Environment committee  I think that would be critical. When we look at communication, there's communication among farmers, but a lot of that communication is getting around mainly by one farmer watching what the other is doing and driving by his farm and thinking, okay, that's working for him, I'll do

Environment committee  I'll give you a very personal example. On our farm we run a cow-calf operation; it's basically a pasture-based system. Two things have been done on the farm in the last number of years. The first is using some of the incentive money from the environmental farm plan to fence off t

Environment committee  Thank you. Thank you for the invitation to come and talk to you about the recommendations around a national conservation plan. At the outset, I think one thing that needs to be said is that when you take a look at environmental issues, conservation issues, agriculture has been

Bill C-18 committee  Actually, that's a very tough question, to spell out the time. One thing I can say is that some of these issues are very complex. If you get into some of the discussions around transportation and take a look at mechanisms to ensure that some of the issues around producer cars are

Bill C-18 committee  I think one of the things that isn't completely clear is what the implementation plan is. I think that's for discussion in the legislation. There has been discussion about changing the role of the board. I think that goes back to the key point I was making about engaging people

Bill C-18 committee  Again, I'll go back to the statement I made earlier. I am not going to try to decide for wheat producers how they should market their grain, but I think what I will re-emphasize is that a process has to be in place so that there's a really transparent understanding of what's taki

Bill C-18 committee  As I said at the start, I'm not a grain farmer. If I got involved in the debate as to whether a single desk or open marketing was the right method, I think I would be challenged on that. But what I can't be challenged on is making sure that there's really good, sound consultation

Bill C-18 committee  Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to attend and present to you tonight. One of the first things I should be clear about up front is that I am not a grain farmer; I am a beef producer. But I'm also president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. In our organization, whi

Finance committee  It would affect the amount of money the parents had to reinvest in their retirement plans. Yes, it is directly related if they can't afford to make that transfer and take advantage of all the tax tools that are there. Then they don't have the ability to retire with a decent lifes

Finance committee  I think some of the proposals we are suggesting aren't making any difference. The tax measures we're talking about are removing the inequities that are there because somebody happens to be a relative or a family member. The issue with transferring a farm to a corporation is that

Finance committee  I think opening new markets is a critical focus that we must have, but we also must make sure they're markets that can afford to buy our products. There are markets out there where people don't necessarily have disposable income. But with regard to the work that's being done in t

Finance committee  Yes, and a lot of that is hinging on getting tax rules that will allow parents to take advantage of the tax rules that are in place. But there are some technical barriers to that. I'd also like to take a minute to respond to the comments that were made about meeting the demands

Finance committee  Yes, there are some changes, especially in the livestock sector. They've gone through quite a few years of low returns and the reference margin they base their income on has dropped because of that. There are a number of things that we're working on with Agriculture and Agri-Food

Finance committee  We would recommend extending that deadline. The last general comment I would make would be around the issue of global competitiveness. We would encourage the government to really take a look at investments in research to help position Canadian agriculture at the forefront of the

Finance committee  Thank you. Thanks for the opportunity to present to you today. My name is Ron Bonnett. I'm actually a farmer but also the president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. The CFA speaks on behalf of the farming industry to make sure that it becomes a viable and strong indu