Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minister Lyle Vanclief and Steve Peters, Ontario Minister of Agriculture and Food, today announced that Ontario has signed an agreement to implement the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF).
“This is truly an historic day for producers in Ontario,” said Minister Vanclief. “The agreement secures long-term funding that will benefit Ontario agriculture. It will be a firm foundation for federal-provincial cooperation for years to come.”
“In keeping with the McGuinty government’s commitment to deliver real, positive change we have signed this agreement on behalf of Ontario farmers. I am confident this agreement will provide farmers with the resources necessary to build a stronger more competitive agri-food industry,” Minister Peters said at the official signing in Ottawa.
“The federal government recognized that some changes to the business risk management programs we brought forward were necessary to effectively meet the needs of Ontario’s diverse agriculture industry. We’re pleased that we were able to secure Minister Vanclief’s support of our modifications and that he is sending the amendments to other provincial ministers of agriculture for their consideration and signature. This agreement marks a new spirit of cooperation between the provincial and federal governments,” Peters added.
The APF implementation agreement paves the way for 60/40 cost sharing between the Governments of Canada and Ontario on a wide range of programs. The federal government has committed $5.2 billion to support the APF in all regions of Canada.
In Ontario, new APF programming in the areas of environment, food safety and quality, renewal and science and innovation is valued at about $233 million. Business risk management funding will be demand-driven over and above the funding for the other four areas of the APF. Canada and Ontario are also committing more than $172 million over three years to support the transition from existing programs to the new business risk management programs.
The APF, endorsed by federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture in 2001, brings together five key elements – business risk management, environment, food safety and quality, renewal and science and innovation in a single platform. The framework is designed to help Canadian agriculture maximize new opportunities at home and abroad by safeguarding and enhancing the food safety and quality system in Canada through science and environmentally sound agricultural practices.
Implementation agreements govern the delivery of new programming under the five elements of the APF. The agreements set out the programming to be delivered, delivery mechanisms and which level of government will deliver them. In addition, the agreements list program costs and formalize such things as the management structures needed to oversee particular programs.
Amendments to business risk management programming currently under discussion include coverage of negative margins through the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program. Negative margins occur when a producer’s eligible expenses are greater than their eligible income. The proposed change would allow the program to offer producers protection for up to 60 per cent of their negative margins, as long as certain conditions are met. Other proposed changes to the CAIS program include raising the government cap on payments for an individual operation from $975,000 to $3 million, and simplifying the deposit requirement for 2003.
The CAIS program will be reviewed annually to ensure it continues to serve the evolving needs of Canadian producers. Deposit options for 2004 and beyond will be reviewed in the first year.
There are approximately 59,700 farms in Ontario representing a total capital value of more than $50.5 billion. The agriculture industry in Ontario has a total annual production of just over $8.5 billion.