THE NEED FOR SCIENCE IN DECISION-MAKING
by Cam Dahl, Executive Director Grain Growers of Canada

Nothing is for certain in Ottawa, but it is quite likely that Canada will be in the midst of a national election by the time this article reaches your mailbox.

I know that many people in Canada have become somewhat cynical of the electoral process. This is evidenced by the declining percentage of us who turn out to vote. However, this is the best and most effective opportunity for you to change government policy.

Many ask, "what can one person do?" The answer is simply, "get involved." The more that candidates hear from grains and oilseed farmers during the campaign, the more likely it is that our concerns will be taken to Ottawa after the election.

The Grain Growers of Canada have discussed a number of critical policy areas with the leaders and policy developers from each of the political parties. The probability that these policy areas will be addressed after the election will be significantly increased, if you take similar messages to your local candidates.

This article will briefly outline some of the key issues that have been raised, and close with some suggestions for specific questions that should be addressed by your local candidates.

Agriculture Safety Nets
Grain and oilseed producers across Canada are suffering because commodity prices are depressed by foreign interference in the world market. For example, foreign subsidies cost grains and oilseed farmers at least $1.3 billion annually. The impact of tariff barriers must be added to this number.

The impact of foreign market interference has not been addressed in current safety net programs. Safety net programs will not meet the needs of our sector until this policy oversight is corrected.

Other critical areas of the new safety net program also need to be improved. Questions surrounding affordability and the capacity of the program to deal with long term declines in reference margins are just two examples.

International Trade Negotiations
It is vital for the future of Canadian grains and oilseed sector that the world reaches an agreement to liberalize agriculture trade. While the Uruguay round agreement did enact modest disciplines in the use of subsidies and tariffs, the key success of the last round was simply putting agriculture on the table. Substantial improvements still need to be made.

Because domestic prices for grains and oilseeds are determined by the world market, these distortions affect all grains and oilseed farmers, even if they do not deliver for export. Even the price for farm-to-farm sales is negatively impacted. For this reason, real progress at the international trade negotiations are vital to the future of our industry.

The benefits of real progress at the World Trade Organization (WTO) are significant. For example, the removal of the tariff barriers would add about $120 million to net returns from Ontario's corn, soybean and wheat production. The elimination of export subsidies and trade distorting domestic support could increase the market receipts by an average of $14,000 per year for each grain and oilseed farmer.

Environmental Initiatives
Innovative Canadian agriculture producers are already managing their cropland, rangeland and livestock feeding programs in ways that improve environmental sustainability. However, farmers are concerned that new, and unknown, regulatory regimes designed to accomplish environmental goals, will sharply curtail their ability to carry out their operations.

Farmers are looking to Canadian political leaders for assurances that our industry will not be asked to pay a disproportionate amount of the cost of environmental initiatives designed to benefit society as a whole.

Canadian farmers are also looking for policies that will encourage the development of a world-class bio-products industry (e.g., bio-diesel, ethanol, polylactic acid from corn starch, wheat straw fibreboard, etc.). Not only will the development of this new sector help Canada reach its environmental goals, it will help diversify and strengthen Canadian family farm income.

Regulatory Burden
In many cases Canada's regulatory environment presents competitive hurdles for Canadian farmers' agri-food businesses.

Amending regulations to remove these costly hurdles would cost the Government of Canada little, but would significantly improve the competitiveness of the Canadian grains and oilseed sector.

Pesticide regulations and the operations of the Pest Management Regulatory Agency provide a graphic example of one area where harmonization would significantly benefit grains and oilseed farmers. This issue has been raised by farmers for many years, and while there has been a few small steps in the right direction, we still have a long way to go before the negative impacts of the lack of harmonization are eliminated.

Suggested Questions for Candidates
Issues differ slightly from riding to riding as does the relationship each individual has with the various candidates. This will mean that your individual approach to the candidates may also differ. However, there are some basic agriculture policy questions that could be considered.
1. Do you and your party support the development of a safety net program that will address the harm done to Canadian farmers by foreign subsidies?
2. Grains and oilseed farmers have identified a number of shortcomings in the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF)'s safety net program. Two examples of problems are affordability questions for farmers and the inability of the new program to deal with steadily declining margins. Will you and your party commit to correcting these problems immediately after the election?
3. Grains and oilseed farmers depend upon the world market for prices as well as sales opportunities. Will you and your party commit to aggressively pursuing a WTO deal that will:
(a) significantly increase market access for grains, oilseeds, and their value added products;
(b) eliminate export subsidies; and
(c) provide significant reductions in trade distorting domestic support?
4. Will you and your party commit to ensuring that farmers' incomes will not be negatively impacted by environmental initiatives (e.g., greenhouse gas initiatives, environmental farm plans)?
5. Will you and your party commit to actively bringing forward policies that will streamline and harmonize pesticide management and regulatory decisions between Canada and the U.S?

During the writ period you are going to be approached by candidates from all parties. You will also have an opportunity to attend all candidate meetings in your local communities. At all of these encounters the candidates will be looking to individual voters for ideas and direction. A frequent and consistent message from grains and oilseed farmers from across Canada will have a real influence the direction policies take.