Just a little bit about myself: I'm obviously not a young farmer; I'm the general manager of the Canadian Young Farmers' Forum.
I'd certainly like to thank the standing committee for coming to Crossfield. It's just down the highway from where I was born. I was born and raised in this constituency, Didsbury, Cremona, and Carstairs, so I'm quite familiar with this area.
I hope each of you is aware of the Canadian Young Farmers' Forum. It really is Canada's primary organization for young farmers between the ages of 18 and 40. The mission of the CYFF is to promote the exchange of ideas and to foster collaboration between young and future farmers of Canada. Our purpose is to provide a multi-faceted educational and development opportunity for young and beginning farmers from across Canada. Briefly, as an organization, we try to identify problems, promote the exchange of ideas, prepare young farmers for active roles in other organizations, consolidate opinion, and facilitate the development of young farmer organizations across the country, of which there is at least one young farmer organization throughout every province in Canada. We have access to probably over 10,000 young farmers through e-mail and contacts.
The CYFF is not a lobby organization, but we're certainly willing to provide ideas and information. As such, the board met a couple of weeks ago in Montreal and discussed a number of issues that we feel should be raised in these discussions. To begin with, it's quite clear that more information is needed before any detailed discussion about young farmers can effectively occur. We need to get current and accurate information on the number of young farmers in Canada, their locations, their size, scope, and type of operation. We need to know how those farms are structured, where they are in their business plan, and what the future business plan has in store. Obviously these are not questions that are answered easily. Farmers are surveyed a lot, and some are not willing to provide any more information.
What we do believe is that we can, as an organization, help you, the policy-makers, in finding that information. We know that through the delivery of some of our programs, young farmers relish the opportunity to exchange information with other young farmers. We believe that given proper resources, we can survey young farmers across Canada and get that much-needed information for you. We have a good base from which to start, in that every province has a young farmer organization. By obtaining this good information, you, the policy-makers, can ensure that the programs and the assistance that may be offered are directed properly.
We know, for example, that there is a tremendous amount of dollars that are going to have to be transferred in the upcoming decade, and that succession planning is an important tool in this transfer. What we don't have is a good handle on how many young farmers are on this track, where they are in the process, and to what extent the dollar transfer will be, and what are the implications.
Obviously, good information is very important, but there are some immediate issues that can and need to be addressed. A number of the fellow speakers here have touched on them. Farmers, ranchers, organizations, and politicians must be on the same page to improve the image of agriculture. Providing Canadians with safe and healthy food at affordable prices in an environmentally friendly manner only serves to promote the industry. It is important that we promote a positive image to the consumers of our product. This sends a strong message to those in the industry that there is support, there is concern, and there is a future. A strong and vibrant industry image will only serve to attract new entrants.
The promotion of the industry also corresponds to promoting agriculture as a career choice. This should start in schools but is not restricted to educational institutions. The industry itself needs to take a better, proactive role. Certainly one of the differences I've seen between established farmers and new and beginning farmers is optimism. There seems to be a pervasive feeling among some farmers that the young generation shouldn't be encouraged into the field. There may be legitimate reasons, but they must be overcome in order for the industry itself to have a succession plan.
You as politicians can assist by offering support to institutions to have agricultural courses and training, training core courses, and putting a positive spin on the industry, for the industry. Simply referring to aid to the industry as support or subsidies is a good starting point to change your language.
The industry itself has taken a proactive role in mentorship with commodity organizations. I've used the Canadian Cattlemen's Association as an example, and certainly some general farm organizations. Downstream industry players, a lot of private industries, have adopted successful mentorship programs. It is, however, not just mentorship between generations that is important, as our experience into what we've given as training in our best management practices courses across Canada has illustrated.
Younger producers are excited to exchange ideas and information with their peers. They are open and receptive to new ideas and innovative management techniques that other young producers have developed. We need to continue to promote this exchange of ideas between young producers throughout the country, as it may represent one of the greatest opportunities.
The last point I wanted to raise is the idea of farm programming that at the very least does not discourage young farmers and new entrants.
We seem to have taken the easy way out in designing programs. New entrants and beginning farmers are often forced to take area averages or average production as a basis for starting out in a program. While it's easily calculated and somewhat justifiable, it often places young producers at a disadvantage, since margins have not been particularly high in the last few years. We need to put program parameters in place that allow stability and growth early, encouraging both industry and long-term participation.
I'm really focusing on some broad general themes here. I know the other participants here at the table probably have more specifics, but I've raised some concepts that our members, young farmers from across Canada, have raised in meetings and discussions. I'm sure you'll hear similar messages from some of our members as they make presentations to your committee in these other provinces.
Finally, I just want to thank you once again for taking the time to engage in discussions on young farmers in the future.