Ontario farmers doubt Canada's ag policy boosts business, a new survey suggests

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

by SUSAN MANN

Forty-three per cent of Ontario agri-business owners participating in a business organization’s survey said the current national agricultural policy agreement was ineffective in boosting the competitiveness of their businesses.

And only one per cent of the 400 Ontario responses in the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’s Future of Agriculture Policy survey said the Growing Forward policy framework met their expectations, says Marilyn Braun-Pollon, the federation’s vice-president, prairie and agri-business.

Another 22 per cent said the framework was somewhat effective in enhancing the competitiveness of their businesses.

So what are farmers looking for in the next national policy agreement, called Growing Forward 2, being negotiated now by the federal, provincial and territorial governments?

Ontario farmers are on board with their counterparts across Canada in calling for governments to focus on regulatory reform, total tax burden reduction and market access improvements for Canadian farm products as part of the next agreement that governments want to finalize by this fall. Growing Forward 2 will replace the current Growing Forward agreement when it expires on March 31, 2013.

“These are the top priorities for government action in Growing Forward 2,” she says. “We want Growing Forward 2 to reflect these priorities.”

Braun-Pollon says they hope these key items are the focus of discussions at the upcoming agriculture ministers’ meetings in September in Whitehorse, Yukon.

The federation has already sent its report, Fostering Ag Competitiveness, to the federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers in June so they can digest it and “hopefully implement some of the suggested changes,” she says. The federation will be sharing the report and its priorities at the consultations being planned now for Ontario farmers and the provincial and federal agriculture ministers.

“We’re calling on the government to ensure Growing Forward 2 drives productivity in the ag sector,” she says.  

About business risk management programs within Growing Forward 2, 42 per cent of survey respondents nationally said governments should design more responsive programs.

Braun-Pollon says business risk management tools are a last resort but when farmers need them they have to work. “Our agri-business members have consistently called for more responsive, transparent, accessible, predictable and timely” business risk management programs.

The survey results were part of the federation’s Fostering Ag Competitiveness report. A total of 1,049 agri-business owner members of the federation from across Canada completed the survey. It was done between January and March 2011.

The federation has 7,200 independently owned and operated agri-business members. Seventy-five per cent of those are primary producers. A total of 2,800 of the 7,200 are from Ontario. BF