Ontario’s farm organizations have assembled a list of essentials needed from Ottawa to KEEP Ontario agriculture in business.

Following a recent funding announcement from the provincial government, Geri Kamenz, President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) promised: "All of Ontario agriculture will now turn its focus on the federal government to provide its share of economic support to our producers."

Representatives of a broad spectrum of Ontario commodity organizations met earlier this month to discuss their specific needs. They reviewed Ottawa’s recent proposals for Ontario farmers and found them seriously lacking. "Given the state of Canada’s hog industry, we need immediate relief beginning with a short term loan program and improvements to the Federal Government’s AgriStability program. Our requests have so far been ignored." said Curtiss Littlejohn, Chairman of Ontario Pork.

"The industry appreciates efforts by the government to speed up payments within existing programs but this is not enough. Value-added industries are at risk. Farm families in ridings across Canada are affected." said Ian McKillop, President of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association.

These sectors rely heavily on exports. The high value of the Canadian dollar caused traditional markets to dwindle. Statistics from pork, beef and horticulture indicated massive losses on all products sold to export. Pork producers reported losing between $35 and $50 a hog while beef losses are worse than during the BSE crisis.

Farmers need changes to the business risk management programs available to them starting with the 2007 program year. "The financial woes of these farmers are getting worse every day - it’s time for the Federal government to act," says Kamenz.

The OFA and Ontario’s commodity leaders are calling on all farmers to get in touch with their MP to reiterate the value of Ontario agriculture and the solutions that are necessary to sustain a strong rural economy.

For more information contact: Geri Kamenz, President OFA 613-720-2435 Curtiss Littlejohn, Chairman, Ontario Pork 519-716-2466 Ian McKillop, President, Ontario Cattlemen’s Association 519-824-0334 Brenda Lammens, Chair, Ontario Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association 519-763-6160

Ontario farm organizations are calling on the Federal government to help farmers who are struggling to survive in an export industry that has been severely impacted by the rise of the Canadian dollar.

Backgrounder

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture and a broad spectrum of commodity group representatives met recently to determine solutions the federal government needs to provide in order to maintain the second largest industry in Ontario and third largest employer which in turn maintains strong rural communities.

1. Overall, prices for livestock and animal products were 6.9% below their November 2006 level as cattle, calf and hog prices continued to slide. This was the sixth consecutive year-to-year decline for these major commodities.
2. The cattle and calf index (87.0) fell for the seventh consecutive month to its lowest level since the fall of 2004. Falling prices pushed the hog index to its lowest level since December 1998.

The following is a solid list of solutions both the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and Ontario commodities are asking farmers to take to their MPs.

1. Financing for hog farmers to address the immediate liquidity issues in the pork sector with the financing to be repaid by hog farmers when market conditions improve.
2. A deficiency payment to farmers based on the number of cattle and calves sold during this period of depressed market prices.
3. Modifications to the CAIS/Agri-Stability program to ensure farmers have a realistic support level under margin-based programming.
4. An increased contribution rate and a higher cap in the Agri-Invest program. This will help mitigate the program benefit reduction some farmers will incur when their CAIS coverage level is reduced under the Agri-Stability program.
5. Improve "product of Canada" food labelling rules to ensure consumers can accurately identify products containing food actually grown in Canada.
6. Implement and fund an exit plan that will provide an orderly, managed and fair exit program for Ontario tobacco farmers and provide transition support for those communities that have long been economically dependent on tobacco production and who suffer from its decline.
7. Acceptance of the Agri-Flex proposal as part of the new agricultural policy framework, Growing Forward. This proposal would provide federal funding for provincial specific programming for farmers in each province. In Ontario, the proposed Agri-Flex funding could be directed to provide federal funding for the 3-year (2007-2009) RMP pilot program, a permanent RMP program for Grain and Oilseed farmers and other programs proposed by Ontario commodity organizations, such as the development of additional RMP programs for horticulture and livestock sectors.
8. Extension of SDRM for horticulture until such time as adequate production insurance has been developed for all fruit and vegetable crops.