The Canadian Pork Council is calling for the creation of government programs that increase the farmers’ share of consumer spending on food.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has begun consulting with farmers and farm groups as part of discussions aimed at revamping the federal, provincial, territorial Growing Forward Agreement.
The current five year agreement expires March 31, 2013 and Ottawa is asking for input on what programs might look like in the next five year period.
Canadian Pork Council president Jurgen Preugschas says a key concern is the shrinking farmers share of the consumers’ food dollar.
The amount of money that our producers are receiving compared to the amount of dollars that a consumer is spending on our products, that percentage keeps eroding.
Farmers are getting less and less of the final end dollar and it is making it much more difficult for farmers to make a living.
If we could figure out a way where that could be changed, where farmers actually get paid fairly for their production costs and with a small profit, that would be ideal if we could have those sorts of programs in place.
The fluctuation in pricing right now for our producers, not only in the hog sector but in all of agriculture, the ups and down are just too severe and it’s very hard to plan.
I think it jeopardizes the ability to produce food in this country if we don’t have something place that ensures that our primary producers are fairly compensated for what we do.
Preugschas says several options are being discussed now but those ideas need to be further fleshed out to determine whether they would ultimately work.
He encourages producers get involved in the consultations and to be informed about what is being suggested.
Source: Farmscape.Ca
