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
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