About 300 of them came together recently at a meeting in Stratford to talk about what has to be done to return their sectors to economic viability. An investment in agriculture by governments is needed to keep these farmers on the land. Without government investment these farmers will lose their operations.

Ontario farmers are calling for a predictable and bankable program to secure and sustain farm businesses that can invest and innovate now and into the future. Immediate action is needed at both the federal and provincial levels – changes to the AgriStability program that will work for Ontario farmers, and a Business Risk Management Program that will sustain Ontario agriculture.

Bette Jean Crews

Our political leaders at Agriculture and AgriFood Canada, and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs need to appreciate the economic importance of Ontario agriculture, and why it is critical to sustain our industry.

At Stratford, the media learned that agriculture, food production and processing is one of Ontario’s most important employers and economic engines. There are more than 80,000 farm jobs in Ontario across about 57,000 farms. When the entire production, processing, retailing and transportation partnership is included, more than 712,000 jobs are involved, contributing about $28 billion to the Ontario economy.

We all heard that if our critical mass of declining farm production is broached our processing sector and its thousands of jobs will leave the province. This would be a devastating blow to our rural and our urban economies.  Governments need to know and act on this critical warning.

Ontario farmers’ only protection against a large margin drop comes from the AgriStability program. Ontario farmers have clearly said that AgriStability does not work for them – that it needs to be repaired. As reference margins shrink or go negative, AgriStability provides little to no assistance to producers.

Ontario farmers need a cost-of-production based Business Risk Management Program from January 2009 to run in concert with an improved AgriStability program. This proposal would fund 100 per cent of the difference between the average market price and a floor price that’s based on the cost of producing each commodity.

This message needs to come from all farmers: farmers need to contact their federal and provincial members of government. We all need to contact Prime Minister Harper, Premier McGuinty, AAFC Minister Ritz, and OMAFRA Minister Mitchell to make sure they clearly understand not only our situation, but also how critical it is that Canada invests in its farmers right now. They need to realize that consumers – the voters – want locally produced food from sustainable Ontario farms. Our voices must be heard. 

It is a busy time on the farm right now. Planting is always a time of hope. So please take some time to nourish that hope by making a call or sending an email to demand political action to sustain our farms. 

You can find the latest information to take to the politicians at the OASC web site – www.oasc.ca.