Leona Dombrowsky, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, has requested that the farming community design one agricultural support program which will work for all commodity sectors in the agricultural industry.

What the Minister is asking for and what the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) is trying to deliver has been done in the past with the grain and oilseed sector. This sector delivered a cost of production based risk management program (RMP) which ran successfully as a pilot insurance-type program for three years.

"I’m not sure if I am out of line saying that it’s cost of production, but that’s essentially what it is," stated Renfrew’s Gerald Rollins, Eastern Ontario Director  for the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association. "Even at our discussion yesterday (a January 6 conference call) the feeling that came out of the meeting was ‘Why are they not just saying cost of production?’"

The feeling was unanimous apparently. In the December meeting when delegates to that joint meeting left they said it was cost of production for all commodities, Rollins said.

Although a cost of production program such as the RMP is being touted as the most flexible and agreeable for most commodities, it does pose risk for the export trade sensitive sectors. "We’re not convinced that the feds are going to participate, they want to keep the old Agri-Stability but they aren’t interested in cost of production," offered Mr. Rollins. "I don’t think we would have the support of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association on a cost of production either."

"Leona has to meet with the federal government (at the Federal-Provincial-Territorial meeting to be held in mid-February) to go over the national programming and she would like to go to that meeting with some idea of what Ontario wants," explained Bette Jean Crews, president of the OFA.

"What I have said is that I am very prepared to advocate for a better system of business risk management in Canada," stated Dombrowsky in a telephone interview. "I’m very prepared to do that. But I need them all on the same page, and I would go to the fed-prov. table. I think we need a tool that is flexible to address the particular issues of those sectors, but it needs to be a united position."

The OFA has also been working on the "United Voice" bandwagon for a number of months as well. The OFA recently formed the Ontario Agricultural Sustainability Coalition (OASC) with leaders from pork, beef, and horticulture.

"The other part we are working on with this coalition is the changes to the federal program we have now," said Crews. "Agri-Stability is a whole farm insurance based program based on your margins. But the crisis we are having in this industry is beyond the control of the farmer. This is not due to mismanagement. Those margins are steadily declining so you are being insured on steadily declining margins. That’s got to be fixed!"

The coalition has indicated that Agri-Stability has not been working for the beef, pork, and horticulture sectors for many years due to the poor design of the program. They would like to see immediate bridge funding to these sectors. "This is not ad hoc funding that is thrown at the industry," declared Crews. "This is money that should have been paid out on a properly designed program."