Canada’s AgGrowth Coalition expects federal and provincial agricultural ministers across Canada to support the request for a comprehensive review of the Business Risk Management suite of programs for agriculture at the upcoming Federal-Provincial-Territorial (FPT) meeting.
“We are anticipating the announcement of this review during the FPT meeting on July 20th and 21st,” says Rob Scott, a representative of the National Sheep Network, and member of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s board of directors.
“We expect this review to be meaningful, with agriculture industry stakeholders engaged as full partners to help modernize BRM programs for the 21st century farmer, and help position farmers to capitalize on the immense opportunities facing Canadian agriculture.”
As a partner in the process, the Coalition looks forward to collaboration between government and the agricultural sector to develop and execute a comprehensive review of business risk management programming and to set appropriate policy outcomes and targets to maximize opportunities in the sector. This will include a policy examination that defines the objectives and principles for business risk management programming, analyzes existing and alternative policies and programs, evaluates those options, and makes recommendations on reform for implementation and ongoing adaptation. Given the opportunities facing the sector and the ambitious targets set for growth in the sector, this review must be approached with urgency and a clear mandate to act immediately upon subsequent recommendations. The Coalition believes that a review reporting back to Ministers in July 2018, followed by an additional year for program design and implementation, would enable a robust discussion while ensuring the sector is best-positioned to meet the growth targets that have been set out.
Canadian farmers require risk management programs for more than just disaster relief; effective risk management provides an important contribution foundation, providing farmers with the confidence to invest in the agricultural sector, increasing productivity and mitigating against future risks.
“Through this review, we commit to determining how to best leverage the value of public and farmer investments through these programs to improve the utility of the programs, and ultimately deliver the economic, social and environmental benefits demanded of primary agriculture in Canada,” says Jeff Nielsen, President, Grain Growers of Canada. “The objective of this reform is not to obtain new money for business risk management, but rather to better utilize the existing funds to grow our agriculture sector.”
Source: CFA FCA