Feds acknowledge AgriStability’s flaws

by SUSAN MANN

The farming industry and governments can now develop different options to AgriStability, now that the federal government has admitted the risk management program isn’t working, says Ontario Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell.

“My first order of business was to have a recognition that (AgriStability) in fact was not working,” she says during a telephone interview Thursday morning at the conclusion of the federal, provincial, territorial agriculture ministers’ meeting in Saskatoon. Mitchell says that goal was achieved and she “was very pleased that was recognized.”

The Ontario Agricultural Sustainability Coalition needs to study the federal government’s press release and interpret the words, says Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Bette Jean Crews, who was in Saskatoon for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s tripartite roundtable with Canadian agriculture ministers held July 6.

“I cannot say at this point that we got everything we needed from the FPT (federal, provincial, territorial agriculture ministers’ meeting) but we did get our message heard and discussed,” she says in an email.

Mitchell says acknowledgement that a program isn’t working is needed to allow work to begin on other options. “That’s where we’re at now. We’ll continue to work with the Coalition to look at the risk management programs and address the concerns.”

Henry Stevens, president of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, says the Coalition is to have a conference call Monday morning to discuss their response.

Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett says there was recognition the current programs don’t address some of the farm income issues. “It does seem to indicate they recognize the current programs aren’t actually solving farm income problems. They basically are just putting some patches on.”

Bonnett says he didn’t see any details in the government press release about an overall national strategy to outline what markets will be pursued, what types of matters have to be address on farm support, regulations, training and innovation.

Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says the ministers discussed the need to make long-term strategic investments in innovations in addition to exploring insurance-based and other options to make sure business risk management program work. While governments have provided about $6 billion in business risk management programming over the past three years, they acknowledge producers’ concerns and remain committed to ensuring that programs are responsive and effective.

He says that although the future of agriculture was supposed to be the focus of the meeting, discussion “continued to flow towards” recent floods in the Prairies.

Ritz has announced $450 million in additional help through AgriRecovery to help Prairie farmers deal with the flooding. The money will come from the governments of Canada, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba. Affected producers will get $30 an acre in assistance to adopt measures to protect, rehabilitate and manage affected crop land.

The federal minister also announced the agriculture ministers agreed to create a road map that would “investigate how producers can begin to share their high quality T-bones or pork chops with their neighbours in the next province.”

Ritz described the initiative as long overdue and practical. “Pilot projects will help map the way forward by examining the costs and benefits for small and medium-sized slaughter facilities to explore interprovincial market opportunities while remaining within Canada’s high domestic standard.”

Bonnett says the concept of improving interprovincial trade is good. But one concern expressed at CFA meetings is ensuring food safety regulations aren’t weakened. “If you starting going to the lowest common denominator of regulations you could end up harming some of your international markets.”

Ritz says ministers agreed with an industry panel about the importance of maintaining a strictly science-based regulatory system to spur innovation and drive the agricultural economy, create new markets and increase profitability for farmers.

Traceability, food safety, market access and a focus on young and beginning farmers will be key components in the next policy framework. The current one, Growing Forward, expires in 2013. BF