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Upcoming Events
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-October 20:
2015 Agriculture Labour Summit "Addressing Challenges - Finding Solutions", Red Deer
-October 20-22: North American Pollinator Protection Campaign, Washington, DC
-October 22-23: NA/EU Meeting, Belfast
-October 30:
PMRA Economic Management Advisory Council
-November 3-4:
Forum on Canada's Agri-Food Future 2015, Ottawa
-November 9-10: CFA Board Meeting, Ottawa
-November 10: Industrial Bioproducts Roundtable, Ottawa
-November 23-24: National Farmed Animal Heath and Welfare Council forum, Ottawa
-November 25-27: Agricultural Excellence Conference, Regina
-December 1-3: GrowCanada Conference, Calgary
-December 15-18: WTO Ministerial Meeting, Nairobi
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If you have anything you would like to include in the CFA in Action, please let us know by noon the Friday before each update. Please send your information to [email protected].
We ask that you further distribute these briefs to your membership.
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CTV Interview Focuses on Ag and the Canadian Election
Check out the great CTV interview with CFA President Ron Bonnett, on election issues, TPP and some other important ag-related issues. You can watch the video here
or by clicking on the image below.
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Ag Debate Resources
Looking to review the comments made during last month's National Agriculture Leaders Debate? We've compiled the participants' main points for each question in this
Q & A summary document. Don't forget that you can also watch the entire debate, review the full text of the debate questions and read CFA's messaging on priority election issues
here.
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CFA Risk Management Working Group
CFA's Risk Management Working Group held a conference call recently to discuss a final draft of the revised CFA Business Risk Management (BRM) policy statement. This draft will be presented at the CFA's Board of Directors meeting in November for further comment, at which time it will be more broadly disseminated to CFA members for additional input before being presented at the CFA annual general meeting.
CFA staff have also begun outreach with producer groups outside of the CFA membership to ensure that CFA's position is informed by the broadest perspective possible.
In addition, the working group has developed a proposal to improve AgriStability treatment for diversified farm operations. This proposal will be sent out to CFA members for their input this week. For more information on this working group or any of the items discussed, please contact Scott Ross at
[email protected].
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Global Climate Change Negotiations
In the first two weeks of December, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will host negotiators, ministers and heads of state from around the world in Paris, France with the aim of negotiating the next global climate change agreement. Largely expected to be successful in this round of negotiating, the agreement is also likely to be a binding one, but one that may not limit greenhouse gas emissions. The CFA holds accreditation to this meeting and is able to register observers to attend. Please contact Drew Black at
[email protected]
, if you are interested in attending the negotiations or would like to know more.
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Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops
The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops (CRSC) held its annual meeting in Mississauga, ON on October 7. The CFA is a member of the CRSC and both Humphrey Banack, CFA Vice-President, and Drew Black, Director of Environment and Science Policy, were in attendance as participants. The CRSC is simultaneously pursuing a pilot project to take place in 2016 for sustainable crop production, as well as developing a web platform to host all the research that has been undertaken regarding assessing the sustainability of crop production. This also includes the development of a set of indicators that can be used to assess on the ground whether production would meet the sustainability requirements that the CRSC will eventually agree upon. Issues regarding how verification will be ultimately undertaken remain to be addressed and members are closely following developments with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and the Verified Beef Plus pilot project.
Please contact Drew Black,
[email protected]
, if you have any questions or would like to know more.
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Brushing Up on Farm Safety
CFA staff had the opportunity to attend the national farm safety conference of the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA), which took place in Saskatoon on October 6 - 8. The conference, which was titled "Be the Difference", featured excellent keynote speakers who drove home the importance of farm safety with some gripping personal stories. Conference attendees also had the opportunity to visit a CNH Industrial manufacturing plant in Saskatoon, where planters, air carts, air drills, disk drills and pick-up headers are produced. The Saskatoon facility is the top-scoring World Class Manufacturing facility in the CNH umbrella.
Following all the great discussions that took place at the "Be the Difference" conference, CFA is already anxiously looking forward to being involved with the next Canadian Agricultural Safety Week (taking place March 2016)!
For more information on CASA, please click
here.
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Forum on Canada's Agri-Food Future 2015
The Canadian Agri-food Policy Institute (CAPI) and Canada 2020, alongside partners like the CFA, are working together to put together a forum that strives to help Canadians define "what's possible" for one of the country's most important sectors: agri-food. The forum will take place at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa on
November 3 and 4, 2015
. As stated on the forum's
website
, "People are linking what nourishes them to the health of agricultural systems, the soil, water, animals, and so on, and to their own well-being. Canada is among the few places on earth that can deliver what consumers will increasingly expect, and do so reliably. So, how can our country best leverage this?" This forum looks to help shape Canada's food destiny by creating a newly-imagined future that offers the best possible outcomes for Canadians and our agri-food industry.
To learn more about this forum, check out this document and this discussion paper as sources of additional information. Producer groups and other stakeholders are encouraged to submit discussion documents in advance of the meeting, addressing the following questions:
1. Should Canada aim to become the most trusted food system in the world?
2. Can we produce all our food in a way that enhances water quality and removes carbon?
3. Will Canada's food future be largely determined by those outside food supply chains?
To submit ideas or feedback to CAPI directly, send comments to
[email protected]
. For additional information on the conference and CFA's role, please contact Scott Ross at [email protected].
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Farmer Stress and Resilience Survey
Researchers at the University of Guelph are conducting a study on farmers' stress, and how they may, or may not, be managing it with the hope of better understanding the impacts of farm work on health. They are also asking for farmers' opinions on what resources should be made available to help manage stress and mental health. The study consists of a short (15 minute) online survey.
The survey is completely anonymous and will help provide our agricultural community with important information on the health of our producers.
Complete details of the study, including the survey questions, can be found here.
Questions or comments can be directed to Dr. Andria Jones-Bitton at 519-824-4120, ext. 54786 or
[email protected].
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