More Aid

[r.reid]

I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. But it is a "band aid" fix.

What's wrong with subsidies?? Everybody eles does.

Aren't American soybean growers guaranteed a minimum of $5.25/bu?? The price can go up, but it can't go any lower then that.

What's wrong with setting up something like that here??

[grassfarmer]

r.reid, the problem with subsidies is they change nothing. I grew up in subsidised agriculture and can tell you it does nothing to protect you from poverty. What agriculture faces nearly everywhere in the world are margins being squeezed by rising input costs and flat or declining commodity prices. This is the growing menace of the transnational corporations control of every part of the production chain except for the actual growers/ producers.

I could tell you we received the equiv. of $450 subsidy per beef cow per year in the UK. If inputs costs are raised to swallow $420 of that the fact you are subsidised doesn't make you rich.
This is no different to what has happened in Canada - either packers dropping their bids on fat cattle or fertiliser dealers raising their prices in a year when they can get away with it.

If Canadian barley growers are making 20 cents on $3/bu barley now, setting a base "subsidised" price of $4/bu would result in the corporations raising input prices to extract that extra dollar - subsidies actually encourage this behavior rather than prevent it.

We must create a new system of agriculture where the producer either moves further up the production chain to capture more of the consumers dollar or we influence Governments to reign in the corporate pirates - or a combination of the two policies.

[farmers_son]

I would point out that the prices Canadian producer pay for inputs is determined in the United States. And while the price of fertilizer and other inputs may be affected by the level of government support, it would be the level of U.S. support provided to their producers that affects those prices more than by what we may receive.

Our Canadian government is unable or unwilling to offer comparable support to our producers and as a result we find ourselves at a competitive disadvantage.

R.Reid points out how the Americans do it. Looking at industry levels of debt versus income is an indication of the competitiveness of a country’s agriculture. South of the border we would find average farm debt is CDN$113,000 while average farm income was $43,000, or expressed another way income was 38% of debt. In Canada, 2003 average farm debt was $200,000 while average income was $25,000, income was 12.5% of debt or our level of debt was almost 3 times larger for every dollar of income than the U.S. This is an indication that Canadian producers are operating at a disadvantage to their U.S. counterparts, even within a NAFTA marketplace. Between 2001 and 2004 Canadian farm debt rose 18%. Canadian agriculture is on the verge of another crisis if interest rates were to sharply rise.

Given the inadequate or the lack of comparable government support in Canada, whether that support is in the form of direct payments or political pressure to access important markets, producers are turning to free enterprise solutions like value adding and vertical integration in order to earn desperately needed income. However, governments and for that matter producer organizations stand in the way of producers attempting to improve their financial situation. If not overtly than by their inaction governments and industry are forcing producers to keep sucking the subsidy teat instead of improving their lot through marketplace opportunities.

[r.reid]

Read my thread in "crop production and forage".

[madcow]

It is my understanding that the CFA asked for $5.7 billion in direct farm aid immediately ,just to cover the losses over the last three years. To offer 1 billion is nearly an insult.Yes I agree we need to develop Canadian processing and marketing to regain control of our cattle industry ( and we should pay closer attenyion to our other industries as well),but the primary producers need life support until we get there.I have three children and a debt load like many of the rest of you. I have a small diversified farm in Nova Scotia, cattle (45 cow-calf), 45 sheep, 15 acres of blueberries-( no off farm income )It has been enough to provide for us the last 15 years, we're squeezed pretty tight right now though.The CAIS program does NOT work here in the maritimes either
The provincial government here in N.S. deserves credit for their efforts, They threw in about $185 per cow between January /05 and final payment coming (don't forget $100 per cow in the fall of 03). Federal contribution here seems a bit lacking, considering the Federal Government's lack of ability to deal with the US with any real effectiveness has ,if not lead to this problem ,certainly not sped up the solutions process either.Lets make some noise!