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Times Advocate, 1999-12-22, Page 51rale 50 Exeter Tirnes-Advocate Wednesday, December 22. 1999 arm news Agriculture must change course to survive By Pat Down SPECIAL To THE TIMES -ADVOCATE TORONTO -- Although the future of Canadian agriculture is bleak if the industry continues on its current course, there are ways to make farming viable, according to the farm leaders who met Dec. 7 in Toronto to discuss the future of agriculture. Canadian Federation of Agriculture President Bob Friesen challenged farmers and industry leaders at the Dec. 7 summit to turn the agricultural industry around. The issue of income sub- sidies was addressed by several speakers as an area of prime concern. While farmers would like to recover the cost of pro- duction from the market- place, subsidies on the world market are creating artificially low commodity prices. The Canadian govern- ment will have to subsidize farmers until the world market playing field is lev- elled. Without subsidies, farmers may not be around to produce food through the 21st century. But divisions between farmers may be the biggest stumbling block to achiev- ing government support. An underlying current at the meeting was whether farmers will give up their regional differences. Ontario sees preferential treatment given to the west but western farmers fail to see Ontario's point. Until these basic conflicts are settled, agricultural leaders will have a very difficult time trying to lead the industry and position Canadian agriculture. David King, executive director of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) said the US is expe- riencing the longest period of continuous growth but agriculture is not sharing in the good times. He was the first speaker to men- tion the newest buzz word "multifunctionality", a term defining the European Union's and Japan's use of subsidies to keep farmers on the farm with govern- ment support instead of market prices providing the total farm income. On a positive note, Canada is ahead of other countries with safety net programs allowing farmers to be in business when the market turns around. Safety nets needed A farmer's perspective - situation and issues fea- tured three well-known farm leaders: Canadian Pork Council President Edouard Asnong, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool Vice -President Marvin Shauf, and Dairy Farmers of Canada President John Core. The pork industry is los- ing ground with young farmers working for oth- ers, governments taking away Single desk selling leaving no price setting mechanism and the indus- try's reputation on the line because some packers are not buying by grade. Anti- microbial resistance and environmental concerns are future problems, Asnong said. Core explained how the media claims the dairy industryets $3-4 billion in subsidifs. In reality farm gate sales are $4 billion a year to the dairy produc- ers. When editorial writers say dairy producers get $3-4 billion in subsidies, it is like saying an editorial writer in Canada earning $60,000 a year is receiving $50,000 in subsidies because the lowest paid editorial writer in the world earns $10,000. He suggested if dairy farmers need to price milk on world prices, so should the editorial writer's salary be based on the world market. Shauf stressed maintain- ing the family farm should be a priority. Canadian producers are at a comparative disadvan- tage with the EU and American farmers with their large government subsidies. Canadian farm- ers need direct and imme- diate government assis- tance in order to be around to produce for the expected increase in world population. We need to eliminate the trade distort- ing subsidies world-wide. He ended noting '98-99 will take almost all the funds out of NISA accounts in western. Canada. Arrears are up by 70 per cent in the grain and hog industries. He warned that the AIDA money will be all used up. In response to the pan- elists, speakers from the floor noted all sectors must be given equal importance in strategic alliances. Traditionally farmers have not been equal partners? instead farmers are price takers at the bottom of the food production chain. Ken Bee from the Ontario soybean board stressed Ontario grain and oilseed growers faced less than perfect crop conditions including drought and wet springs. Crop insurance, MRI and NISA as well as a long term safety net are needed. "The government must ante up with the failure of the Seattle trade talks," he said. A group called Pro west pointed out that we have only 60 days supply of grain in the world. In agreeing with Pro west, panel members said there is less supply in storage than in the past. but gov- ernments do not feel any need for greeter amour rs of stored grain. Ontario farmer Donna Lunn questioned why the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool through Heartland Livestock would build large livestock production units in direct competition with family farms while paying lip service to supporting the family farm. Gold ribbon campaign launched Later in the day, Lunn introduced the gold ribbon campaign in support of the family farm. Using a similar theme, Toronto -area MP Dennis Mills is organizing a family farm tribute in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre on Jan. 16th. He hopes to engage city residents in a participatory event using the jumbotron and big name entertainers. Other questions asked were how to encourage young people to enter farming, how to get profit from the market place and the need for a common vision to present to the government. Core said we need to deal issue by issue until we all can agree on a common vision. He noted the com- mon position agriculture leaders gave to the govern- ment for the Seattle trade talks was a good begin- ning. The ideas that came from the morning in short were: 1. More government support in the short term 2. Beware of corporate concentration. 3. Loss of control by the primary producer. 4. Too much govern- ment on the regulatory side and too little govern- ment'involvement on the support side. 5. Long term viability. 6. The need to keep farmers entering the industry. 7. Farmers should not stand in a circle and shoot themselves. Future bleak in Western Canada Peter Apedaile speaking on"Getting out of natural resources" encouraged farmers to take a new look at farming. Upstream and downstream markets con- tinue to concentrate to agriculture's disadvantage. Farmers need to get out of the extra tonne mentali- ty and need to produce as a multifunctionality model. The Future of Agriculture in Canada panel featured Laurent Pellerin, President Union des Producteurs Agricoles; Don Dewar, President, Keystone Agricultural Producrers;, and Mette Ching President, PEI. Federation of Agriculture. Pellerin used a jar of pickles and a can of peas to demonstrate how little raw product was in each item. There is six cents in a $1.19 can of peas and nine cents in a $2.89 jar of pick- les. Dewar painted a very bleak picture for western agriculture.. All major crops project a negative return at one-seventh of the previous five-year average. Farmers are leaving both voluntarily and are being forced from their farms. Ching noted medium-size farms are disappearing with both large and small farms increasing in num- bers. Pollution and genetic crops are issues everyone faces. Recommendations Several recommenda- tions came from the day's discussions. • Farmers need safety nets until world market distorting subsidies are gone. • Horizontal alliances need to be achieved before seeking alliances with processors. • Farmers would like to be able to get their price from the market place. Pausing for a moment to let you know how much your business means to us throughout the year L. 1PARKER Wayne Cook (519) 236-7390 R.R. 2 Zurich Ont. NOM 2T0 • Ontario believes that we need to look at prices and safety net programs across Canada and equity is needed in these areas. • Without a clear agricul- ture policy, there won't be an industry by 2030. • Will government help us out with the failure of 'the WI'O talks at Seattle? • Reinvestment in agri- culture is needed. 1 ORDER NOW! Start planning for your spring planting requirements now. 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