The Christian Farmers’ Federation of Ontario wants to see farm safety net programs designed to compensate for long-term price declines in international markets.
“There is every indication that international prices, especially for grains, will continue to decline in the face of low-cost production in Brazil and massive production subsidies in the European Union and the United States,” said CFFO president John Kikkert.
“These developments will eventually erode the ability of our safety net programs to support farmers,” he warned.
The proposal to compensate farmers for long-term price declines is just one of several points contained in a new position statement on farm safety nets adopted recently by delegates to the CFFO’s provincial board.
The policy statement was developed to respond to the federal government’s Agricultural Policy Framework.
Other features in the CFFO position statement include:
•a call for government commitment to financially support farmers during times of disasters, aside from money delivered through safety net programs;
•acceptance of the principle that farmers should continue to take some ongoing responsibility to fund stabilization programs and establish their entitlement to public support;
•acceptance of the principal that established need should be the trigger for all government payments from safety net programs;
•acceptance of maximum payment limits for any one farmer in any one production year;
•a call for transition rules that help farmers easily move from current safety nets to those envisioned under federal-provincial government proposals; and
•a call for governments to make a firm commitment to provide payouts from safety nets regardless of how large the total payout may become in a significant disaster year.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
