Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today.
My name is Dan Darling. My family and I farm and raise cattle near Castleton, Ontario. I am currently president of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.
On behalf of Canada's 68,500 beef producers, we are pleased to share our priorities for the next agricultural policy framework. With me today is Andrea Brocklebank, executive director of the Beef Cattle Research Council division.
The beef cattle sector is one of the largest generators of farm cash receipts in Canada. In 2015, the cattle industry generated $10.5 billion in farm cash receipts, up 7% from 2014. Global demand for high-quality beef is increasing, and we produce the best beef in the world right here in Canada. We are also leading the world in our sustainability efforts.
The CCA has been actively engaged in the national APF consultations and will continue to collaborate in this policy-making process. Our overarching recommendations are that the programs under the next APF be finalized for a seamless rollout on April 1, 2018, and that the program delivery be simplified and approval processes be more transparent and consistent.
A high priority for the beef cattle sector is to ensure that the next APF enhances our competitiveness in both international markets and here in Canada. This will require a strong emphasis on research, science, and innovation. Industry and government have a shared responsibility for research that contributes to the competitiveness, innovation, and sustainability of the beef cattle industry. Research is integral to providing science-based information to support consumer confidence and to ensure Canada's beef industry is globally competitive and able to take advantage of the current and emerging trade opportunities.
One of the most successful programs under Growing Forward 2 is the beef science cluster, and we feel strongly that it should be retained and expanded. It has encouraged increased industry investment in research and allowed the beef industry to fund a more comprehensive research portfolio that goes beyond focusing on producers' bottom line, including significant investments in areas like animal health and care, environmental sustainability, and antimicrobial resistance.
The cluster has also enabled the industry to take a leadership role in technology transfer to ensure research results are turned into technologies and tools that are adopted by industry stakeholders.
We have a few key recommendations to improve the cluster under the next APF.
First, streamlining and enhancing the timeliness of approvals, reporting, and financial claims could ease administrative burden and improve the research environment. Second, allowing for reasonable funding flexibility would allow for more effective use of research dollars. I know Andrea would be happy to elaborate on those afterwards.
I would also like to stress that government/industry leverage in support of research programming needs to remain at three to one. The industry has shown significant leadership in investing in research that has broader benefits to the public good beyond our sector. As well, largely due to the progress seen through the beef science cluster, Canada's beef producers are in the process of tripling national check-off investments in research.
We are concerned that reducing the leverage from its current three to one would penalize industry, discourage growth in industry investment, and negatively impact other planned research programming. This would be a perverse outcome for sectors that have undertaken great efforts to invest in themselves.
We are an industry that depends on trade, exporting almost half of our production. The ability to sell beef and beef by-products into the global market is crucial to maximizing the value of each animal produced in Canada. We estimate that almost $500 per head of additional value is generated by selling a range of beef and beef offal products that are highly valued abroad.
It is paramount that the trans-Pacific partnership agreement be approved and implemented, or bilateral negotiations with Japan be completed as quickly as possible, so that we can reclaim Japanese consumers lost to Australian beef, which enjoys lower tariffs in that market due to their FTA with Japan.
We also want to see resolution of technical barriers to Canadian beef in Europe, and then have CETA come into effect. We request the beef sector be given equivalent consideration, as others have been provided, regarding transitional investments to compete under CETA.
Often issues arise once the various trade agreements are implemented. That is why we advocated for the creation of the agricultural market access secretariat. Under the next APF, we ask that the agricultural market access secretariat be fully funded to pave the way for Canadian agrifood exports.
We also ask that there be sufficient funding to support incoming missions of foreign government food inspectors. This is often a prerequisite to export approval.
The next area I would like to focus on is business risk management. CCA believes that there need to be sufficiently funded national agriculture risk management programs that are delivered consistently across all jurisdictions and do not create a competitive imbalance between agriculture sectors or regions. Programs should minimize the risk of adverse impacts on international and interprovincial trade, minimize the distortion of market signals, and minimize influence on business decisions.
CCA also supports some flexibility in government's contributing to regional and provincial livestock insurance programs, assuming the overall level of support is even across the country and the programs are market neutral.
AgriStability has helped to mitigate fallout from risks occurring, although well after the fact for many producers. The individual details and whole-farm aspects are important, but improving the transparency of calculations still needs work, and program payments need to be delivered in a more timely manner.
CCA believes program caps should be eliminated. Caps on AgriStability payments and all BRM programs discriminate against larger operations. These operations in most cases grew because of competitive operating practices. These large operations contribute significantly to rural employment and prosperity. Caps should be removed so that all farm business structures are treated equally and are on a level playing field.
The western livestock price insurance program pilot is a forward-looking, market-based, insurance-style program that allows producers to manage price risk. The WLPIP pilot should be made permanent under the next APF. Expanding this price insurance program beyond the western provinces would positively contribute to a national plan that would allow Canadian producers to better manage price risk.
Improved hay and forage insurance across the country is also needed, including a mechanism that helps producers account for increased feed prices during times of shortages. This could alleviate calls for an AgriRecovery response to weather events.
On the APF's environmental sustainability program, CCA encourages government to support ranchers' conservation actions through funding and further development of ecological services and agri-environmental programs. Programs such as these promote natural resource conservation, improve the environmental health of Canada's landscape, and build resiliency into the agriculture sector. These programs will be most successful if they are incentive-based, community-delivered, and voluntary.
The beef industry recognizes the importance of public trust, and it has launched its new Verified Beef Production Plus program that focuses on verifying the good practices farmers use in animal care, biosecurity, environmental stewardship, and on-farm food safety. The VBP+ provides Canadian and global beef consumers the confidence that Canadian beef products are safe, high quality, mindful of animal welfare and the environment, and truly sustainable. Under the next APF, we ask that the funding for the implementation of national industry on-farm verification programs be maintained.
We also stress a greater coordination and consistency of funding outcomes as necessary at a provincial level to ensure alignment with national programs.
In closing, I would like to say that agriculture is well positioned as a strategic growth sector in the Canadian economy. A forward-looking agricultural policy framework and a competitive business environment are key to the Canadian cattle industry to continue to be more innovative and sustainable and to capitalize on the marketing opportunities around the world.
Thank you for the opportunity to present, and we look forward to your questions.