Dylan, you had your hand up?
Evidence of meeting #17 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farming.
Evidence of meeting #17 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farming.
9:40 a.m.
As an Individual
Our farm is a beef farm, and it has been for a while. A few years ago, I think when I was 12, I bought sheep. I diversified into sheep.
Sure it's diversification, but I don't think it's done anything. Like, you still have expensive feed, machinery--all of your expenses that go into farming. It's about price. It comes down to the bottom line: the price of what you get when you sell your livestock. If it's not going to subsidize you, or if it's not going to be any higher than what it costs to raise the animal, it's just not worth it.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
9:40 a.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
Good morning.
Mr. Ferris, you talked about three things relating to intergenerational farms: finances, communication and management. I agree with you when it comes to communication. However, I don't agree with Mr. Valeriote on the subject of labelling. I think we really should have good labelling.
I'm talking about Quebec, because I'm not familiar with agriculture in Ontario. The Quebec government has an advertising campaign with the theme "Put Quebec on your plate!" That encourages buying locally. It explains to people that agriculture is important. We often hear about food sovereignty. The program has been operating for two or three years. Young people in my daughters' generation read the labels to know what a product contains. A lot of children have allergies. We don't want producers to put their recipes on the labels, we want them to show the source of the product.
Regarding labelling, I agree with you, Mr. Jackson, it's necessary. Yes, there are people who only look at the price of the product, but others look mainly at quality. I would like to hear your comments on that, Mr. Jackson.
I have toured my farms. You say you didn't get much for a cow. One of my friends got a cheque for 2¢ for selling her cow. She framed her 2¢ cheque and hung it on the wall. Every time I go to her house, on the farm, and I see it, I find it very funny.
What additional support do you think your government should give you to enable you to keep your head above water? I'm not just asking you. If someone else has good suggestions, I am very open to those suggestions.
9:45 a.m.
As an Individual
Well, I'm not sure how you subsidize somebody, but maybe there could be some sort of guaranteed price in the auction barns. If you knew that you were going to get so many dollars a pound when you sold that animal, you could kind of figure out how much you could put into that animal.
9:45 a.m.
Bloc
9:45 a.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
We are fighting for supply management, because we know it gives farmers a guaranteed minimum. That doesn't help pork producers. Still, we are really fighting hard to preserve supply management, to guarantee your survival too. That is why I am very pleased to hear it isn't just Quebec fighting for supply management, you are too. It absolutely has to be protected.
9:45 a.m.
As an Individual
The one advantage with regard to supply management is that there is mandatory level of production. I guess the challenge in the beef business has been oversupply, and it's very difficult to take taxpayers' money to support an industry that is being exported to the level that it is.
So I think increasing exports in some industries is the answer, but again, COOL works against that very much.
9:45 a.m.
Bloc
France Bonsant Bloc Compton—Stanstead, QC
I agree with you, but a lot of people think supply management is subsidized by the government. That isn't true. Supply management has never been subsidized by the government. I think people are not well informed, not to say "misinformed". It is so there isn't overproduction and dumping, as in other countries.
Mr. Robertson, you have visited other countries. How can Canada subsidize its agricultural exports in the long term when the United States, China and Argentina are giving subsidies? How can Canada, which is not subsidized by its government, compete with those countries? Mr. Robertson, you have been to the Middle East. How can we compete with Argentina and Brazil and other countries?
9:45 a.m.
Vice-Chairman, Canadian Forage & Grassland Association
I would like to think that we certainly can compete. Looking at it from a forage perspective, we are certainly familiar with production costs in the U.S. and some other places. Our production costs are well in line with, and in fact are slightly less than, the production costs in the U.S., yet our shipping and our rates out of our harbours are considerably higher. We have the figures on that, and we can talk more about whether or not we have to do a study to prove that, but we need to work on that and work on it fairly quickly.
In terms of competing, Canada can compete any time with regard to our production costs, I believe.
9:45 a.m.
As an Individual
Yes.
Right now I think it's really hard to compete when the Canadian dollar is at par. We lost about 30% of our price, or more than that, over the last five years, just due to the Canadian dollar. There's not much the government can do about that.
9:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Okay, thank you.
Your time is up.
Just before we move to Mr. Allen, we should note that we have quite a full gallery here. This is the biggest crowd that we've had at any of our meetings in any province. It's good to see; it shows there's a lot of interest here.
Malcolm Allen, for five minutes.
May 4th, 2010 / 9:45 a.m.
NDP
Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all for coming today.
Let me ask the questions of the folks who are a little bit younger than some of us, since we are talking to young farmers today. It's gratifying to see some young folks who are in it.
To the Koelens, did you farm before you came to Canada?
9:50 a.m.
NDP
Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON
No? So you took up farming when you came here. You didn't come from farm backgrounds or farm families?
9:50 a.m.
As an Individual
My dad was actually a bricklayer and had a few cows and twelve acres.
9:50 a.m.
NDP
Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON
You should have brought your dad with you, because we actually need bricklayers as well.
9:50 a.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
9:50 a.m.
NDP
9:50 a.m.
As an Individual
My family was from a farming background, but their farm was burned down by the Germans in World War II.
9:50 a.m.
NDP
Malcolm Allen NDP Welland, ON
Okay.
It's interesting, because you are a young family who started up farming for the first time. The two young fellows farther down the table are from farm families. That seems to be the typical norm, if you will, for most folks farming in this country, or at least in the province of Ontario; it tends to be generational, from one generation to the other.
Let me ask you about your friends who are non-farmers. In going through your school years, you must have had lots of friends who weren't necessarily in the farm business, or their families weren't. Did you ever talk to them about farming? What did they think about farming? What did they say to you about...? Be candid; if they simply said, “Are you nuts?”, then that's okay to put on the record as well.
9:50 a.m.
As an Individual
Well, anybody I've talked to in school who's a non-farmer, they personally don't know much about it. I've tried to tell them what's going on with everything, but they don't know too much. They say, “Why are you doing it? Get out of it. Why are you spending all of this money to make no money?” That's what they think, anyway.
9:50 a.m.
As an Individual
It's a lot of the same result in our area. There's a lot of misinformation about farming.
Some of my friends over the years have become more involved and interested in it. They like the lifestyle and the career, but it's just unbelievably hard to get into, with the establishment costs required.
I think a lot of the reason it's multi-generational is that it is just so hard to start into farming on your own: you almost need to have that support from your family to start with the land and the equipment and the early operating costs. It's just too much to take on at one time.