Status of Women committee  Thank you.

Status of Women committee  I think EI considers that farmers will never be unemployed between the months of April and October, so they will never be eligible for EI between the months of April and October.

Status of Women committee  It is, but because the farm income is considered income, they are not eligible for EI. They are insurable earnings, but they are not eligible. In our case, we had income on the farm that was taken against it, but it was not necessarily income if the expense level was higher than

Status of Women committee  I guess I can really speak to that. We had a barn fire in 1995. I was expecting my third child at the time. We moved two weeks after she was born. I was responsible for 90 sows, farrow to finish, which is about 1,000 animals, and David went back to work. Never do that. It was a v

Status of Women committee  I don't think there is too much. Many farmers are self-insured for accidents, and that's another expense: they buy insurance. We're self-employed. I'm not 100% sure; we never did.... I was self-insured with a company.

Status of Women committee  I think for me it was optional. I'm a very self-directed learner. I look at the gaps and I try to fill them. In the farm community, there's lots of energy and ingenuity. A lot of folks can do a lot of things if they're supported. So my personal preference would be something that

Status of Women committee  I believe it was federal. I'm not entirely sure of the details, but I surely could get that information if you're interested.

Status of Women committee  We in the NFU really appreciated being called to present here today. It needs to be recognized that we do have women in leadership in agriculture and that we speak on agriculture issues, not just women's issues. For many years I was involved in women in agriculture in Ontario. T

Status of Women committee  I think the funding was cut.

Status of Women committee  It might be if we had an industry standard. I quoted that I was paid $35 for my hog, which cost me $135 to produce. The $135 figure is actually an industry standard. Each and every farmer is going to fluctuate somewhat from that average. If those things could be negotiated, this

Status of Women committee  The CASS program was basically something you applied for, and your eligibility was based on farm income. It was aimed at folks who weren't making a lot of money on the farm. It had various purposes and goals. One was to improve your on-farm practices; another was to enable you to

Status of Women committee  Maybe we could look into a formal program, something that folks apply to. Then you could add certain requirements on business planning. So I think that would be a really positive thing. You could hire your kids through a program and they'd be EI-covered and have certain benefits

Status of Women committee  When referring to the difficulty young people have in starting in agriculture, we use some statistics: in the last 10 years we have lost 62% of our young farmers, and the present average age of farmers is about 57. We are virtually a dying breed. Part of it is that I'm a relative

Status of Women committee  We are in 10 provinces. The National Farmers Union is not in Nova Scotia and we are also not in Quebec.

Status of Women committee  I would suggest that the statistics are out there somewhere. In my case, I was an exception to the rule in that I was the farm manager and David worked off the farm. In most cases, it's the gentlemen who work on the farm and the women who work off the farm.