Federal government pressed to help agriculture

By David Akin, Canwest News ServiceFebruary 9, 2009

OTTAWA — Ottawa is being pressed to do more for the country’s agricultural sector amid fears by some that the problems of Canada’s farmers are getting lost in a flood of cash for urban infrastructure projects and manufacturing sector bailouts.

Statistics Canada reported Friday that, on a proportional basis, no sector of the economy has shed more jobs than agriculture over the last year. Since January, 2008, 9.6 per cent of agriculture jobs have disappeared. By comparison, the workforce in manufacturing has shrunk by about 7.4 per cent.

“It’s absolutely essential that farmers and the people in the whole food sector who are suffering even more than manufacturers get some attention and get some help,” said NDP Leader Jack Layton. “I don’t think there’s an adequate understanding of the devastation that’s taking place.”

“(The federal government) has not been paying anywhere near enough attention to the problems in the agriculture sector and it ranges right from the farm gate to the dinner plate,” said Wayne Easter, the federal Liberal agriculture critic.

On Monday, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz met with his provincial counterparts here. The meeting did not produce any new agreements but Ritz and other ministers said it moved several key issues closer to resolution, including a national agriculture and food traceability system for emergency management and market access purposes. The ministers also addressed some market access issues including the establishment of a new federal secretariat dedicated specifically to that issue.

Ritz, who grew up on a family farm in Saskatchewan and was a grains and ostrich farmer prior to entering politics, said the job losses in the agricultural sector — 8,400 last month and nearly 33,000 in the last 12 months — are partly due to the evolution of the industry. Farmers are getting older and farms are getting bigger.

“Having said that, we are concerned,” Ritz said.

Ritz also touted his government’s budget initiatives. The budget contained $500 million over five years to help producers deal with new technology and environmental initiatives. It also contained $50 million over three years to boost slaughterhouse capacity. And he said farmers, just like any small business manager, will take advantage of some of the tax reforms and other initiatives designed to help all businesses.

Easter, though, said that money “isn’t even a drop in the wild blue ocean” because the aid is stretched over several years.

He singled out a federal promise to spend $50 million over three years to increase slaughterhouse capacity. “$50 million wouldn’t even build you one plant so it’s not a lot of money,” Easter said.

Easter’s province, Prince Edward Island, recently lost its only pork slaughterhouse and, as a result, Easter said, about 80 per cent of the island’s pork produces are winding up their operations. That, in turn, means fewer jobs throughout the supply chain that supports pork producer operations. Easter said there have been similar consolidations and shutdowns elsewhere in Canada.

“And so you’re seeing a great mushroom effect of job losses in rural areas related to the agricultural sector,” said Easter.

MPs from across the political spectrum say agricultural issues often have trouble getting national attention.

At the two first ministers meetings convened by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss the economy, premiers touched on the challenges facing the agriculture sector but that discussion has often been overshadowed by problems in other areas.

“When the auto sector is making international news like it is, unfortunately, that’s a pretty dominant subject. And that’s understandable,” Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said in a telephone interview Monday. “But this is a very important sector to our country. It always has been. And it’s very important to Saskatchewan.”

Wall praised the federal government and other premiers for a recent diplomatic initiative which successfully convinced U.S. federal lawmakers to forego changes to food labelling rules in the United States that many Canadian agricultural producers believed would have had the effect of limiting or restricting Canadian exports to the U.S. market.

But Wall said more work could be done particularly for livestock producers who have been struggling with high input costs even as they try to fight their way into some new markets.

Nearly one in 10 jobs in the agriculture sector has disappeared in the last year.

Agriculture: 32,600 jobs lost (9.6 per cent of sector’s workforce)

Business, building and other support services: 58,300 jobs (8.2 per cent)

Manufacturing: 147,400 jobs (7.4 per cent)

Health care and social assistance: 95,200 (5.1 per cent)

Accommodation and food services: 30,300 (2.9 per cent)

Professional, scientific and technical services: 26,200 (2.2 per cent)

All industries, down: 88,000 (0.5%)