The Rural Voice, 2006-10, Page 12John
Beardsley is
a freelance
journalist
and crop
specialist
with Huron
Bay
Cooperative.
John Beardsley
Do we need an ag. ministry?
Agriculture is the only industry in
Ontario that has a ministry set up in
opposition to the people whose
livelihoods depend on it.
The petrochemical industry
represents far Tess than 2.5 percent of
the population, yet you don't have
ministry officials telling them how to
run their industry. The auto industry
is the largest job creator and
economic driver in the country, yet
they don't have to worry that the
government will throw a monkey
wrench in their day-to-day business.
We only have a Ministry of
Agriculture because historically it
represented the majority of the voters
at the turn of the 20th century. It is
the same today in that you have the
Women's directorate and the minister
of Francophone affairs to grab votes.
But agriculture is no longer viewed as
a segment of society to be respected
and rewarded for the social stability it
provides.
Farm leaders have long fought
tooth and nail to preserve the ministry
for agriculture because at least we
would have a voice at the cabinet
table. But do we really? When
someone who doesn't believe in
agriculture runs the portfolio or if the
ministry is seen as a minor ministry,
then there will be no respect or
weight given to the minister.
Dalton McGuinty has often said
he wants agriculture to be a lead
ministry. But he has said this to farm
leaders, never to health and
education. The proof is in the
pudding. Four ministers go to talk to
Ford but our minister of agriculture
won't even approve the increase in
check -off fees needed by the corn
producers, even though this measure
,was duly passed by the corn
producers membership. We
8 THE RURAL VOICE
constantly have to train and educate
new ministers who aren't farm raised
or even have any experience in the
industry and we are losing ground.
You can spin the latest
announcement at the plowing match
by Premier Dalton McGuinty any
way you like but in my mind it is still
a token gesture. It is too little too late
and shows the premier isn't really
listening because it does nothing to
assure a long-term solution. Farmers
are supposed to grovel at Dalton's
feet in a frenzy of self-abasement
because he has given a third of what
was asked for? I would be more
supportive of the money if (a) it was
a commitment to the Risk
Management program or (b) came
along with a commitment to scrap the
Canadian Agricultural Income
Stabilization program. (Federal
Agriculture minister Chuck Strahl
cannot follow through on his
campaign promise to scrap CAIS
while all the provinces are asking to
keep it.)
This latest money is vote buying.
The message has finally sunk in
from MPPs John Wilkinson, Maria
van Bommel and Carol Mitchell that
their seats are in peril unless some
cash gets to farmers quickly. I expect
this latest money should arrive in
April 2007 so that it will be
remembered in time for the next
election.
Agriculture is doing really well,
it's just farming that isn't fun
anymore. There is an apocryphal
saying that insanity is doing the same
thing over and over and expecting a
different result. Maybe the drastic
change needed in agriculture isn't
that we allow the government to do
nothing and watch two-thirds of the
farmers go out of business, but that
we should get OMAFRA bean
counters out of our hair and no longer
in a position to advise government.
I'm sick and tired of the paternalistic
attitude of the so-called Ministry
experts. Many of them are failed
farmers or so far removed from
modern commercial agriculture as to
be no use to the industry. Besides
these same experts helped get
agriculture into this mess by getting
rid of the Market Revenue program
and replacing it with the CAIS
program. I'm tired of explaining to
the public that the Risk Management
program isn't a handout but rather an
insurance program to counteract the
U.S. farm bill and dumped corn and
soybeans. OMAFRA should be
explaining this to the public.
Everyone has seen the yellow
"Farmers Feed Cities" campaign
material. This was part of the
campaign by the grain and oilseeds
groups to promote the Risk
Management Program. Farmers in
Quebec have had a similar program
in place for several years. Probably
one of the disconnects about the Risk
Management Program for the
Ministry bean counters is that
conceivably the RMP in its first few
years during these historic low
commodity prices could have cost the
provincial government 60 percent of
the existing OMAFRA budget. Well
if we get rid of the Ministry we can
fund RMP Farming.
This may seem an extreme
position but not one I take lightly.
Why not abolish the Ministry and use
money to fund RMP to be
administered by grain and oilseeds
groups. Any tribunals such as Farm
Products Marketing Commission
could be transferred to Ministry of
Industry. Extension specialists, still
the only OMAFRA personnel with
any credibility in the farm
community, could be transferred to
University of Guelph as in the United
States co-operative extension model
with the land grant universities.
Manure police can be transferred
back to Ministry of the Environment.
I'm not sure what all these
changes would save (and smarter
minds than mine would have to do
the hard work to make this happen)
but I'm sure out of an operating
budget of $564 million we can find
the $300 million needed for the Risk
Management Program. Then the food
terminals won't need to blockaded
again this fall and winter. Farmers
can get back to the business of
farming. Besides disbanding
OMAFRA will bring the cabinet back
to a nice even number of 30.0