Profitability and risk management top wish lists

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

by SUSAN MANN

Profitability and business risk management programs for the agricultural industry top the list of Christmas wishes from provincial farm leaders this year.

Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Bette Jean Crews says her wish is that there would be enough profitability in the industry so the next generation would be able to get in “with some confidence.”

In a recent commentary, Crews says agriculture is a key economic engine in Ontario that supports more than 164,000 jobs and provides $3.4 billion in government tax revenues. But Agriculture Canada projected a net farm income loss for 2010 of $500 million and the Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition commissioned a study that determined recurring farming losses would have a detrimental economic impact. The long-term impact would be a $3 billion decrease in Ontario’s GDP and a decline in total government tax revenues of about $451 million.

For Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario president Henry Stevens Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Christ. “I don’t buy into this gift idea for Christmas.”

Stevens explains that if the question was what he’d wish for the agricultural industry for 2011, his hope would be for all sectors of agriculture to see some level of profitability. “There are a lot of things that have to happen for a number of sectors to see that profitability but ultimately that’s the simplest way to put it.”

Farmers need things like better labelling laws, a level playing field and currency stability. “Ultimately it all ends up in a profitable sector, not only for producers but also for processors and further processors,” he explains.

Sean McGivern, Ontario coordinator for the National Farmers Union, says he’d like to see a provincial government and agriculture minister who take farming and agriculture seriously in Ontario.

At the Nov. 26 Farmers Matter meeting in Stratford attended by almost 1,000 farmers, Ontario Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell didn’t even show up despite being given an invitation to speak, McGivern says.

Asked if McGivern sees Mitchell’s recent announcements to allow deferred payments for grains and the farm property tax rate for bunkhouses on farms starting Jan. 1, 2011 as signs of her caring about the industry, he says those were good things. “Those are just a few of the many good things that we need to have happen to see agriculture be prosperous here in this province.”

But McGivern says its important government representatives attend meetings, such as Farmers Matter, so they can hear what farmers have to say. They should be at farmer meetings especially when they’re on the magnitude of the last meeting in Stratford because it’s not very often nearly 1,000 farmers turn out for a meeting in Ontario, he explains.

Ontario Pork chair Wilma Jeffray’s Christmas wish is that the federal government live up to its responsibilities to address the deficiencies of AgriStability so programs, such business risk management, can be implemented.

Her other wish is that all members of Ontario’s food value chain realize primary production needs to be healthy and profitable to build a sustainable future for the industry.
  
Bill Emmott, chair of Dairy Farmers of Ontario, says dairy farmers must continue working with their industry partners to enhance the industry in 2011. About trade agreements, Emmott says they’re continuing to work with governments on a number of them including the inter-provincial, European Union and World Trade Organization ones.

One group that’s opposed to the Canada-European Union free trade agreement is the National Farmers Union. McGivern says they’d like to see the federal government discontinue negotiations on that agreement.

Brian Gilroy, chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, says he’d like to see horticultural growers get the self-directed risk management program they’ve developed. “If we get that then everybody gets a business risk management program as a companion to AgriStability.”

Gilroy says horticultural industry representatives presented their proposal to Mitchell on Dec. 7, while the Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition, which is lobbying for business risk management programs for horticulture and other industries that have developed proposals, met with her on Dec. 16.

Horticulture needs the self-directed risk management program because farmers’ cost of production is sky rocketing and “we need something to help us deal with that,” he explains.

For apple growers, Gilroy says his wish is for a replanting program similar to the recently-completed Orchard and Vineyard Transition program. An apple program, funded by industry and governments, could be designed to provide money for growers to remove unprofitable varieties and replant varieties in their orchards they can grown profitably.

Another industry that wants a business risk management program is grains and oilseeds. Don Kenny, chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario, says his Christmas wish is for a permanent risk management program. This summer Mitchell announced the risk management pilot program for grains and oilseeds that has been in place since 2007 and was implemented as a three-year pilot program would be extended for one year this year. But there isn’t a program in place yet for next year.

Kenny says currently there isn’t a program to cover the wheat that was planted this fall. Grains and oilseeds leaders are lobbying to have a permanent program. “Ideally, we’d like it in place by April or May.”

Kenny says grains and oilseeds would also like more money from both the federal and provincial governments put into long-term research projects. “Right now most of the funding is short term,” he explains. BF