Evidence of meeting #19 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was agristability.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Bernie McClean  Chair, Canadian Canola Growers Association
Larry Martin  Partner, Agri-Food Management Excellence Inc.
Rick Bergmann  Chair of the Board of Directors, Canadian Pork Council
Doug Ahrens  Chair of the Business Risk Management Committee, Canadian Pork Council
Dave Carey  Vice-President, Government and Industry Relations, Canadian Canola Growers Association
Jan VanderHout  Vice-President, Canadian Horticultural Council
Brian Gilroy  President, Canadian Horticultural Council
Andy Kuyvenhoven  Past President, Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance
Jenneth Johanson  President, Prairie Oat Growers Association
Chris Rundel  Director, Prairie Oat Growers Association

3:50 p.m.

President, Prairie Oat Growers Association

Jenneth Johanson

To date I believe the committee has been doing all it can. Do producers feel our concerns are reaching the government? If they are, we believe they're falling on deaf ears.

I will defer to Chris Rundel and see if he would like to add to that.

3:50 p.m.

Chris Rundel Director, Prairie Oat Growers Association

Mostly, I would echo that same comment. With AgriStability, for example, since the reference margin was lowered, I know there's been a lot of reference to it and a lot of talk about it for many years, and there's been no reaction on that front. I think this is a great opportunity and we're very fortunate to be able to have this dialogue with this committee regarding it. This is a great opportunity to talk about how it could be improved. I do think that the mechanism's in place, and there is some communication happening there, but any way we can open those channels further is going to be beneficial for producers.

3:50 p.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

All right. I will wrap up my round of questions with this. In our previous round, we had a witness from Agri-Food Management Excellence Inc. appear before the committee and he was talking about how me might like to see the BRM programs transition a little bit more to preventative measures, rather than—

3:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow

Sorry, we lost Alistair again.

While we work on maybe getting Alistair back, we do have about eight minutes left, not quite enough to start a second round for everyone to get in. I would suggest, if it is okay with all of my colleagues, having one question from each party, just one quick question and a response, and that should use up the rest of the time.

Is that okay with everyone on the line? Okay.

We'll move to Ms. Rood on the Conservative side. Go ahead with one quick question, please.

3:50 p.m.

Conservative

Lianne Rood Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON

Thank you, Chair.

My question might be for the Prairie Oat Growers. AgriInvest dropped in 2018, so what difference has that made for you at this point? Do you know how much the average AgriInvest account for your growers is?

3:50 p.m.

President, Prairie Oat Growers Association

Jenneth Johanson

Specific to oat growers, I don't know the exact average. I can tell you that on my farm, I was maxing out with the previous program at the $15,000 matchable contribution. My operations have now been reduced to $10,000. That $5,000 has impacted the level of my AgriInvest account.

With that said, I just want to point out that the average amount in grain producers' or crop producers' accounts is claimed to be about $33,000 across the sector. Just for interest reasons, I have drained the account that I have held for 12 years three times, and in the instances where I have drained it, I had to drain it to offset losses on my operation and production.

3:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow

Thanks, Ms. Johanson.

Thanks, Ms. Rood.

On the Liberal side, Ms. Bessette, you are up to be next. You can have one question.

3:50 p.m.

Liberal

Lyne Bessette Liberal Brome—Missisquoi, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for the representatives of the Canadian Horticultural Council.

Ghislain Gervais, the president of the Sollio Cooperative Group, recently spoke about the multiple possibilities that technology offers. We know that the situation regarding connectivity infrastructure poses challenges. However, at this time, the government is quickly implementing ways to increase the accessibility of this infrastructure.

How can new technology improve business risk prevention and management in your sector?

3:50 p.m.

President, Canadian Horticultural Council

Brian Gilroy

That's a very good question. I'm sorry, but I realize that a lot of rural Canada has very slow Internet connectivity, and it certainly prevents some monitoring technologies. I know that in the greenhouse sector, Jan, it would be vital that connectivity be constant in case of alarms for.... It's the same for almost all crops. If somebody has apples in long-term controlled-atmosphere storage, the ability to have alarms trigger no matter where you are is vital.

I'm sorry that I don't have more on that, but thank you for the question.

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow

Thank you, Mr. Gilroy.

Thank you, Madame Bessette.

Mr. Perron, you can have one question.

3:55 p.m.

Bloc

Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Johanson, you emphasized the importance of reducing the administrative burden in the AgriStability program. You spoke about the possibility of retroactive enrolment. I'd like you to describe the second phase.

In terms of reducing the administrative burden, could insuring the income rather than the margin resolve a large part of the issue?

3:55 p.m.

President, Prairie Oat Growers Association

Jenneth Johanson

Thank you.

Yes, in regard to reducing the administrative burden, that was specific to the cash advance payment program. Again, I've utilized the program. It is a great program, but I have personally found that the administrative burden for a $100,000 application versus a $500,000 application is no different. As time progresses, perhaps easing up some of the administrative burden for reduced amounts of borrowing and utilizing of the program might attract more producers to use it.

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow

Thank you, Ms. Johanson.

Alistair, we lost you for a bit, so we just went around once and gave everybody a question, so if you have one question to wrap it up, I'll give you that one question.

3:55 p.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

It was simply to the Prairie Oat Growers, just a comment on an earlier witness from Agri-Food Management Excellence Inc. on the suggestion that we deal with risk by giving managers better preventative skills rather than compensation. I know there's a lot of risk out there that farmers try their best to adapt to, but sometimes it's very unpredictable.

Are there any comments on whether we need to invest in better management training and techniques for our producers to give them the skills to withstand these kinds of events?

3:55 p.m.

President, Prairie Oat Growers Association

Jenneth Johanson

I would say yes, anything you can do, especially for our young farmers entering the business right now.... For all farmers, any additional resources to better plan and better prepare for these variabilities would definitely be an asset across the sector.

Chris Rundel, do you have anything you would like to add to that?

3:55 p.m.

Director, Prairie Oat Growers Association

Chris Rundel

It's an excellent comment. As a young producer myself who came into the industry about 10 years ago with no prior experience in agriculture, some incentives on the provincial and the federal government side that have made it possible to get some more of that training have been crucial in my own learning.

On the risk management programs you were mentioning and talking about, coming at it with a more proactive approach rather than a reactionary one and having that surety of stability going forward, especially for a young producer who is not established and doesn't have any backstop or really any savings account to draw on if things really go south, is crucially important to bringing younger producers, people who would really benefit from that kind of training, into the industry to keep it thriving the way it has been.

3:55 p.m.

NDP

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

Thank you.

Chair, I'm not going to push my luck with the Internet connection, so I'll just leave it at that.

3:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow

Thanks, Alistair.

Thanks, Mr. Rundel. I appreciate your time.

This proves once again that access to Internet service in rural communities is an essential utility that we all have to work on. Certainly, the COVID situation has shown that in our committee meetings as well.

I want to thank our witnesses for being with us today. It's much appreciated.

To my colleagues, have a great weekend. Before you sneak off, I have a reminder. You should have been given the second version of the BRM letter we're sending to the minister. It should have been in your email this morning. Please review it quickly. If you have any changes, please get them back to the analyst by 9 a.m. on Monday, so we can discuss them at Tuesday's committee meeting, which is bright and early for Alistair and me in western Canada at 11 a.m. eastern time, which is 9 a.m. for me and 8 a.m. for Alistair.

I hear that the Internet works way better earlier in the morning.

We'll see you all next week. Have a great weekend.

Thanks.