No?
Evidence of meeting #50 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was agriculture.
Evidence of meeting #50 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was agriculture.
2:40 p.m.
Leroy Fjordbotten
No, because it's a tax and if you--
April 17th, 2007 / 2:40 p.m.
Lorne Darlington Executive Director, Alberta Grain and Oil Seeds Crisis Advocacy Trust
No.
2:40 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
2:40 p.m.
Liberal
Paul Steckle Liberal Huron—Bruce, ON
We talked about where farmers would get the money, whether it's a fee or whether it's a deposit on the CAIS program. For any program that is bankable, you can borrow the money from the bank.
Now, if you take the model that has been put forward by Ontario and Quebec in terms of business risk management, you would find yourself making choices. It would be a self-directed program whereby you would make a decision regarding at what level you want to benefit from that program. You could go to the bank and borrow the money to do your portion.
Again, with the NISA program, where's the farmer's portion going to come from out of that 15%? I don't believe this is all going to come from the two levels of government, and that's another contentious issue for me because I think we have too much government involved.
2:40 p.m.
Vice-President, Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association
What I would suggest is that we need two programs: a good crop insurance program and a NISA-style program, and that's it. An example is, in 2002 I could get $116 of coverage for $6. In 2005 I got $87 of coverage for $8.30. So the premiums are increasing substantially and the coverage is decreasing.
If we can get good coverage where we can get production insurance that will cover our costs, and with a NISA-style system on disasters, we can cut most of the paperwork out. Crop insurance is health costs shared by the farmer--your're talking about your fees--and your NISA is either matched or however you want to do it.
2:45 p.m.
As an Individual
With respect to the grains industry, though, we need something that's a little broader, because the livestock industry--all livestock--and feathers are so different.
I wanted to say that the real problem in agriculture is the cost of production. The input costs exceed...and that's one thing we haven't really talked about.
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Paul Steckle Liberal Huron—Bruce, ON
You would see that program working, but it should be much more broadly based, even for the livestock industry?
2:45 p.m.
President, Alberta Soft Wheat Producers Commission
Crop insurance, as Stephen said, works on crop production and that, but it does not cover low returns from the marketplace. We could produce 300 bushels an acre, and if we only got $1 a bushel out of it, we'd still be in--
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
2:45 p.m.
President, Alberta Soft Wheat Producers Commission
No. Crop insurance is for the production end. We need something over and beyond that, and there's going to be a broader discussion on that. And you need somewhere in that area...and we need to really talk about this and actually come up with different programs on that.
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
2:45 p.m.
Chair, Alberta Grain and Oil Seeds Crisis Advocacy Trust
I really don't know. I think I'll pass.
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Paul Steckle Liberal Huron—Bruce, ON
You're going to pass? That's a political answer.
What about the gentleman at the end?
2:45 p.m.
Executive Director, Alberta Grain and Oil Seeds Crisis Advocacy Trust
I'm going to pass too.
