If ever we needed a strong unified farm voice, it is now,” said Keystone Agricultural Producers’ president David Rolfe from Manitoba. “It is unfortunate that we seem to be going the opposite direction. New voices are being added when there is a multiplicity of them already.”
But the KAP leader also noted that a unified farm voice does not always produce results.
