Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for inviting the Union des producteurs agricoles to comment on the COVID‑19 pandemic and the agricultural challenges it has created, specifically in rural and remote communities.
Agriculture is the main economic activity in rural areas. Together with the agri-food sector, agriculture contributes more than $112 billion to Canada's economy every year and is responsible for one in eight jobs. Agricultural production alone generates annual revenues of more than $60 billion. What's more, Canadian farmers invest nearly $8 billion in their businesses every year.
Hundreds of communities all over the country depend on agriculture to promote land use, sustain local services and support the operation of schools and other public services. Without agriculture, Canada would be uninhabitable.
Canadian farmers now have to compete with countries whose social, environmental and health standards are significantly lower than ours. We also have to compete with farmers who receive greater government assistance than we do, in the United States, in particular, and it's becoming harder and harder for us to remain competitive in that context.
The COVID‑19 pandemic is a major crisis on an unprecedented scale, and the agricultural sector is not unscathed. Plant and animal production have been hit hard. The market upheaval has forced each and every farmer to take on enormous risks just to keep production going. We are pressing ahead into the unknown.
AgriStability, AgriInvest and AgriRecovery, the government's risk management programs for farming businesses, are not designed for a situation like this. We need to know now whether the government is going to be there, as we take huge financial risks to keep production going.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture, or CFA, made a series of recommendations, which Ms. Robinson talked about earlier. The CFA is calling on the government to create an emergency fund for the agri-food sector and to restore the AgriStability program to 2013 levels prior to the funding cuts. The CFA is also recommending an enhancement of the AgriInvest program in 2020. The Canadian government has to make it clear to farmers that it will be there if the situation gets even worse in the coming months.
To support the future of rural communities, land use and food chain continuity, the Canadian government has to restore business risk management program funding to what it was before the 2013 budget cuts. The COVID‑19 pandemic is shining a light on an urgent problem in the agri-food sector, which is the result of years of withdrawal by the federal government.
In times of crisis, Canada's food security hinges on the ability of the country's farmers to feed the population. The prevailing health crisis is putting a strain on farmers around the world. It's tough to predict where inventory levels and food prices will be in the months ahead. Which vegetables will we be able to import, and how much will they cost?
Not sending a clear message to Canada's agri-food sector now is akin to putting the population at great risk.