THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2013
VOL. 91 | NO. 28 | $4.25
MORE POWERFUL STORMS | P4
SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923
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FARM POLICY | FARMER CONTROL
PREPARING FOR WAR AGAINST WEEDS
Farmers seek say on grain commission Groups question staffing levels and efficiencies BY BRIAN CROSS SASKATOON NEWSROOM
Brian Persson and custom applicator Armand Gilchrist prepare a sprayer with water and chemical July 4. Persson hired Gilchrist to spray for stink weed and yellow mustard in his red lentil fields east of Rosetown, Sask. | WILLIAM DEKAY PHOTO
Three farm organizations say it’s time to give farmers more say in Canadian Grain Commission operations now that producers are footing a larger share of its budget. Representatives from the Canadian Canola Growers Association, Grain Growers of Canada and the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association are pushing for a new governance model that gives farmers more input. “If farmers are going to be paying the bill, then we’d like to see … some sort of structure where we can have more say in what’s going on,” said Grain Growers of Canada president Stephen Vandervalk. “A lot of fees are being downloaded onto the farmer … so we’re just asking questions and we want to make sure that we’re getting value for our money.” FARMERS SEEK SAY ON CGC, PAGE 2
FARM POLITICS | SUMMIT MEETING
Growing Forward 2 changes | Cuts to risk management program have many worried BY BARRY WILSON OTTAWA BUREAU
Next week, Canada’s agriculture ministers gather in Halifax for their annual federal-provincial meeting and Canadian farm leaders have a wish list of topics they would like to see discussed. There also is one topic they would like to see discussed but have little hope. Research, succession planning help, curbs on agricultural land speculation and the need to nail down some important trade deals all are part of a menu of topics ministers should deal with, farm leaders said in interviews. One topic many wish would be on the agenda but almost certainly will not be is the potential fallout from the dramatic cuts to business risk management funding under Growing Forward 2, approved when
ministers last met in Whitehorse in September and implemented April 1. The changes significantly diminish farmer benefits under AgriStability and AgriInvest, cutting potential farmer support by several billion dollars over five years. However, with commodity prices remaining robust and the program barely started, farm leaders have little hope ministers will revisit the issue. “Farmers aren’t going to realize until the latter part of 2014 the freight train that is coming at them,” Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Mark Wales said. Applicants for those programs are working on 2012 returns so “old rules, old coverage.” Next year, with inevitable crop and price variations “farmers will realize how much they should have gotten and didn’t. But I do not expect minis-
NORM HALL APAS
ters will revisit that this year when they don’t have to,” said Wales. Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan president Norm Hall, one of the strongest farm leader voices against last year’s business risk management cutbacks, agreed the issue will not likely be on the ministers’ agenda but he will push the politicians to at least reconsider when a review of their changes should take place. “We would like to see a review pro-
cess sooner rather than later and it is now set for three or four years down the road, just before the next generation of Growing Forward is due,” he said. “We would like to see it in year two when the first evidence is available.” Meanwhile, farm leaders have other topics they say ministers should address. Growing evidence of a decline in research funding is high on the list. “I just don’t think there has been a lot of attention paid on research and I think that should be reversed,” Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett said. “Robust research is the future of the industry.” He said when CFA leaders meet with ministers before their conference, there also will be a pitch for more robust support for farm succession planning. FARMERS’ WISH LIST, PAGE 2
u|xhHEEJBy00001pzYv#:) JULY 11, 2013 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4 The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Corp. Publisher: Shaun Jessome Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240
Ministers get farmers’ wish list