Great. Thanks.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's own statistics have proven that over the last 20 years, return from the marketplace to farmers has been zero or less than zero. The money farm families are surviving on comes from off-farm employment or government support programs. That is not how farm families want to make their living. It does not give credence and ownership to what we do when 2% of this entire country's population feeds the other 98%, and we have enough to export.
I told the senators at the Senate committee looking at rural poverty that we do not have an agricultural policy; we have a trade policy. Neo-liberalized trade policies move you to the lowest common denominator in the trading game, whereas my product must be sold in the marketplace at the lowest possible price. If I see any income from that at all, I'm certainly never paid for my labour or my return on investment.
Having said that, I don't want to leave you with the understanding that nothing can be done. Part of the work of the National Farmers Union is to always offer solutions. We say yes, it's a huge, complex, overwhelming mess that we're in right now, but there are solutions.
Farm women generate wealth, nurture the next generation, and nurture the environment. So one of those solutions is for farm women to have their own private pension plan, very similar to nurses, teachers, lawyers, and anyone else who is deemed a professional.
Part of my job as a spokesperson for farm and rural women is to get across to people such as you--but also to groups we work with--that we are professionals by choice. We have a vested interest in agriculture. We have gone to agricultural colleges. We are in a lifelong learning mode. We respond to trends in the marketplace. We're professionals. We're not just sitting at home baking cookies, although we certainly do that.
I understand if you're feeling a little overwhelmed by the issues we're facing. We too are overwhelmed by the issues we're facing, and the lack of clearly defined and articulated government support policies and programs.
There's a wide range of issues. Income is one, and pension is another. There's the fact that training and education programs are very closely linked to employment insurance, for which many farm women would never qualify because they don't work off the farm. That is something that should be addressed as well.