Hi. I'd like to first of all thank you for the opportunity to talk to you today.
I just started farming in the last five years, owning my own land. I'm 23 years old, so I can identify with Kate's son.
The issue of young farmers leaving farming has a lot to do with what they see their parents going through now. A lot of young farmers see the quality of life that their parents have and the income they generate by working really just night and day, and that doesn't appeal to a lot of young men and women. For instance, some of the young men I know in my area have left farming for trades, because they can live in the city, where, obviously, the action is. That's where a lot of young people want to be. They make a lot more money and do a lot less work for it.
Another thing I see concerns, as Kate said, the loans for land. It's hard for a young farmer such as me to come by capital to buy land. When I bought my first piece of land, I required a 30% down payment on that land. There aren't many banks that want to take a risk on an 18-year-old for about $25,000, an 18-year-old with no credit rating and no steady source of income. It's hard for us to raise capital to buy land. Right now, the way farming's going you have to get big or you die. It's not easy for us to start out, when you need that kind of money to make down payments on land.
Another thing I see that worries me especially is the tax burden that's placed on young farmers when they're taking over the family farm. To ask a farm family to pay these kinds of taxes on succession every 20 to 30 years is, I think, pretty unfair, especially when the family is already taking out a large loan just to pay for that land and that farm. Then you have to take out another loan, in some cases, just to pay the taxes on that farm. It seems a little bit unreasonable to me.
That being said, I understand the need for taxes on succession, but to ask a farm family to do that multiple times over the generations is, I think, quite unfair.
Another issue I see is just the costs that are facing us, all farmers. The cost of inputs is rising, and the cost of our crops, and of livestock. It's not going anywhere, and our margins are shrinking. In a lot of cases, we're losing money year after year. We're having to look at getting out of farming. If we don't have some young farmers soon, we're going to be in big trouble, because we're losing farmers quickly. It's not just the number of farmers, but the size of the farms. We're losing small farms. There are a lot of guys in our area who either don't have kids or their kids just don't want to farm, because they see what goes on, and their parents warn them against farming because they don't want that kind of lifestyle for their kids. My dad's the same way. He has warned me about it repeatedly, but I guess I'm a little more stubborn that he thought I'd be.
Having said all of that, there's a side note I'd like to mention. With regard to the current government spending our tax dollars fighting a battle against farm groups on the Canadian Wheat Board, it's frustrating to see them spend our money in both the media and the courts when we already have a mechanism in place; if the majority of farmers wanted to, we could get rid of the Wheat Board. We elect the board of directors to do what we want. We elected eight of the ten that we are given to elect as pro-Wheat Board. We already have a way of taking care of this, so maybe those dollars would be better spent somewhere else. It's not for me to say where, but I think this money could be better spent, since we already have that mechanism available to us.
Having said all of that, I would like to thank you for this opportunity.
Have a good day.