[On Food, Drink, and Meat] Farmers seek change

[Jamie Waldron]

Taken from Meat Trade News Daily

Canada needs a "national food strategy" to ensure all Canadians have access to affordable, nutritious and safe food, says the head of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

To that end, the CFA is proposing an eight-point plan that would support Canadian agriculture as the "multi-faceted, inter-linked and sustainable" source of that food.
Laurent Pellerin, president of the CFA, who spoke Tuesday to the annual general meeting of the Agricultural Producers of Saskatchewan in Regina, said one-size fits-all policies don't work for Canadian producers, who work in everything from supply management to corporate farms.

"For years, government tried to put in place programs and policies that defined (all) farmers to be the same," Pellerin told reporters prior to his speech to APAS delegates Tuesday.

"We are very different. Production is different, temperature and soil conditions are different -- 10 provinces, 16 different commodities," said Pellerin, a Quebec hog producer.

At its annual meeting in February, the CFA endorsed the national food strategy, entitled the Future of Food, which calls for the Canadian food system to be driven by "diversified, Canadian-owned innovative and profitable farm, processing and distribution sectors."

"With the national food strategy, we find some common ground to develop a strategy to have a better link with our consumers and tell people in this country how good our food is," Pellerin said.

But that industry is facing many threats to it survival, including international trade actions, health scares, rising input costs and lack of government support.

"There are some challenges," Pellerin said. "Large companies, the grain companies, seed companies, fertilizer companies, they put a lot of pressure on our backs."

Pellerin says farmers and farm organizations have to stand together to survive. "A lot of people think 'one by one, we'll win.' That's not true. We have to get together.

"That's why I have so much respect for collective marketing organizations like the Canadian Wheat Board and supply management."

Pellerin said supply managed production, such as the chicken, egg and dairy industries, have fared reasonably well, while the livestock industry, especially hog and cattle producers, have done poorly in recent years.

"Why are chicken, egg and dairy farmers doing not bad in this market? Those farmers are making a good living, while pork farmers have to get out of the business."

Greg Marshall, president of APAS, agreed that the troubles in the livestock industry, including the "reduction in herd size," country-of-origin-labelling in the U.S. and weather-related concerns, are one of the biggest problems facing agriculture in Western Canada.

"We're losing that (hog) industry, and the cattle industry is right behind them," Marshall said. "Producers are optimistic they can hang on, but there are huge concerns on the western side of the province because they can't feed their animals."

But the biggest issue facing Prairie farmers is pending changes to the grain transportation system, Marshall said.

"The key priority issue for APAS is grain transportation," he said, referring to the potential loss of producer car loading sites in the province. The possible abandonment of more than 50 producer car loading sites by CN threatens the livelihood of producers, who can save $1,000 to $1,200 per railcar in elevation costs.


thestarphoenix.com

--
Posted By Jamie Waldron to On Food, Drink, and Meat at 4/20/2010 08:38:00 PM

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "On Food, Drink and Meat" group.
To post to this group, send email to on-food-dri...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to on-food-drink-and...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/on-food-drink-and-meat?hl=en.