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Upcoming Events
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-December 15-18:
WTO Ministerial Meeting, Nairobi
-January 20-22: 6th Annual Canadian Agri-food Policy Conference, Ottawa
-February 23-25: CFA Annual General Meeting, Ottawa
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Acting Executive Director
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f 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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CFA Meets with Minister MacAulay
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CFA President Ron Bonnett recently had the opportunity to sit down with Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, to discuss the TPP.
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CFA President Ron Bonnett met with Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay on December 2 to discuss CFA's position on the recently completed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. The Minister was accompanied by Andrea Lyon, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, and Frédéric Seppey, Canada's chief agriculture negotiator.
During the meeting, Ron outlined CFA's support for the TPP, provided it delivers real and meaningful market access opportunities into Japan for Canada's agriculture and agri-food exporters and that any losses producers in supply managed sectors may incur as a result of the TPP are fully compensated.
Minister MacAulay reiterated the Liberal government's position to fully review the TPP agreement and compensation package, adding that the government intends to engage in consultations with the sector.
Ron also recommended that the government work with industry in order to develop an overarching strategy to ensure that Canada's agriculture exporters can take full advantage of the market access opportunities provided by TPP and the previously negotiated CETA deal with the European Union.
For more details on this meeting, please contact Errol Halkai, [email protected]. CFA is working to arrange meetings with other cabinet ministers to discuss files of key importance and will continue to update members as these meetings occur and the discussions that take place.
Additionally, Ron had the opportunity to take in the Speech from the Throne proceedings in-person on December 4, following an invitation from Minister MacAulay at the direction of the Prime Minister's Office. The text of the Speech from the Throne is available here and the webcast can be viewed here.
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Meeting with Japanese Delegation
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CFA's Errol Halkai, Ron Bonnett and Scott Ross recently met with Tomotaka Shiraishi (second from left), First Secretary at the Embassy of Japan, and Dr. Kunihsia Yoshii, Research Director, Food and Environmental Policy Area, Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for Japan.
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On Monday, December 6, CFA President Ron Bonnett and CFA staff met with officials from the Japanese Embassy and the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to discuss impacts of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and CFA's perspective on the AgriStability program.
CFA's Director of Business Risk Management and Farm Policy, Scott Ross, provided a detailed overview of members' concerns with the AgriStability program, highlighting mounting issues with the continued decline in program participation, loss of producer trust due to recent cuts to the program, and apprehension with the reference margin limit's introduction of additional program complexity. Japanese officials highlighted that their interest in this program was spurred by ongoing interest in the introduction of a whole-farm, revenue-based insurance tool. This discussion continues in Japan, with plans to introduce a revenue insurance program in the coming years.
In addition, both parties discussed the TPP and its potential impacts on agricultural producers in both countries. Japanese officials had specific questions around the compensation package announced for affected supply managed industries, as well as the broader effects this agreement would have for export-oriented segments of the agriculture industry.
CFA continues to review the TPP agreement and maintain dialogue on this front with the new government, and will continue to report on this file as it develops through the new year. For more information on this discussion and the items addressed, please contact Scott Ross at
[email protected] or Errol Halkai at
[email protected].
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New CFA Farmland Access Committee
During its November meeting, CFA's Board of Directors approved the terms of reference for a new special issues committee - the CFA Farmland Access Committee. This committee has been tasked with exploring farmland ownership and access issues, making recommendations to the CFA Board, and incorporating that feedback into new policies that will be used in current and future interactions with private equity stakeholders, Canadian lenders, and government representatives. The CFA Board of Directors has appointed Norm Hall from the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan as chair of the committee.
If you, or anyone in your organization, are interested in taking part in this working, please RSVP to
[email protected] by no later than
Wednesday, December 16.
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Farmers Represented at Climate Change Negotiations
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Don McCabe, OFA President and CFA Director, presents on December 4 at a side event in Paris highlighting perspectives from producers around the globe.
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Representatives from the World Farmers' Organisation and delegates on behalf of the CFA are in Paris, France (Nov. 30 to Dec. 11) to represent agricultural producers around the world during the global negotiations on climate change. The CFA has contributed through the World Farmers' Organisation's climate change working group, which has been meeting daily during this time in order to issue joint statements during the negotiations, along with organizing official and unofficial side events to provide farmers' perspectives on the direction that the climate change agreement should take.
If you would like more information, please contact Drew Black, CFA's
Director of Environment and Science Policy, at
[email protected].
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CFA's APF Committee, tasked with developing policy and programming recommendations for the next agriculture policy framework, held a conference call earlier this week to review a series of policy updates from each of the working groups.
Drew Black and Reg Ens provided an overview of draft policies on farm safety, rural infrastructure, and access to capital for new farmers. Following this, Scott Ross gave an update on the inaugural call of the new market development working group and reviewed draft policy that encourages greater transparency on the part of provincial governments in reporting how they use funds through the APF. The committee then, based on feedback from the CFA executive, held a discussion on CFA's position regarding recommending an increase to the AgriInvest matched contribution rate, based on concerns raised by members with the current ask of a 4.5% matching contribution rate. To conclude the meeting, a brief discussion was held as to how CFA will frame the final materials outlining the recommendations provided by the three working groups as an integrated package.
As a result of this discussion, the committee will be finalizing a draft document in January 2016 that will be sent out to CFA members for review prior to a discussion on the topic with delegates at CFA's 2016 AGM.
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Update on Social License Discussions
Back in October, the CFA, in conjunction with the Canada Grains Council and hosted by the Manitoba government, convened a small high-level group to further the discussion of agriculture's social license and public trust as a direct follow-up to the CFA - FPT Roundtable, which discussed this issue in July 2015 in Charlottetown, PEI. The minutes of this meeting and a list of participants are now available. There will be a follow-up meeting of a slightly larger group in early 2016, which will be hosted by the Saskatchewan government, to further refine the development of a framework document that will chart a path forward on building public trust in agriculture. Once developed, this document will be used to solicit input from all stakeholders throughout the value-chain and from all levels of government.
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Pipeline Abandonment Steering Committee
The Pipeline Abandonment Steering Committee met via conference call on December 4 to discuss minor amendments and approvals to reports completed in 2015. There were a number of procedural issues for the committee, which were also discussed and clarified with a public release plan for the reports developed. The committee will meet again in early 2016 to prioritize and select which research projects related to pipeline abandonment will be funded in 2016.
Additional information on this committee is available by contacting Drew Black at
[email protected].
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National Farm Animal Care Council
The National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) held its biannual meeting on December 2 in Ottawa to provide updates on the developments for various Growing Forward 2 projects. Updates were also provided on ISO working groups for animal welfare and implementation of animal care assessment programs. Members approved a process for receiving NFACC recognition of an animal care assessment program, either developed through the Animal Care Assessment Framework or other but comparable means.
On December 3, a slightly smaller group participated in a strategic planning session for NFACC to look at trends the organization will be facing in the next few years, the structure and interrelatedness with the Canadian Animal Health Coalition and the National Farmed Animal Health and Welfare Council, and the goals and strategic objectives of the organization. One critical piece of the discussion surrounded whether there is a need for NFACC to incorporate and whether the structure of the board should change.
Please contact Drew Black,
[email protected], for more details on the discussions at these meetings.
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CFA Gives Updates at Member AGMs
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Ron Bonnett speaks during the AGM for the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.
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On Tuesday, December 1, CFA President Ron Bonnett and Director of Business Risk Management and Farm Policy Scott Ross attended the annual general meeting of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan to provide an update on CFA's activities over the past year. Ron's update included overviews of CFA's activities during the federal election, policy priorities, and ongoing CFA initiatives that will continue into the new year. Scott provided a detailed overview of the issues and recommendations developed by the BRM working group over the past year. Discussion focused on the need to enhance AgriStability, ongoing concerns with the reference margin limit, and the need to see AgriInvest refocused towards a broader set of outcomes that include proactive investment.
CFA also attended the 91st annual general meeting of the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA), held December 1 - 3 in Quebec City. Ron Bonnett provided highlights of CFA's 2015 activities by means of a video prepared in advance by UPA, followed by Ron answering several questions from those in attendance. To view the video, please click here.
UPA's meeting also featured remarks from Quebec Agriculture Minister Pierre Paradis,
which was preceded by the presentation of the 'Farm Family of the Year' being awarded to the Lefebvre family of Saint-Felix de Kingsway.
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