Ontario Grain Farmers Cannot Compete With U.S. Farmers

Jul 24, 2020

GUELPH, ON – Grain Farmers of Ontario, the province’s largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean, and wheat farmers, today share the results of a new study showing grain farmers want the government to help them manage the risk of COVID-19 economic impacts and help them compete with U.S. farmers.

In a recent poll of Ontario grain farmers, 76 per cent say they cannot compete with U.S. farmers who are receiving subsidies, which help them sell grain at low costs that Ontario farmers cannot afford. Since the onset of the pandemic, President Donald Trump has committed over $30 billion to U.S. farmers driving down grain prices.

“This survey clearly indicated that 80 per cent of our farmer members want the Canadian government to level the playing field with U.S. farmers. Ontario grain farmers are not asking for bailouts, they just want risk programs to be properly funded and managed,” says Markus Haerle, Chair, Grain Farmers of Ontario. “Trump’s subsidies are driving down global grain prices, creating an uneven playing field for Ontario grain farmers.”

The poll, conducted in mid-July, also showed that 55 per cent fear that they won’t be able to cover the cost of production this year.

“We appreciate that Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Agriculture Minister Ernie Hardeman committed to addressing the shortfall in the Risk Management Program. That’s only half the support that is needed. Farmers need the federal government to commit to restoring the program to levels cut by Stephen Harper’s government so that they can have the risk management tools they need to manage their businesses through this very uncertain time,” says Haerle.

Some important highlights from the survey:

4 out of 10 grain farmers in Ontario are expecting a reduction in sales
U.S. farmer subsidies are top of mind for Ontario grain farmers with 76% of grain farmers saying that they cannot compete with U.S. farmers and those levels of subsidies
8 out of 10 Ontario grain farmers are asking for support to match the U.S. farmer

The concerns raised by Ontario grain farmers in this survey underscore the need for governments to fix business risk management (BRM) programs immediately. Grain Farmers of Ontario supports Premier Doug Ford and Ontario’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ernie Hardeman, in their efforts with the federal government to improve AgriStability coverage for farmers.

AgriStability, an existing BRM program, was cut in 2012, leaving grain and oilseed farmers without price insurance they can rely on. Restoring the coverage to 85 per cent and eliminating the reference margin limit would be a significant improvement to the program.

In May 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $252 million in COVID-19 support for farmers, none of which was earmarked to help grain farmers, but he said this was just the first round of support. (Grain Farmers of Ontario Disappointed by Lack of Support From Federal Government) Grain farmers have waited for months with no signs of the promised additional support from the government.

Source : GFO

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.