Agri-food relief package is only a beginning

Pretty much every pandemic relief package announced by the federal government looks or is inadequate to someone.

When measures were announced for the hospitality industry, they were found wanting by many inside the sector. Same with natural resources. While the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) is welcomed by nearly everyone who gets it, it has been called inadequate by some. Maybe it’s the nature of the beast, maybe it’s the government doing the best it can as it watches the sea of red ink get deeper and deeper. But even in that context, some measures quite simply fall short, and the agricultural relief package announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday is a good example.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture has said the minimum needed to keep the sector moving forward and prevent food shortages is $2.6 billion. Trudeau announced measures that total $252 million targeted at farmers and food processors. The money is for some significant and important specific areas, but overall it’s a drop in the bucket. Agriculture federation president Mary Robinson said in a CTV News interview that she welcomes the announcement, but it falls “well short” of what is needed.

“We had hoped to see something much more significant,” she said. “It’s discouraging to be given such a small amount. If your house was burning down and I offered you a bucket of water to put it out, you’d probably have an issue.”

The announcement includes $77 million for food processors, including meat packers, to retrofit their factories and increase their capacity to handle the livestock backlog building up across Canada. If that backlog cannot be dealt with in a timely way, farmers may have to start culling animals.

That money can also be used to make conditions safer for workers on production lines, including ensuring that have adequate personal protective equipment (PPE).

There is also $125 million in new investment for the AgriRecovery fund, a joint federal-provincial endeavour intended to help farmers survive disasters.

And there is $50 million for a program intended to purchase surplus food and distribute it to food banks. That program aims to help in situations such as the one facing potato farmers who have seen revenue plummet because the sale of french fries has tanked since the beginning of the pandemic. The government also wants to expand the Dairy Commission Act to allow it to buy and store more surplus dairy products — such as butter and cheese — to avoid future incidents of dairy farmers having to dump surplus milk. As we said, all laudable objectives which will offer the stricken agri-food industry some relief. But not nearly enough.

Faced with that criticism, Trudeau was quick to point out this is just the beginning, not the end, of the government’s support. Fair enough. But time is not on the side of farmers and food processors. More needs to be done, and soon.

The challenge is, overall, twofold. Ensure that one of the most critical economic sectors gets enough immediate support to stave off food shortages (we’re already facing a meat shortage due to processing plants being shut by COVID-19) and hold on until the economy reopens. And even more daunting, help the sector reset and refocus to become more diverse, flexible and Canada-centric. Canadians are making it clear they want an agri-food sector that puts this country first, and exports second. We don’t want to be reliant on imports. We want our food grown and processed here.

It’s a great opportunity, although it won’t be quick, easy or cheap. But it will be worth it.