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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2010-05-13, Page 13THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2010. PAGE 13. Farming industry forecasted to lose $500 millionAccording to a press releasefrom the Ontario Federation ofAgriculture (OFA),Agriculture andAgri-Food Canada withheld forecasted earnings for the farming market due to an estimated $500 million loss in the sector. According to the OFA, the net income for Ontario farms was a loss of $330 million last year and this $164 million plummet is a sign that things need to change. “The Ontario Agriculture Sustainability Coalition (OASC) has been telling our governments that Ontario farming is in crisis and at a crossroads,” said Bette Jean Crews, President of the OFA in the press release. “Our government can no longer ignore this message - they need to act now to sustain Ontario family farms.” Wayne Black, President of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture, said that the information was really not a huge surprise. “The losses for last year are pretty obvious,” he said. Locally, low pork prices started in 2008 and continued to drag through 2009, while low beefprices have plagued that industryfor several years.Black said that in addition tothese low output prices, there wereother factors, including high pricesfor materials like fertilizer, the price of imports as the Canadian and American dollars come close to parity and factors beyond the control of agriculture boards that create ‘a perfect storm’ for the agriculture industry. Close on the heels of the announcement of the $500 million hit to the farming industry, federal Liberal party leader Michael Ignatieff pledged his government’s support for farmers, should he come into office. Ignatieff announced the Liberals new “National Food Policy” from a farm in Kings Township, Ontario. The display is being labelled as an attempt to get “Grit” votes in an upcoming election by Conservatives. The Liberal policy calls for initiatives to promote sustainable farm incomes, healthy living and the implementation of the Agriflex initiative, a program that has been designed and suggested by farmers for some time, but has fallen on deaf ears at the national level,according to Black.Black said that the food policy issomething that farmers have beendiscussing with the government forsometime.“The timeliness of the announcement is rather convenient,” Black said, stating that there had been meetings with individuals in Ignatieff’s office recently about the need for the policy. Black said that the farming community would do well to take this announcement with a grain of salt, as one of the executives of the Huron County Federation of Agriculture said. “One of our executives said that we’ve heard this before,” he said. “They said that the governments can ‘speak a good line until they come to power’.” Black also said that the promotion of local eating is a great policy for some Huron producers, but not all of them. “Things like the 100-kilometre, or 100-mile diet don’t really work for some of our farmers,” he said. “Our food gets exported to bigger city centres, like Toronto, that are far more than 100 kilometres or 100 miles away.”The farms that do export aregoing to be facing even greaterfinancial problems the longer theCanadian dollar stays at parity withits American counterpart. “The Liberals said they would implement Agriflex as has been suggested by farmers,” Black said. “And that is something we’ve wanted for awhile.” Black also said that the Agricultural Flexibility Program, an initiative designed by the current federal government, is different, and does not focus on grassroots operations like the Agriflex system would. John Clement, general manager of the Christian Farm Federation of Ontario, stated in a press release that the Liberal plan was a good one, but could use some improvement. “I give the new Liberal direction a B-plus,” Clement said in the release. “It’s a good document and hits a lot of the right targets. But it could still use a little improvement in some key areas.” The plan falls short, however, in not providing ‘nitty-gritty’ details that would help maintain the farm sector, according to Clement. Another announcement from theLiberals stated that FederalMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Gerry Ritz is notproviding support for a risk management program forfarmers. In a press release, Liberal agriculture critic Wayne Easter stated that in Ritz’s time in office, there have been over $900 million in cuts to Agriculture Canada spending. Easter also said that Ritz refuses to support a risk management program (RMP), like Agriflex, and that decision is an impractical one. Black said that farmers are hearing mixed reports about Ritz’s involvement with a RMP. “We’ve been told that he’s said that 80 per cent of farmers are satisfied with current agri-stability programs, and we’ve also been told that he was misquoted, or the quote was mistaken,” Black said. “But our surveys indicate the exact opposite of that, 80 to 85 per cent of farmers are not satisfied with current agri-stability programs.” “Ritz is not supportive of any risk management program,” Black said. By Denny ScottThe Citizen By Bette Jean Crews, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture An increasing number of Ontario farmers are living with the realities of dwindling and negative returns from their operations. Net farm operating income forecasts by the federal government speak of farm income losses of $500 million this year following a $330 million loss in 2009. Clearly we have a worrisome situation here. We know that Canadian farm demographics are not stable and we know the farming industry is facing problems attracting new farmers. We have lost a significant proportion of our young farmers over the past few years. A very small percentage of active farmers are now under the age of 35. Grim farm income projections have a lot to do with this phenomenon. The chair of the Federal Government’s Agriculture and Agri- Food Committee, MP Larry Miller, said at a recent session at the University of Guelph that farmers tell him, repeatedly, that there’s little profit to show for all the work and investment required. His committee was also told that an extremely burdensome regulatory environment is seriously hampering the business of farming in this province. So, what is our future under these conditions? Will farming survive? If so, what will it look like in the future? Answers may come from an article published in The Globe and Mail May 3 that looks at the high level of interest being shown in farmland by people who depend on commodity trading for their existence. It referred to an investment unit of Manulife Financial Corp. that has ‘plowed’ more than $1 billion into actual farmland, mostly in the United States. The story said these investment banks are hoping to “harvest long- term profits from the soil.” Such investments are taking place around the world, the story said. It quoted Jeffrey Conrad, president of Hancock investments, as saying, “farmland is gold with cash flow.” Sadly, this is not the case for the independent family faming business today. Is the forecast for our rural landscape one with Bay Street and Wall Street managers directing farming operations? Will the current stewards of our precious land, soil and water resources be forced to sell out to hedge fund managers who strive for gold with cash flow? It seems a shame that our politicians aren’t willing to show more confidence in investing in our agriculture sector. The Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) and its national partner, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, frequently point to the value of returns provided by public investments in agriculture through research and infrastucture. If individual farmers are driven from the sector, or if we do not develop programs that encourage and facilitate new farm businesses, we can only expect to see this United States phenomenon moving into Canada with more of the nation’s farmland taken over by investment bankers. The article also talks about the concern as community control of the land and food production capabilities is lost to multi-national corporations. The OFA shares this concern which is why, with our partners across Ontario as well as Canada, we have developed a clear farm agenda to turn our grim prospects around. The agenda is simple – governments need to amend AgriStability retroactively so it actually works to manage the real risks farmers have faced since 2008 – to address declining margins that have led to income losses. Secondly, governments need to adopt an AgriFlex program that will enable provincially-designed business risk management programming to be implemented that will address the particular risks within each province. Once these programs stabilize and sustain the industry, governments need to sit with farmers and food industry representatives to develop a true vision and strategy for farming and food that will serve the interests of Canada’s farmers, food industry companies and consumers alike. The solutions have been identified. The rationale for those solutions is now obvious – the future of our family farm businesses, our rural economy, our communities and our food system is at stake. The only issue remaining to be addressed is the need for political leadership to secure this agenda and our future. Future farming could be managed by Wall Street Bodmin Swine Genetics, a Brussels-area swine-breeding company, won the Ontario Swine Improvement Inc. (OSI) Award of Excellence for 2010. The award is presented annually to the Ontario breeder who has displayed the most genetic improvement in the previous year, using the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement Inc. national testing program. Bodmin Swine Genetics, managed by Phil Smith and George and Kate Procter, specializes in York, Landrace and Duroc purebred and crossbred boars. Bodmin made, according to OSI, impressive genetic gains over 2008-2009. The company was able to boost the average number of pigs born per litter, the price of their livestock, and reduce the time it takes to get to market, resulting in less overhead. The gains in 2009 prove, according to the OSI, that Bodmin has “continued to raise the bar for excellence in genetic improvement.” George Procter stated that a focus on health and the use of superior boars from the OSI helped raise the genetic quality of the herd. For more information about the OSI, visit www.osi.org Brussels breeder wins swine genetics award We are still growing at Spring has Sprung It’s time for custom planting Loadable gift cards now available Just drop off your hanging baskets, pots and planters and let us do the rest. R.R. #1, 39843 Londesboro Rd., Londesborough Phone/Fax 519-523-9781 HANGING BASKETS ANNUALS PERENNIALS TREES SHRUBS May 15th The Four Seasons of Gardening Workshop at 9:00 am