Agriculture Committee on Nov. 15th, 2011

[Greg Meredith]

In the case of the flooding catastrophes out west in the last two years, there have been some fairly significant government responses in the hundreds of millions. I guess it depends where in particular this ranch is and what they have suffered.

There is concern in the sector that forage isn't as well insured as other cash crops. Especially when you have a situation where you're primarily a cattle rancher and you feed them on forage and you harvest for winter, it's a more difficult problem to solve.

What FTP governments have done is look at a forage-and-feed subsidy. If there is a squeeze on feed and forage and you have been relying on non-cash feed sources, you're suddenly going to find your income really pinched, so governments have been helping out in that respect with transportation subsidies and per-pound subsidies.

Again, there are a variety of reasons why a particular producer would get hit. I think governments have been pretty responsive in trying to cover off as many of those situations as possible. I just can't comment on the individual case.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

It would have to be triggered, though, by the provincial government, would it not?

[Greg Meredith]

The AgriRecovery response is part of the suite of BRM programs. It's an opportunity for governments to collaborate, to assess a situation that's provoked by a disaster, to look at the impact on extraordinary costs on recovery and so on, and then to assess what kind of payment is required to get that person back to a productive status and out of the disaster situation they're in.

Generally we ask provinces to trigger it because they are much closer to the ground. Very often one has to go out and look at a quarter and ask: Is it flooded? Is the pasture ruined? Is it seeded? Is it seedable? Is it going to dry? They generally have the agronomic expertise to make that judgment.

So yes, we generally do rely on them to say, okay, let's have a look at this.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Okay.

In terms of AgriRecovery, do you know of recurring problems and do you have some solutions for those?

Also, are there any differences among the various sectors that have impacted AgriRecovery?

[Greg Meredith]

The really good thing, I think, about AgriRecovery is that it's very situation-specific. It drives the finance ministers crazy sometimes because you don't have all the parameters to predict what the problem will be, but it does tend to respond to the particular situation.

We've had everything from diseases such as tuberculosis and avian influenza; we've had salmonella responses; we've had of course weather-related disasters, such as a tornado that ripped through the tender fruit industry. We've had a number in the potato industry, which can be quite devastating. In two or three cases it's been a nematode problem, which is a generational problem to resolve. We've had moisture issues. In the east coast for a couple of years it was moisture issues that were washing out highly valuable cash crops. In the west, vast acreages were under water for two years in a row.

So we've had a wide range of responses. As I say, the good thing about the program is that it's adaptable and flexible. That feature sometimes creates anxiety amongst some.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

Are there any other improvements that you would see to be able to add to that?

[Greg Meredith]

We're looking at the program right now. If I'm not mistaken, a number of discussions we had vis-à-vis AgriRecovery and the avian industry led to MinisterRitz making some improvements to the Health of Animals Act to increase or to improve the payments in an avian mortality situation.

It's very difficult to compensate appropriately for a productive animal in an avian situation, like a layer hen versus a broiler. I think we've made some improvements to the HAA as a result of the discussions that were provoked with industry, partly through AgriRecovery and partly with CFIA doing some good homework with its customers.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

I have one final comment, if I may.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

You can make a little follow-up.

[LaVar Payne, Conservative, Medicine Hat, AB]

I just want to tag on with my colleague Mr. Storseth and say that, yes, Alberta beef is the best.

Thank you.

[Greg Meredith]

Oh, I've really stepped in it now.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Chair, you should have cut that off.

[An hon. member]

On a point of order, Chair--

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

If I had known what was coming....

[An hon. member]

--it's just shameless.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

It's just that they've never had a chance to taste good corn-fed Ontario beef, that's all.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Everybody on the committee has had a chance to ask questions, but I'm seeing a couple of indications for more from both sides.

I'll take one question from the NDP, one from the government, one from Frank, if he has one, and another one here.

Ms. Raynault.

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to know if you think that the time has come to review or change the mandate of Farm Credit Canada.

[Greg Meredith]

Do you mean changing the Farm Income Protection Act?

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

It's about properly meeting the present needs. Some believe that the mandate should be reviewed after all these years.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Ms. Raynault, I think that question borders on policy and what have you, which of course Mr. Meredith won't and can't answer. So unless Mr. Meredith has an answer in general terms, I'd encourage you to ask another question.

[Francine Raynault, NDP, Joliette, QC]

I have another question.

We said that people want to know the way food is produced, from the way in which the animals are treated to the product that is put on the table.

Do you believe there is a link between the national food policy and Growing Forward 2?

[Greg Meredith]

I will answer in English to make sure that I answer correctly.

There is increasing interest in the provenance of food, all the way back to the pre-farm gate and what inputs are part of the productive process.

In particular, in the case of livestock, there are the animal welfare dimensions of food processing. We've seen some hideous things on the Internet about animal abuse in the course of food processing. CFIA has the main role for enforcing animal welfare standards, and they do a very good job of it.

I would say you're correct that people are very interested in the where and the how, and the impact of, their food production. I think that lends itself to a market opportunity for producers.