Budget a mixed bag for farming sector
The reaction of Canadian farm groups to the 2024 federal budget may depend somewhat on the commodities their members produce.
Response from beef and dairy groups to what Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland had to say about federal spending plans in her April 16 budget seems generally positive; from grain farmers, not so much.
The top line on agriculture in this most recent budget from the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is that it really didn't say much of interest to farmers because of policy priorities elsewhere, particularly housing. But there's more to it than that.
Western Producer's main story by reporter Jonah Grignon led with the statement that Finance Minister Freeland's budget speech “made little mention of agriculture.” Canadian Federation of Agriculture President Keith Currie, who farms near Stayner, Ont., warned in his budget reaction statement that Trudeau's Liberals ignored “pivotal issues” in agriculture.
Specifically, Currie criticized the absence of “new investments in environmental programming, chronic labour issues in food production or improvements to transportation and trade infrastructure.”
The federation is by far the largest general farm organization in Canada and its mandate may pressure a leader such as Currie to offer a balance of members' perspectives. The range includes deeply negative, even hostile, attitudes among western grain farmers to Trudeau's Liberals as well as more positive, even supportive, views such as those of Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC).
Wheat Growers' Association Chair Daryl Fransoo criticized the government for failing to support agriculture, for outdated grain regulations and accumulating costs from carbon taxes. On the other hand, in a statement issued over the signature of DFC senior public affairs director Martin Belanger, DFC praised the government's plan to an increase the lifetime capital gains exemption on the sale of small business shares and farming property to $1.25 million.
That refers to an existing exemption indexed to inflation that stood in 2023 at $1,016,836 and would apply to most Canadian dairy farmers. It's a 13 per cent boost in the exemption, which will continue to be indexed after the change takes effect in June. DFC described it as an “important announcement” which “will help ease the fiscal tax burden when transferring the farm.”
Let it also be said that Freeland's 2024 budget includes $64 million to extend the existing Advance Payments Program to provide interest-free loans to farmers of up to $250,000 to cover planting costs. While it is down from last year's $350,000 limit, which was increased to accommodate market disruptions associated with the war in Ukraine, it's still a good deal for Canadian farmers.
The Calgary-based Canadian Cattle Association emphasized the budget's recognition of the usefulness of the Livestock Tax Deferral program used in to help in weather emergencies such as recent periods of western drought. The government agreed to further consult with farmers to expedite payments in circumstances where they are forced to sell breeding stock in such emergencies.
There's $1 billion to increase access to school food programs. There's a planned consultation on interoperability standards for farm machinery. There's a new tax credit for installation of clean technology that could apply to farm installations.
Renewable fuel industries, many of which depend on farm crops as raw materials, stand to benefit from budget spending of $776 million to support renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel and renewable natural gas. However, the business coalition, Renewable Industries Canada, has also expressed concern about the apparent exclusion of ethanol from the supported biofuel categories.
It's a mixed bag, for sure. But it's not nothing.