(OTTAWA) – The Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) is extremely disappointed to see Canada’s agriculture ministers make no new progress on details for reforming the CAIS program to address issues such as declining margins and flexibility. The CFA remains optimistic that ministers acknowledged work needs to continue to ‘identify and address gaps and make improvements in the business risk management suite’ but it must be made clear that progress must be made immediately.

“The WTO is deadlocked. The US and EU can continue their huge trade-distorting subsidies. Canadian farmers are in the three worst years of farm income in Canadian history.” said Bob Friesen, President of the CFA. “Yet, we stand here today with no further details in adequately reforming a program that cannot compete or even be predictable. I don’t know how many times farmers need to say it, a safety net that is not predictable or bankable is not a safety net at all.”

The membership of the CFA, representing farm families from across Canada, agree that CAIS does not work for all commodities in all regions. A safety nets program must be predictable and bankable for farmers, be flexible to accommodate regional needs, and address the issues of declining margins and high foreign subsidies. The CFA however, is not only voicing concerns with CAIS but also being proactive in proposing solutions to the problem. The proposed CFA solutions can help to achieve those goals and need not cost governments more money.

“Work on a catastrophe program and production insurance is good but CAIS is the main program for producers. The Minister said himself a ‘margin-based’ program is not sufficient to address the needs of the entire industry. CAIS still doesn’t work for all commodities and all regions. The industry is still waiting for governments to make good on the commitment to give farmers a safety nets program that is predictable and bankable,” said Friesen.

“Producers have been proactive in proposing solutions to improve programming that need not cost governments more. It can be a win-win situation yet we continue to delay. We are in a worse farm income crisis today than the Great Depression. We cannot stress it enough – the time for change is now.”

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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.