Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for inviting us to appear before your committee.
I will briefly explain the situation of the UPA, which represents all agricultural producers in Quebec. The Quebec Farm Producers Act recognizes all agricultural producers within a single structure. That means that the UPA represents all of the producers. Forty-three thousand producers in Quebec are grouped on two levels, regional and specialized. We represent producers in every region and cover every type of agricultural output.
The UPA promotes the objective of autonomous agricultural undertakings with an emphasis on family farming. With respect to representation and land occupancy, we believe that this approach helps to ensure a good distribution and diversity of production. It is a given that, in some cases, help will be required to support certain types of crops.
In Quebec, the UPA has adopted a collective marketing approach, which has resulted in increased revenues. We intend to promote the recognition of income security measures to help bridge the gap caused by market fluctuations, but our main aim is to maximize our market income.
I think that through their intervention programs, the Canadian and provincial governments are seeking to address consumer needs while providing the producers with the best possible price for their product.
In Quebec, our work is, to a great extent, governed by the 50-year-old Act respecting the Marketing of Agricultural, Food and Fish Products, which gives us the leverage to maximize our earnings while ensuring the recognition of our production costs. This also helps to limit our involvement. However, from time to time, circumstances dictate that we must resort to some type of intervention. In such cases, we turn to the farm income stabilization insurance program, or FISI, which provides for an annual, stable farm income based on production costs. There is a cost associated with the products that are sold, but because of price fluctuations, some years are leaner than others. This program helps to stabilize farm income.
We have come before the committee today to urge the federal government to recognize these support programs which help us to work together. We are asking for federal government participation because an individual province cannot, on its own, respond to the needs of the producers.
Mr. Lavoie, a UPA economist, will now walk you through the various statistics that support the need for federal involvement.