Hi. My name is Greg Ardiel. I'm a fourth-generation farmer, mostly in the tender fruit industry. I grow apples primarily, as well as grapes and pears. I'd like to thank you all for coming out here today to listen to some of our growing concerns.
There are many obstacles to be faced in farming as a whole, whether you're just beginning or just ending, as more and more seem to be doing. This is why it is so important to help young people to continue to farm and to create the incentives needed. Our Canadian government is starting to take steps forward to once again make farming a lucrative and successful career and lifestyle. There are many things that can be done to help the entire agricultural industry; some of these steps cost more than others, but they all have a positive impact directly to the farmer.
Canadians are becoming more aware of what's in their food and where it comes from. They want to see healthy and safe Canadian food on their grocery store shelves and their shelves at home. Simply creating more stringent labelling laws that would clearly define where most of the main ingredients of the product come from would help to provide more revenue for farmers. That's part of the money making it back from the retailer. Something as simple as writing labelling laws doesn't cost a huge amount to the government; it's a relatively small bill, compared to some other methods that could be taken.
When it comes to helping youth start into farming, whether taking on the family farm or buying their own, the biggest challenge is quite simply cold hard cash. The need for equipment, a house, an implement shed, and a bunkhouse for workers makes it very difficult to start. This doesn't even cover the operating costs, such as fuel, chemicals, labour, and miscellaneous farm items, and to combine these costs with a low net income produces very little incentive for any farmer, especially a young farmer, to start into the industry.
The effects on the economy would be detrimental if agriculture disappeared. It's Ontario's second-largest industry and is running neck and neck with the auto industry as the largest in Canada.
The average age of farmers is over 55, so this gives us little time to come up with succession plans and viable programs to sustain such a large industry and ensure a healthy future for all Canadians. This means the government must create incentives needed for young people. The only youth getting into farming are doing it with the help of their parents, whether that is through low interest rates--or no interest rates--on farm equipment or through shared labour. Not all farm families are even able to support such methods, as they're costly to the families. It's easier to sell the farm and let the youth move on to more prosperous and less stressful careers.
I recently purchased a farm and am trying to make a living of it. I work for the Canadian Coast Guard on the ships as well, month on and month off, to offset the costs of farming. This consists of 12- to 13-hour days, seven days a week, to allow me to take a month off, though when I get home, more or less the same schedule continues, so it's not overly enticing.
I also rent out the main house and two of the rooms in the bunkhouse where I reside on the farm. My dad and my brother help look after things while I'm gone; I wouldn't be able to do it without them. But right now I'm paying to farm, which begs the question of why anyone would want to get into a situation like that. I guess it would be because, being brought up on a farm, you love the lifestyle and the work entailed with it. But eventually--soon--there need to be some dramatic changes to entice young people, or people at all, to choose this career.
This comes back to the cold hard cash I mentioned earlier. A program that would allow young farmers to borrow money in long-term loans, possibly with the first three to five years of interest waived so that we'd be paying principal only, would greatly help us to get better established and gain a more solid footing. Another opportunity would be to help farm families create a viable succession plan by providing government funding to hire consultants who specialize in succession plans. It isn't right that a person should farm for a lifetime, working tireless days, only to more or less give the farm to the children and take just enough for themselves to retire. These programs can help our youth, but, plain and simple, they require money.
The federal government also mandates that tree insurance will not be provided for first-year farmers. This is ridiculous, as a natural disaster, which I faced earlier this year, will not pick and choose which trees it destroys. The young farmer will be completely out of pocket for these trees and will be forced to replant with less income than before, because of lost acreage. This needs to be addressed.
Also, Farm Credit Canada has been established for many years to help farmers. When I went to them about interest rates and mortgage loans, they told me that they couldn't help young farmers because young farmers didn't have the background or the assets to put up as security, but being in the business they're in, they need to help the young farmers, because the old farmers won't be around that much longer.
The problems facing the industry as a whole also make it harder for the youth to get into it, and need to be addressed. These problems include greatly increased labour costs, with increases up to 28% over the past three years; chemical costs constantly going up; new regulations banning various chemicals that we've used before, with new costly ones coming out; imported products, particularly from China, and a lack of support from our own Canadian chain stores. More common sense and moderation need to be used to improve safety and pesticide risk management as well.
The bottom line is that the costs of production continuously keep rising, while return profits remain the same. I think this has been addressed by Dylan and by Ray.
Overall, I believe moderation is key to successful and therefore sustainable agricultural industry. The government needs to take a step back for a moment and take a good, hard, objective look at what is happening. With perhaps a little less administrative paperwork and more discretion in new regulations, together we can re-energize agriculture and help to brighten all of our futures and a whole bunch of flourishing industries.
Thanks again for your time.