Thank you, Patrick.
We thought it was important to describe the provincial challenges so that the committee would know what maybe is going on in the province. We did a presentation to the provincial Standing Committee on Agriculture, and they told us that if we had the opportunity to present to the federal government again to make sure that it's known that the provincial level can't really do anything; it's all on the feds. I just wanted to point that out. That's exactly what they told me.
I'll go on to the future farmer program and provincial challenges and requirements. If you're not aware, we have a program on the island for new entrants who are young farmers. It's a really great program. But we discovered some problems and offered some recommendations to the province before they initialized the second program, which came in last year. It's called the enhanced future farmer program. I'm not too sure what's so enhanced about it. It's the exact same. We weren't consulted about our recommendations or the requirements that should be going into the program. I thought we were a big part of the puzzle for the program, so they should have maybe consulted us to see what we thought of the program and how it has been run for the last five years.
We have some recommendations. For the interest rebates, don't discriminate against those who don't have the educational background. Extend the program for a longer period of time. And help farmers strategically plan for the future and the ins and outs of what's going to happen down the road.
Young farmers have enough on their plates without having to deal with all this paperwork. We heard from our membership that it just seems like a lot of work to get into the future farmer program, so we want to see it become less mechanized down the road.
The second problem provincially is provincial policy. Agriculture policy and environmental policy are being fought over, and farmers are being challenged and stuck in the middle. It seems that ag policy will bend over and that environmental policy comes first. There's no provincial government official standing up for the agriculture industry at the provincial level.
The third problem is the approach in Atlantic Canada to working together. It's the same as the national issue. We need to see more cooperation. There is the federal and provincial debate about who is actually responsible for this crisis and what solutions are viable. We have to start acting on some things. We've been talking and talking and talking. What are we going to do? Let's do something. Let's have an action plan and go forward with it.
I've been making presentations now for the last five years, and I'm getting tired. I feel bad for a lot of people who have been here for the last ten years. I'd really like to see something. If you need to consult with us or help us get together for a week.... I don't care if it's a conference. We need to get something done about this.
In conclusion, I'd like to thank you guys for coming and inviting us here to present today. But as a lot of us have said, I have to mention the poor timing of these meetings in the dead middle of cropping season.
If you can take anything from this, these are serious problems, and you're headed down a bad, bad road. I might not be here next year giving federal presentations, because I won't think it's important. I'll just go to my off-farm job and do that for the rest of my life.