Agriculture Committee on April 29th, 2010

[Merv Tweed, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

That's a good point. The challenge of every government is to try to find that balance of what benefits the communities. I'm a rural guy. I fight for rural issues, as pretty much everybody around this table does, and it is so hard to get that message through to people.

You know, we were a benefactor of a good farm economy. If the farm economy went well, we benefited. We created jobs. We filled small communities. So I want to encourage you not to give up, to keep plowing ahead, but also to feel free to throw your ideas to people in policy-making positions.

I'm going to put a plug in for Ian's group. I do believe, although we don't always agree on things, that the group is a voice that comes forward and lobbies us on your behalf--not always on your specific issues--and they carry weight in Ottawa. I think they carry weight in Manitoba. I think people respect what they do.

So I would just say, if you are looking for an organization, they've gone through many years of hard work to build their reputation. That's the kind of strength that I think producers need to have to be able to move their agenda forward as much as they possibly can. If another association is good for you, fine, but I think those are the things you can access that benefit you in a big-picture way.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you.

We are just at the end, and I have one closing comment.

We heard a comment from a witness yesterday in Saskatchewan. Ultimately he was talking about not wanting to have to live out of the mailbox. He wanted to make it out in the marketplace, which we all want to do as farmers.

He also said that farm programs aren't subsidizing farmers. They should be viewed not as subsidizing farmers but as subsidizing consumers.

I thought about that quite a bit yesterday. The big thing that seems to be out there is this talk about having a “cheap food” policy. The government of the day does not have a cheap food policy. The previous government, which Wayne was a part of, did not have a cheap food policy.

The public seems to have this cheap food idea in its mind. Lots of people tell me that they want to support agriculture, and they ask me what they can do. I say, “You go to a store, you ask if it's Canadian, and you demand that it be Canadian. Then, at the end of the day, put your money where your mouth is and make sure you buy only that.”

A lot of people talk it, but they don't actually walk the talk when it comes down to it. They go in there and they still look for the bargains.

The reason I bring this up is that as long as the public has that mindset about cheap food, can we ever really address the problems in the marketplace?

Are there any comments on this? I'm kind of thinking out loud.

Fred.

[Fred Tait]

I would disagree with the assumption that food is cheap. If one looks at the distribution of the income from food, one can see that in a lot of sectors, the consumer is paying more and the producer is earning less. So I disagree with that assumption.

The other thing I tend to disagree with is the possibility that you could develop a safety net program that would protect the producer from a dysfunctional marketplace. That can't happen. It's the marketplace structure that is at fault here. Don't try to tinker with a safety net and AgriInvest and everything else. That won't do it. All that will do is extend the system. We have to go back and look at what was already done, in the Easter report particularly and in other reports.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

I wasn't implying taking anything apart, Fred. I don't know where you got that.

I won't dispute you that there may be some problems with where the profitability is distributed in the sector, but I sure will disagree with you on the price of food.

In this country, we spend less than 10% of our disposable income on food, down from about 16% 20 years ago. For somebody in a country like Kenya or Ethiopia, it's somewhere between 75% and 95%, if they can actually afford to buy it.

So I disagree with you. I think the consumer in this country is getting a real bargain on food, despite the fact that there are some other issues.

Larry.

[Larry Black]

Thanks, Larry.

I guess I can't fault consumers for going to the grocery store and looking for bargains, because they have their own issues to deal with. When you're trying to make a living and getting $15 an hour, paying your taxes, rent, fuel, and all the expenses, and you have to budget for food, well, you do the best you can. So we can't put the onus on the consumer to save the farmer's bacon. It's the government's responsibility if they see a problem—and I think you all see a problem—to fix it.

I think Fred is right. Say you took $10,000 per farm and said, “Here you go.” It wouldn't be long before agribusiness had all $10,000. They know what our costs are. They can reach into our pockets and take out to the penny exactly what they want. That's what the lack of competition and that market power allows them to do. So the answer is not in subsidy money. That won't get us where we need to go. We need policies that favour us and give us the market power back. We can compete with them on a one-on-one basis. That's what will save the family farm.

I mentioned the symptom-based approach, and I'm afraid we're going that way. We're asking how we're going to help young farmers. Young farmers don't stay young very long; pretty soon they're medium-aged farmers. Then those programs get sucked away from them and they're on their own in this unfair marketplace again.

So let's not just deal with, “Okay, we'll give you young guys a break.” That's going to get them another five years, maybe, and then they're in the marketplace like everybody else. Let's stick with what the real problem is and not the young farmer issue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you very much.

On that note, we have to close down.

I want to thank all of you for taking the time to be here today. It was very informative, and I certainly wish you all the best.

I understand you're getting some well-needed rain out there. I wish I had some of that in Ontario right now.

It's been great to be here in Portage La Prairie today.

The meeting is adjourned.