Agricultural Policy Framework
The April 1st deadline for implementing the Business Risk Management part of the Agricultural Policy Framework has come and gone.
Provincial Agriculture Ministers have refused to sign onto the deal mostly at the insistence of their farm organizations. Farm organizations analysis of the proposal indicate it is not as good as the programs now in place. They say that the current programs should be extended for a year until an adequate program is designed and proven to meet the needs of Canada’s farmers.
The current status is Agriculture Minister Vanclief has agreed to have a third party analysis done on the proposed new program. Farm organizations keep asking why the federal officials have deliberately ignored their input during the design process. Due to the diverse nature of agriculture across this country, it is going to be difficult to develop one program satisfactory to every commodity. As far as the four other pillars in the APF program, they also are still in the developmental stage.
~Jim Duffy~
President, Lambton Federation of Agriculture