Agriculture Committee on April 19th, 2007

[Wayne Hiltz]

As an industry we certainly are aware that changes may occur. In different parts of the country you have different challenges with what may or may not occur in the future. Certainly, the issues that are facing a chicken farmer in Newfoundland versus the issues facing a chicken farmer in Manitoba may be different, depending on the outcome of WTO.

To say that we have a set plan would not be accurate. We do not have a “what happens next?” scenario. I think our industry has chosen to participate in the opportunities that are available to it to promote the chicken industry and supply management as a viable component of Canadian agriculture and try to garner support to continue with the three pillars as they stand today.

[Roger Gaudet, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you.

Mr. Rolfe, you stated earlier that there were 21,000 farmers and that there are now 18,000 farmers. Do there seem to be young farmers in your area?

[David Rolfe]

That is one of the biggest issues we face, the lack of enthusiasm for the next generation to take over, the lack of resources for the present generation to enable that next generation to come onto the farm.

Over the last five years, we've seen in Manitoba a series of unprecedented events. BSE, frost, flood, drought--you name it, it's happened in Manitoba. The effect that has had, even with all the safety net programming money that's flowed into the province...and as Lorne said, significant dollars have flowed. But you have to remember that under safety net programming, only 70% of the losses are paid. Agriculture still has to absorb that top 30% for every hit.

When you get four or five disasters in a row, that makes a tremendous difference. Producers draw on their resources. That's why I made the reference to the amount of debt that industry is carrying and the fact that income is still declining. It's a problem that we have to overcome.

In our organization, we have a young farmers committee that we actively encourage to be part of policy developing, but the challenge still remains: how are we going to get that generation to come back to the farm? I'm afraid we've lost one generation through BSE. The only saving grace that will bring those kids back to the farm will be profitability back at the farm gate--not dependence on business risk management but making sure we have the tools in place so that we can be profitable.

Get the right regulations in place, get the right business environment in place, get profitability back on the farm, and that generation will come back.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Thank you very much, Mr. Gaudet.

Mr. Anderson, five minutes, please.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Martin, you talked about the disaster plan that we've all talked about, putting it alongside the BRM programs. But does your government have a definition of “disaster”, of what they would consider to be the parameters of a disaster plan? We get a lot of different concepts and ideas of what a disaster might be. I'm wondering if your government has a definition of that.

[Lorne Martin]

What we've been doing is we've been working with the federal government and other provinces in developing that agricultural disaster assistance framework, which is geared at those kinds of disasters that are not being picked up by the disaster financial assistance arrangements, the federal-provincial-municipal arrangements to fund disasters.

A lot of things are included in there, but they are focusing on some of the things that, for example, Wayne had indicated. If you have an AI situation, and you have the situation of cleanup and depopulation, some of those things that are not covered off by the Health of Animals Act and that kind of thing would be included in there.

I mean, as a province, we work with the federal government on that. We don't have a specific one that is separate from the federal government; it's with them.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Okay.

To Mr. Klassen, and Bill as well, after AI hit in British Columbia we talked a bit about industry possibly working towards some self-insurance mechanisms as well as having government support. Has your industry moved in any way towards that type of self-insurance, protecting yourselves in case disaster hits, and using the long term to protect yourselves for those emergency situations?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Bill--or you can sneak in there too, Mr. Klassen, if you want.

[Waldie Klassen, Chairman, Manitoba Chicken Producers]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I think it's an ongoing thing that you try to protect yourself from disasters. There's been a lot of discussion. Under supply management, a lot of the issues that you've discussed under the APF and under the business risk management are also.... We fund ourselves because of a levy. Particularly when it comes to food safety, I think the Chicken Farmers of Canada are well advanced in programs like that.

I'd like to deviate a little, if I could, Mr. Chairman, and maybe give you a bit of my personal history as a chicken farmer working under supply management, if that's in order.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

It's up to the questioner.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Well, if it's short, because I only have five minutes and I think they're half gone already.

[Waldie Klassen]

I'll make it a Reader's Digest version.

I was growing up on a chicken farm with my dad when I first started. We had chickens well before supply management, and I'd just like to emphasize the importance of supply management.

I went out on my own when I got married, and one of the first things we experienced was a fire, but there was enough confidence in the industry to rebuild. Another one of the issues was that we had to depopulate our farm, and that was before there was any government compensation, whether CAIS or NISA, or whatever; it wasn't there. But industry came to help us out and we survived and continued. Over the years, with the stability and business risk management from supply management, we've been able to continue.

One of the questions you asked was about young farmers starting over and continuing. I think if we look at our annual general meetings we've had as chicken farmers, there are a lot of young people getting into the industry. I have a son who's now taking over our farm. So there is ongoing succession planning with supply management—and also with the benefits of that kind of business risk management.

So I think it becomes very important for the future of agriculture that it continue, particularly in the regulated industries.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I expect I don't have much time left, but we heard quite a bit of talk that production insurance will be a very important component of what we do in the future. We heard that again this morning.

I guess I'm interested, Mr. Rolfe, and Mr. Martin, in particular, if you see that as a major component in the direction we should go. There seemed to be quite a few producers who were telling us that it should be a major part of what we're doing in terms of safety net programs.

[David Rolfe]

In Manitoba, production insurance, and crop insurance especially, is very well recognized and used. I believe that more than 85% of producers in Manitoba probably do use production insurance; it is critical, and it is one of those important pillars when it comes to business risk management.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Martin.

[Lorne Martin]

I guess we have the best crop insurance program in the country, frankly, and it shows in terms of the participation in and satisfaction of producers with it.

We are certainly trying to enhance it and to ensure it does stay an integral part of the safety net framework.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Thank you, Mr. Anderson. Your time is up.

Mr. Atamanenko.

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

Thank you, gentlemen, for being here.

Mr. Swan, you talked about market development and trade and the importance of a domestic market. I'd like to pursue that.

In British Columbia, one of the topics that was brought up was our food security as a nation. So I'd like to throw that out for everybody on the panel to get some idea of how we can expand our domestic market in other areas besides just the supply management sector, and how that fits in with our food security and rural development and with the infrastructure of your two priorities, Mr. Martin.

Does that mean there's a role for railways? Does it mean we have to bring back a concept of the small or family farm as opposed to the large enterprise?

If we have some time, I'd also like to talk a bit about disaster relief, but perhaps we could just start and get a couple of comments from each of you gentlemen.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Martin, you might as well kick it off.

[Lorne Martin]

Sure.

From our perspective, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives reorganized about three years ago, and one of the biggest things we've done in reorganizing is to ensure that we have a very strong extension system in Manitoba. We and Quebec are probably the only two provinces who still have one.

As a focus, we have rural development and value-added. We have a strong focus on ensuring that farmers of all sizes make money and that the benefits flow back to those farmers. So in terms of our focus, it's right on track with what you're suggesting.

We believe that other rural development initiatives can play a big role in assisting those farm operations to be viable in this country.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Swan.

[Bill Swan]

Thank you for the question.

Certainly in the dairy industry we've developed a quality milk program, a national program, so food safety is very important to us. I guess the situation of the last couple of months regarding pet food is a good example of imports coming in here that were contaminated feed and caused a lot of problems. We really don't want that to happen, so we need to make sure we do protect ourselves, and that's where food security is certainly very important within the country—and we do need to provide that assurance.

So we're doing that within the dairy industry. In fact, right from the farm gate to the processor, we make sure it's safe. We have a sealing program for trucks hauling milk, and so on. So we've taken it very seriously, and it's all being funded by the dairy farmers themselves; there's no government support for this particular program.

I hope that answers your question.

[Alex Atamanenko, NDP, British Columbia Southern Interior, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Rolfe.

[David Rolfe]

Did I misunderstand the question? Are we talking about the safety of the food supply in Canada or the security of the food supply?