Evidence of meeting #34 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 market.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Farmers' Markets Canada
Well, hopefully, they're selling all Ontario-grown.
President, Farmers' Markets Canada
That's right.
We have a program here in Ontario called the MyPick program, where farmers have to register their crop production planning. We visit the field to make sure that's what's happening, and then we accredit that particular farmer as a MyPick farmer, with posters and cards and so on.
It's really about the whole credibility thing. Reselling has been a major issue certainly, probably more in Ontario than elsewhere in the country.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
So with a MyPick vendor, it would be guaranteed that the produce they're selling is from—
President, Farmers' Markets Canada
Absolutely. When you go to a market and you see the poster and the cards of a MyPick vendor, that person is the real deal.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
Okay. That's helpful.
I'm also curious. If we go back to Mr. Weston's comments at that conference about two months ago now—you put in your material that you're the number two source of groceries in Canada—do you think those comments were aimed specifically at discrediting the farmers' market movement, or was that just a slippage of verbs and adjectives and nouns in his speech?
President, Farmers' Markets Canada
One of the things I was really hammering at afterwards with his vice-president of corporate affairs and communications was whether he meant what he said. If he didn't mean what he said, fess up and say it was a blunder and that he shouldn't have said it. We're not getting that, and we're going to leave that alone.
I don't know how he feels about farmers' markets, but I think it was a bad comment on his part. Giving Mr. Weston the benefit of the doubt, I think if he had a chance to not say that again, he wouldn't. I want to be charitable with him. I would hope that he didn't mean what he said, but he did say it.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
Right. He did say it.
Could you tell the committee a little more about your relationship with the CFIA, and things that are going well and things that could be improved?
President, Farmers' Markets Canada
We don't have that much contact with CFIA. Most of our work with the farmers' markets is through local health units.
Any contact we have had with CFIA is quite positive. I think they're helpful and positive. We have no complaints certainly, not at all.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
In this literature, this study you've done, there's a lot of good information. I think one of the things that's missing—maybe it's another thing, and maybe you have that—is the advantage for a farmer today who is more traditional, growing corn, wheat, soybeans, etc., to look at diversifying even further, maybe allocating 5 to 10 acres, or a percentage or whatever, in growing produce, and the return on investment on that acreage.
Do you have any of that information available to the committee or to farmers?
President, Farmers' Markets Canada
I don't have stats, but I can tell you that enlightened farmers are diversifying. With the various ethnics we have in our country, particularly in the city of Toronto, for example, farmers are diversifying and coming up with crops we hadn't heard of before. They're responding to the marketplace. Smart farmers do that; they respond to the marketplace.
Particularly with stuff coming out of the Holland Marsh, for example, they're responding to the marketplace. The shoppers come to market looking for product they can buy in their country and we don't have it here, so farmers are responding.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Mr. Nault wanted to jump in, if it's okay with you. It's your five minutes.
President, Les amiEs de la terre de l'Estrie
Thank you.
In 2006, the magazine L'actualité, from Montreal, published a study on a number of local products available at supermarkets. Mr. Dumoulin, the author of that study, conducted it again in 2010. On April 1, 2010, L'actualité published statistics indicating that the amount of local products in superstores was zero, but that the number of signs that read “Product of Quebec” had doubled.
Mr. Weston is surely concerned by the fact that local markets are not bringing in the money they could be making.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
This is a good point, and I'm glad you brought this up, Mr. Nault.
I've asked a number of questions in this committee on the supply chain study about accessibility in grocery stores for local producers, and I think you've hit on that.
Do you have members who have examples of where they've tried to get on grocers' shelves and have been unable to do so? If you could give us some examples from Quebec, it would be very helpful.
President, Les amiEs de la terre de l'Estrie
Yes, there are so many.
Small producers have to buy shelf space by the foot. In a Metro grocery store, in Sherbrooke, three or four feet can cost as much as $8,000. Those producers cannot afford that. They are faced with another difficulty as well. In Coaticook, an IGA grocery store used to carry many local products. Every four years, the shelf layout must be redone. So all local products have disappeared from the store. Bringing them back again would be a lot of work for those people when they redo the shelf layout.
Conservative
Ben Lobb Conservative Huron—Bruce, ON
I appreciate that information, because I think we've had a hard time getting that out so far. If you have more of your members who would like to provide testimony or provide more examples of being unable to get on grocers' shelves, and the $8,000 they have to pay to buy space, please send it to us because we want to get that out to the public and to the grocery stores.
President, Farmers' Markets Canada
May I comment further, sir, for a quick 30 seconds?
President, Farmers' Markets Canada
I'm not trying to nail our friends at Loblaws, but the word is, had that organization done a better job at treating farmers right, we wouldn't have as many farmers' markets as we have.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Mr. Chorney, I would like clarification on something you said a couple of minutes ago. I moved on before asking about it. You made a comment about some of your organizations having to buy memberships in various things. Basically I took it that you implied that government should pick it up.
When I farmed I belonged to the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and in effect the Canadian Federation of Agriculture for 30 years, and I bought my membership. I was a beef farmer, so I joined the OCA and the Bruce County Cattleman's Association. I belonged to a few other groups.
I'm asking you, should the government have been picking up my membership costs there as a producer?
President, Farmers' Markets Canada
I don't think so, not at all. I think these are professional associations, and if you want to be part of that I think it's your obligation and your duty. Individual farmers' markets have membership fees for the right to sell there, and there are stall fees by the day, that sort of thing—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
I hear you. I just wanted clarification on that. So governments shouldn't be picking up—