The federal government needs to act now to provide more support to Canada’s grain growers in the wake of an increasingly unpredictable trade environment, says Jeff Nielsen, Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) chairman and Mountain View County producer.
“The time has come for the Canadian government to aggressively defend the interests of Canada’s agriculture sector in China and around the world,” said Nielsen.
“This is a non-partisan issue and Canadian farmers need government support to ensure that we are well positioned to weather this storm.”
The strategy should “recognize that China’s blocking of Canadian canola is politically motivated, which was acknowledged last week by Prime Minister Trudeau," he said in a press release.
The trade war between the United States and China is having a significant impact on grain farmers across Canada, he said.
“In addition to the recent suspension of canola imports from Canada over unproven sanitary concerns, soybean prices are dropping and imports to China have slowed to a trickle, reaching levels not seen in a decade,” he said.
“Industry and government officials have confirmed that Chinese importers are reluctant to sign contracts for other Canadian agricultural products given the uncertainty in the market.”
The GGC says the federal government needs to “develop a strategy to address the increasingly complex and unpredictable trade environment in which Canadian farmers find themselves.”
The association would like the government to “consider ways in which it can support Canadian farmers starting by the immediate implementation of meaningful changes to the AgriStability Program to ensure it is a bankable, predictable, simple and scalable program.
“This includes coverage for margin losses below 85 per cent and removal of the reference margin limit. These changes can be made under the current business risk management program framework.” Association vice-chairman Markus Haerle added: “The issues we are seeing with trade into China can no longer be said to be commodity specific. As a soybean farmer I’ve seen my prices plummet and markets close due to the flooding of the market by U.S. product.”
Grain farmers have seen market after market close because of non-tariff barriers to trade, he said.
“In addition to Chinese disruption, the loss of the Indian pulse market and Italian durum market has added to the long list of risks that farmers are expected to manage, risks that are well beyond their control.
“Canada’s grain producers appreciate it when the government stands behind our world-class products. Now it is time for them to do everything in their power to keep markets open so the sector can reach its full growth potential.”
Last week the U.S. government announced $15 billion in aid to help American farmers impacted by the accelerating trade war with China.
