Farmers are in dire straits

Paul Mistele,
Ontario Federation of Agriculture Executive Committee

The evidence is piling up and the message is getting stronger - agriculture in Ontario is losing its economic strength and our governments have not responded to the need for new investment. Without such investment, the future of rural Ontario and the farming sector that has kept it viable for so long isn’t bright.
For nine months the BSE crisis has been battering the livestock sector and its associated partners. Many farmers have watched as their equity is eaten up and market values are still short of even covering the basic costs. This crisis is slowly forcing producers to rationalize their future.
Proposals as simple as extending a tax deferral to include drought-induced sales of non-breeding livestock have been rejected by the federal government. This would provide an income tax deferral until producers see the return of their credit standing with lending institutions so they can restock their feedlots.
Earlier this month the Ontario Federation of Agriculture made presentations to both Finance Minister Greg Sorbara and the Provincial Standing Committee of Finance and Economics. We pointed out the critical role farmers play in feeding the citizens of the province, and the job they do to keep rural Ontario vibrant and economically sustainable.
Farmers are willing to shoulder these responsibilities as citizens of the province, but we pointed out to the elected representatives that they can’t continue to do these things while their economic positions continue to erode. It’s necessary for them to have confidence that their efforts are appreciated, but more importantly they need adequate compensation to survive.
Because the government has not made the necessary investments in agriculture, we told the minister that farmers are quickly losing confidence. They are not seeing enough signs of government support to maintain or build that confidence.
Reports from Statistics Canada tell us the Farm Product Price Index just dropped by 13 per cent from November 2002 to November 2003. This just confirms what many producers already knew - something was missing from the revenue side of their balance sheet, but 13 per cent is a drastic cut in pay.
In the area of grain crops, we see figures that indicate farmers are being paid 9.6 per cent less now than they were in 1997. Looking at this in dollar values, it means a person earning 50,000 dollars in 1997 would now be paid 45,000 dollars. No Ontario worker would nor could tolerate such an income loss.
As further confirmation of this trend, it was recently reported that net farm income across Canada is negative for the first time since statistics have been recorded.
It’s commonly accepted that, in the long term, research pays dividends, and this is very true of agricultural research. Farmers in Ontario are asking why current spending levels on agricultural research have been cut to almost half of where they should be to keep up with inflation. Without a strong research policy, Ontario’s agri-food sector can’t be expected to keep pace with our global competitors.
Improving revenue is not the only answer for farmers. We have to find ways to decrease production costs, and a few simple government policy changes could help. We have asked for changes to the retail sales tax act, we have asked for fairer assessments of agricultural properties, and we have asked for revisions to the Land Transfer Tax rules - and we’re still waiting for the government to respond.
Farmers see both federal and provincial levels of government offering new deals for urban Ontario, and that’s good, but the farm community needs to rally together and demand the government support necessary to revitalize rural Ontario and forge a partnership for the future.