OTTAWA, ON – Grain and oilseed farmers from Grain Farmers of Ontario, Producteurs de grains du Québec, the Atlantic Grains Council and Western Canada Wheat Growers are in Ottawa today to shine a spot light on policy priorities for the grains and oilseed farmers they represent.
The directors from these four groups represent over 50 thousand farmers and tens of millions of acres, who make important rural, provincial and national economic contributions and farm in Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba. The farmers representing these groups are in Ottawa to raise the issues facing farmers with Members of Parliament and talk about domestic and international agriculture policy and program mechanisms that are needed to resolve the issues facing grain and oilseed farmers to ensure the short and long-term benefits of the grain and oilseed businesses for Canada and the rural communities where their farms operate. Political & market tensions around the globe mean farm businesses are operating in an uncertain often hostile marketplace, costs are increasing and depressed market prices are making farm profitability next to impossible.
“We are here in Ottawa because we need every Member of Parliament to know that soybean farmers need compensation from the federal government to address the de-facto ban of soybeans at the China border and the unlevel playing field creating depressed prices from the U.S. governments $30 billion farm profitability aid package.” said William Van Tassel, Producteurs de grains du Québec.
“Our members need markets to reopen where we once thrived. The federal government‘s actions are key to getting trade flowing. We are here to educate Members of Parliament about India‘s tariffs on pulses, China‘s ban on canola and soybean imports, as well as issues in Italy, Peru, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia with wheat so that they will put enabling trade at the top of their priority lists.” said Gunter Jochum, President, Western Canadian Wheat Growers “In order to supply these markets we need to be competitive and efficiently move our crops to markets, we will also be talking about the transportation needs across the country and the need to eliminate the impact of the carbon tax on farmers,” added Jochum.
“There is not an end in sight to the last two difficult marketing years for our farmer-members. We are in Ottawa to educate everyone we meet on the need to make sure the federal government provides compensation for soybean farmers facing border closure in China and highlight fixes required to make AAFC‘s BRM program work for farmers as they begin to recover from these losses over the next 5 years”, said Michael Delaney, Atlantic Grains Council,
“Our message to Members of Parliament when we are here in Ottawa this week is that the federal government can do something right away, today, to help farmers — put an end to the carbon tax on fuel used for drying grain immediately, reimburse farmers for losses from the carbon tax they paid and set up a compensation package for soybean farmers who are unable to cover the costs they have paid to grow their crop.” said Markus Haerle, Chair Grain Farmers of Ontario.
Source : GFO