Farmer groups upset over change to federal support

Cash for one program reduced to fund another that does not meet needs: critics

LONDON, ONT. A surprise federal cut to a program that protects farmers’ bottom lines has left two major Ontario farming groups hot under the collar.

On the heels of the new $3-billion Canadian Agriculture Partnership, the Grain Farmers of Ontario and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture are seeing red over reductions to the AgriInvest program, a fund many farmers turn to when times get tough.

“We need those safety net programs like AgriInvest to be as good as they can be to help support us,” said Keith Currie, president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. “With the wet weather that we’ve had right across the province, there’s a lot of people who are going to be hurting.”

Though both groups are cheering other moves announced at a recent provincial and federal agriculture ministers’ meeting, they’re sure the government made the wrong one by cutting AgriInvest.

“With the exception of crop insurance, AgriInvest is the only program, within the suite of riskmanagement programs, that works well for our farmer members,” said Mark Brock, chairman of the Grain Farmers of Ontario.

When markets take a downturn, or weather throws them for a loop, AgriInvest helps farmers manage small drops in income. It’s not meant to be a big-ticket boost, but a modest cash flow to help farmers bounce back from declines.

Farmers can make annual deposits based on their net sales and receive matching contributions from federal and provincial governments on one per cent of their total. But starting in 2018, the feds will reduce the contribution cap by a half-million dollars, an unexpected cut that’s irks Currie.

“There really wasn’t any consultation on it. There wasn’t any discussion amongst the provincial agriculture ministers,” he said.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is changing the program to free up funding for AgriStability, another risk management program Brock said doesn’t meet the needs of many farmers.

“Grain and oilseed producers tend not to ever trigger a payment,” he said. “We almost have to be at a 50-per-cent loss in income before we’d ever even get a dollar.”

The federal government, with its provincial partners, plans a full review of its risk management-programs but made the AgriInvest cuts anyway. The federal agriculture department said the early changes to AgriInvest are needed not only to expand other loss mitigation programs, but to get producers the coverage they need.

“Governments also wanted producers to benefit from the improvements to BRM (business risk management) programs, and other industry-wide and farm-specific gains,” spokesman James Watson said in an email, “rather than wait for the results of a review.”

There wasn’t any discussion amongst the provincial agriculture ministers.