Evidence of meeting #19 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farm.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Nirmal Dhaliwal  Director, Okanagan Tree Fruit Cooperative
Jim Gowland  Owner-Operator, Farm Business, As an Individual
Louis Dechaine  Farmer, As an Individual
Arden Schneckenburger  Farmer, As an Individual

4:55 p.m.

Farmer, As an Individual

Arden Schneckenburger

Basically the Ontario market is about one-quarter beef, one-quarter pork, one-quarter grains and oilseeds, and one-quarter horticulture. We have the opportunity and the climate to grow many different, and be in many different, businesses. I think we have a more stable weather pattern with the Great Lakes influencing our soil, so we don't have the cropping disasters such as Saskatchewan suffered the last couple of years.

I would say the fact that the farms have diversified to make ends meet and to become more profitable...we're more self-insuring here in that aspect and that's why you're not seeing the payments. AgriRecovery in Ontario is virtually not used at all. The other ones are considerably down compared to other areas that tend more to be monoculture farms. So I would say, yes, we're self-insuring.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Larry Miller

Okay, thank you.

Jim or Mr. Dechaine, do you want to comment?

4:55 p.m.

Owner-Operator, Farm Business, As an Individual

Jim Gowland

I think that certainly from an Ontario perspective, with the whole situation of diversification, there seems to be less risk.

4:55 p.m.

Farmer, As an Individual

Louis Dechaine

That's the same thing I wanted to say.

I don't know about in the other provinces or not, but right around home there are some large farm operations that are totally grain and they don't carry any insurance at all. They figure they've got a big enough land base that they don't need the risk. So it's more your small to medium-sized farms that are using the programs.

5 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Larry Miller

Thank you.

We have bells going off in 15 minutes and we do have some committee business. We have a motion, and I'd like to get some direction from the committee on where we go after the Christmas break.

With that, I'd like to thank all three of you for coming here today. I thought there were some very good comments by all of you. I wish you all the best in 2012 and a very merry Christmas. Thank you very much.

I believe we're moving in camera, so we'll have to ask our visitors to leave.

[Proceedings continue in camera]