We have had several opportunities to meet with government officials. On October 21, 2008, the Maritime Beef Council met in Halifax with three maritime ministers. A meeting with the P.E.I. Cattle Producers and the Hon. Gail Shea resulted in a meeting with the Hon. Gerry Ritz in Ottawa. During this meeting, Mr. Ritz assigned a staff person, Dustin Pike, to be a direct link between the maritime groups and the minister's office, and he agreed to visit the Maritimes to meet with our commodity groups for all three maritime provinces. This was a historical meeting. In attendance were representatives from the three beef associations, the three hog associations, the Atlantic Grains Council, and the three federations of agriculture. Also present were three maritime ministers of agriculture.
From this meeting, the maritime red meat and feed grain working group was created. Its first meeting was held on March 10, 2009, during which two priorities were identified. The first was to find resources to ensure the working group could carry out all its responsibilities. The second was to undertake a study of the strategic plans from the three maritime beef, hog, and grains industries. This study will be used to develop a plan for the maritime red meat industry. It will also help identify similarities and differences that will be used to develop future programs.
Other elements of the study will identify the need for market infrastructure and brand development funding. This funding will be used to develop a maritime brand to market beef and pork and develop value-added products. However, the group unanimously agreed there is urgent need for transitional money to help producers survive until the long-term plan is in place.
Two proposals for transitional funding, one for beef and another for hogs, have already been presented to both levels of government. Under the beef program, called growth and sustainability, the object is to pay producers 40% of their eligible net sales over a five-year period. An additional 17% per year of annual net sales could be targeted towards capital investments for breeding stock, buildings, machinery, pasture management, and environmental goods and services.
There are many other issues impacting beef production profitability in the Maritimes. An advance payment program, which designated 2008 as severe economic hardship, has returned to normal standards of advancing. We welcome that the payments for livestock for 2008 have been deferred until September 30, 2010. However, this does not resolve the working capital deficiencies our producers are experiencing for 2009 and moving forward.
Therefore, we request to release the livestock that has been assigned as security for the 2008 production year to enable producers to receive advances on this livestock for 2009 production. As well, we request the advances for 2008 be set aside so that they do not impact on the 2009 maximum limit of $400,000.
Debt restructuring is another challenge facing our producers. There is an urgent need for a guaranteed low interest loan program to help producers manage their debt. In some isolated cases, producers have reported extreme difficulty when dealing with Farm Credit Canada. They report Farm Credit is often more difficult to deal with than the regular banking system. This is unfortunate, considering Farm Credit is the federal government's primary agriculture lending agency. Also, other producers who have gone through receivership are facing unexpected bills from Revenue Canada as their written-off debt is considered income. Revenue Canada needs to address this issue and find a way to resolve it, immediately.