Ms. Donohoe, for me, what you said is deeply troubling and shocking. It is normal for your family and those close to you to say that it is difficult to farm these days and that, given your education, you could go into something else. You often hear that kind of discussion in families. But I am astounded when you say that educators and others in the community are urging you do something other than farming. It is one of the noblest of occupations. Farmers feed the world. There is nothing complicated about it: food, clothing and shelter are basic human needs.
As a country, a society or a community, we can decide that our food will come from elsewhere. That is a choice the society makes. But those who make that choice may well find themselves in a situation where some food items are in short supply or where prices are fluctuating wildly. Supply management will no longer exist. People will no longer be able to buy milk from New Zealand or the United States for their children because the Chicago Exchange has caused the price to fluctuate. Then they will come running to you, telling you what they need and saying that farming may have been a good choice after all.
Personally, I think it takes courage, after receiving an education, to decide to go into farming in the current context and with all its pitfalls. I am grateful that you have made that decision. All the young people we have heard from have told us that it is not easy. Some have decided to get out. Others have told us that they will leave if things do not get better in two, three, four or five years. This is a message that, as parliamentarians, we have to hear. We also have to make the government open its eyes, wake up. In a way, that is what we are doing in these sessions. Bureaucracy does not move quickly, it is true, but we are trying to push it along. Progress is never as quick as we would like, but we have managed to do some things, I must say. Programs have been established, thanks to you who come to testify. It is important for you to keep up the struggle. I just wanted to tell you that.
In one part of the very interesting document that you have provided to us, the part called “Call to Action”, your organization—which I am not familiar with, because, as you have no doubt gathered, I am from Quebec—suggests the following:
6. Financial support to encourage, explore and nurture risky ventures with a risk mitigation approach versus a risk reduction or aversion approach.
Could you give us some details on what you mean by that and explain to us the distinction between a risk mitigation approach and a risk reduction or aversion approach?