Evidence of meeting #19 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was farm.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Good.
Mr. Chair, I have a question for Mr. Dechaine.
I know you raise cattle. I want to know what you think of a price insurance-based model for cattle. If you could design a program, what would it look like?
Farmer, As an Individual
We had one before. I know they have one again now on the feeder side of it for your cattle. But the minute you start getting protection into the pricing, people start manipulating it. Any time there's an insurance program, that seems to be what happens.
I raise cattle, but since 2004, since BSE, we have diversified. We also grow pedigreed seed grain, which helps. As a mixed farmer, AgriStability doesn't work for me, and that's my concern with it.
But on an insurance program for cattle.... We used to have the old one until the federal government got out in the eighties. What happened was that it drove feeder cattle too high and then the feedlots couldn't compete. Then they got rid of it. I don't agree with insurance programs for cattle, so I can't comment on that.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
How about Mr. Schneckenburger? What would your thoughts be on an insurance-based program for cattle?
Farmer, As an Individual
We basically have a program—well, it's being implemented at the present time—in Ontario. It's just an Ontario-based program called RMP, risk management program, for cattle. Time will tell. There are some concerns about it being manipulated. I don't know. I think if it's properly set up it might work, but I think it's in a trial-and-error time right now, so we'll see if it does work.
December 13th, 2011 / 4:40 p.m.
Conservative
NDP
Alex Atamanenko NDP British Columbia Southern Interior, BC
Thank you very much for being here.
Actually I had a whole bunch of questions prepared for Mr. Dhaliwal, but he left town.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Apparently after we lost the signal he decided it was all over and left the building. We tried to get him back.
NDP
Alex Atamanenko NDP British Columbia Southern Interior, BC
I guess I won't ask you about the tree fruit industry.
Mine is a general question. This a theme that has come up over the years I've been on this committee. We've often had farmers like you appear here on various themes, and the plea has often been that we need a level playing field. I remember one pork producer who said, “Please help us compete against foreign governments.” How can we do that? Obviously you folks are successful. You run your successful businesses. There are others, perhaps smaller farms, that aren't as successful and that perhaps need some kind of assistance to keep them on a level playing field, especially if we want rural Canada, as we know it, to survive.
We know that the United States, for example, heavily subsidize their agriculture industry through their farm bill. Last week we heard that they recently injected $300 million to help out the chicken farmers, who are basically going bankrupt. So they're always finding money, and our folks, of course, then have to compete with this. We saw last week that, sure, the prices of chickens from the United States are low, because they're having a lot of problems and they're getting this money. So we always have this argument, I guess, about competing with others. We see the same thing with the European Union.
What can we do? We have all these programs, and we've talked about the pros and cons of AgriStability, AgriInvest, and AgriInsurance. What should our government be doing federally, in cooperation with provincial governments, to keep that field level in general? Or should we be doing something else to ensure that you folks can get out there and survive and make sure that at the end of the day you've made a profit on your business? We know a lot of folks survive because they have off-farm income.
That's a philosophical question, but I think it's very pertinent. Maybe we'll start with Mr. Schneckenburger and just work our way down.
I'll stop there.
Farmer, As an Individual
I think we're doing a lot of the right things. We're putting money into international trade. We're putting money into trying to get rid of what I call the politics—you know, people coming up with any excuse why we can't sell another product. I think farmers are participating in the HACCP-type programs, identifying their farms, ensuring traceability, and these kinds of things. I think all of that will help, and it all bodes well for Canadian product in the future. There is still just that big issue of politics: why won't Europe take such-and-such a product? They always say we have supply management, or they come up with some excuse. But we have to get over those politics. I think the whole world should strive for what we're trying to do: to make and put out there product that is good and safe for everybody in the world, not just for ourselves.
I agree with you that if Canada is exporting 60% or more of our agricultural products, we have to be leaders in that, but maybe we can help other countries understand why we're doing this.
Farmer, As an Individual
I will say that the Canadian government has done lots for us. Our traceability programs are second to none. We always have to take on Goliath, it seems, and they find every excuse to try to close the border. But with our traceability programs, the market access is good. We just have to keep fighting them, I guess.
Owner-Operator, Farm Business, As an Individual
I will reiterate some of the things my two colleagues have talked about. Certainly, on the whole trade aspect, we always have to recognize—whether you are in a farm organization or you are the farmer on the back road, such as me—that we cannot consume all of the stuff we produce in this country, period. That's all there is to it. We have to export.
If we're going to be in that game, we have to get into the mentality that we have to look at all the possibilities of making trade better. We have to differentiate our product.
Again, I've had the privilege to work in the soybean industry, and I'll rattle through some of those numbers. The soybean industry in Canada is one of the smallest soybean producers in the world, yet we are one of the most renowned as far as the quality of production goes. Although we are only 1% of the whole production side, the market penetration of exports we have is phenomenal.
The beef guys have been doing that; the pork guys have been working hard. But I see a lot of the situation where it's an ask by growers and industry organizations to keep investing in market access, to get into these markets, and to find out what the hurdles are that we have to get over. Then we still have to have a differentiated product to sell into that market.
It's a niche thing. It's a combination of both, but again, if we keep throwing money into our pockets—I sometimes wrestle with this, but I don't lose any sleep over it—the situation is that we have to face reality here. If we want to sell into these places, we have to do our homework and make it happen. We can throw a lot of money at safety nets, and again, I said I was grateful for what we do have that comes in this country, but throwing more money all the time at it.... I'll probably be chastised by some other individuals within the agriculture community, but the hard reality we have to face is that we can't keep throwing money at it, hoping it's going to fix itself. We have to throw the money in the right places: trade, market access, differentiation of product, and selling ourselves.
We have the best darned flag around the world to sell our products, so that is usually a big hand-up for us in that respect.
Conservative
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm just going to caution the guests that I have a tendency to filibuster myself—
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
—especially when I do a guest appearance at a particular committee. I'm not a regular member of the agriculture committee, but I do represent a rural riding and I grew up on a farm—
Conservative
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
You're interrupting me, Chair. Do I have the floor, Chair?