Thank you very much for this chance to attend these federal committee hearings.
My name is Ian Robson. I farm at Deleau, Manitoba. I got into farming with my dad and my grandfather and my brother. We have done a bit of organic farming. We raise breeding livestock, and do grain and mixed farming. We're what you would call a smaller-scale farm these days compared with what would be around the neighbourhood. We have only 60 cows and a section and a half of land.
I'm 55, and I heard the other day that the average farmer is 52, so that makes me one of the guys who makes the lower half of the farming age possible. We definitely need to get more younger people involved and interested in farming. We pray that you, who hold the ultimate power, will listen to us today and decide for and help Canadians in useful ways in farm policy.
Why should we show up and speak with you about the need to get youth interested in farming, especially today when we could be seeding? It's simply because the number of youth willing to become farmers is very low. The opportunity for youth to become farmers, like our parents and grandparents, is much reduced. The need for Canadian society to have our youth involved in the future of our food supply is surely very important. So you have a job to do that requires some homework to get it right.
What vision does Canadian society hold for our farmers? What vision does Canada have for our environment? Farming activity--and supply of the farming needs--is changing our environment, and even our climate. Climate change is really caused by the burning of fossil fuels as humans conduct their activities. Weather volatility is making farming more challenging. Mother Nature always bats last, but there are two-legged corporate and government policies that also bat on farmers.
I am elected as a Manitoba director of the National Farmers Union. For 40 years, the NFU has given many recommendations on farming to society, through our requests for government to take its responsibility seriously. The NFU has always held that farmers need more market strength to bargain for better prices. We exist because there have been and continue to be very tough times in the farm economy, caused by cost/price squeezes. We could say that we have already explained that such would happen if society followed a certain policy. Our track record has been good, but the uptake of our recommendations has been mixed.
I invite you to please obtain a copy of the National Farmers Union's policy statement, where you will find our objectives for a society that can continue to improve itself and our environment. I have a copy of the policy statement here.
We are pleased to say that the farmers economy gained from things like the restrictions that the NFU helped to place on the rBGH milk growth hormone. But the farm economy is overpaying for patented seeds for very little benefit to us. The yield increases to date in many crops come from natural selection and inputs, not from genetically modified organisms or patents. With these yield increases, the record shows that farm gate prices have dropped, on the excuse of oversupply.
This country was developed by people who were willing to organize and work together. During much harder economic times, great things were accomplished. The co-ops, the Canadian Grain Commission, the Canadian Wheat Board, food inspection, grading, orderly marketing, and Canada's Seeds Act were all achieved through struggles, and continue to be of great benefit to farmers.
Ironically, many of these achievements are being slagged by the federal government in its zeal to chase export markets at all costs and by investment rackets that seek only profit through mergers and integration. We must understand where we have been to get to where we wish to arrive. It's important; the low returns that have been mentioned don't seem to have been an accident. There have been many technological advances in farming; farming has become easier over the years. The buyers then decide you're advanced, so they won't pay as much for your product.
This is where bargaining comes into the picture. As mentioned, the share of the food dollar has been declining for farmers. It's no accident. We're basic producers, and the corporate buyers on the other side of the table have more power than we do when it comes to setting prices. This is a responsibility of the government, to look at this issue and make use of the Competition Act that was put in place many years ago. It's been diminished time and time again through various changes. Foreign investment review and foreign ownership have been part of that relaxation in regulation.
As was mentioned by the first speaker, when you have local ownership, you have local control. You have a local economy that works. When you have an investment from outside the country, you don't have local concern in play. You have only a profit motive in play. You have less concern for the environment and for the health and the local culture of the community.
It's important that the government take full responsibility in regulating corporate economies. That extends into the realm of input suppliers. We've made gains in things like this as was mentioned with the Wheat Board and in bargaining for prices on our products. Those are things we need to keep. We lost single-desk selling in pigs, with the resultant loss of farmers involved in pigs. We have tons of pigs, but we have no profitability in pigs. It wasn't hard to figure out that if you overproduce pigs, they'll soon cut the price.
That problem is happening in cattle. I think that as a cattle producer you understand very well the squeeze we're in in the cattle business. That's because we have fewer buyers in the processing and the distribution of our products. We've allowed the concentration in only a few hands, and they're able to set prices that suit them but don't suit us as raw producers.
I invite you to think more clearly on a few policies in this regard. I have noticed the tax policy, and this comes from having talked to some neighbours and preparing for today. They want to incorporate the farm. Once you do that you get a tax benefit. I'm an unincorporated farm, so my tax benefit is at a disadvantage compared to that of an incorporated farm.
The problem with tradespeople is that they'll give a volume discount if you're a larger-scale farm. I'm a smaller-scale farm, so I'm at a disadvantage on the buying of my inputs. Again, the Competition Act comes into play. A land-banking system would be good. Long-term loans would be good. Education and off-farm jobs have been a problem.
Anyway, thank you.