Thank you, Michael.
I guess you guys realize that the outcome of this work is very important to us. Accordingly, our council appreciates the opportunity to present to your group, to comment, and to provide an Atlantic Grains Council perspective.
Regarding safety nets, we understand that ministers will be discussing, for Growing Forward 2, a continuation of safety net programs in accordance with pre-existing frameworks, including AgriStability, AgriInvest, AgriRecovery, and crop insurance. Our council supports these programs and this effort.
The advance payments program and price pooling program have been utilized by the local industry. The APP has been well received. The PPP has had administrative problems. We would ask for your support in encouraging government to retain or even enhance this important funding envelope. This is only fair when competing with foreign government treasuries.
We would not support cuts in existing programs to find additional dollars for innovation. The current framework of programs, when operating together as they were designed to do, can provide adequate coverage whenever factors come together that impact the farm margin or crop losses. We would hope that farmers will still enjoy the current 15% margin-loss support in AgriStability, and we would recommend that the funding level for AgriInvest be increased to 3% of eligible sales—it's at 1.5% now—matched by government.
One only needs to see how the safety net program had a positive impact in assisting western grain producers facing losses due to drought or flooding. In livestock commodities, we know that poor prices generally follow periods of high prices. There are tools in this package to assist producers to be ready for these circumstances.
Funding for innovation is a public good, as it helps build wealth for our nation, particularly if there is a greater investment in value-added processing beyond the farm gate. Granted, if there are yields or crop improvements to be gained, there is a win there for primary agriculture in supplying the food needs to a growing world.
Perhaps production of Atlantic biomass for heating fuel is another form of regional innovation. It remains unclear if these investments will take place here in Atlantic Canada, since, with the possible exception of potatoes, most of our goods are consumed domestically.