Canadian farmers are not celebrating

(OTTAWA) – Today is Food Freedom Day – the calendar date when, according to statistics, the average Canadian consumer has earned enough income to pay his or her individual grocery bill for the entire year. In past years Canadian farmers have used this date to promote to Canadian consumers the fact they enjoy one of the highest quality, safest, and lowest cost food baskets in the world. This year, as the farm income crisis continues to deepen, farmers wonder how much longer they will be able to continue to provide Canadians with that invaluable service.

“Food Freedom Day should be a day to celebrate. But it is difficult to celebrate when each passing year, each passing month, pushes more Canadian farmers into bankruptcy and off the farm,” said Bob Friesen, President of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA).

Canadian farmers continue to take only a very small percentage of the consumers’ food dollar at the grocery store. The box of corn flakes that cost almost $3.50 in the grocery store pays only $0.11 to the farmer who grew the corn. At the same time, responding to consumer demand, Canadian farmers have dramatically increased the environmental sustainability of their operations, and have implemented programs to ensure the safety of food right from the farm gate. The cost for those public benefits is not carried by governments or the consumer, but by farmers alone.

“Inexpensive food is a good thing. Safe, quality food doubly so.  But if the cost for that continues to rest solely on the shoulders of farmers, our backs will break,” said Friesen. “When that happens, the food on our store shelves will come, not from Canadian farmers, but from elsewhere. If we rely on other countries to grow all our food, we are walking on thin ice. A homegrown food supply is a cornerstone of sovereignty.”

This Food Freedom Day the Canadian Federation of Agriculture calls on the newly-elected Government of Canada to work with industry to develop its proposal for a Canadian Farm Bill, which seeks short, medium and long-term strategic solutions to end the farm income crisis.

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Founded in 1935 to provide Canada's farmers with a single voice in Ottawa, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is the country's largest farmers' organization. Its members include provincial general farm organizations as well as national and inter-provincial commodity organizations from every province. Through its members, CFA represents over 200,000 Canadian farmers and farm families.