(OTTAWA) – To go along with the government’s newly-announced “Agri” suite of programs, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is proposing a new component for the next generation of agriculture policy: the AgriFlex Program. This program will establish federal funding to support cost-shared regional agriculture programs that meet the broad national goals of the overall policy framework.

“Canadian farmers need national programs like AgriInvest and AgriStability, which set broad overarching goals for our industry. But we also need to be able to tailor-make programs that meet unique regional needs within those broad national goals. That is why CFA is proposing AgriFlex,” said Bob Friesen, CFA President.

CFA’s proposed AgriFlex Program would be defined as:A new federal funding envelope to develop new programs, Business Risk Management (BRM) and non-BRM (e.g. environmental or food safety programs), to address regional needs within broad, overarching national objectives, that are cost shared federally and provincially. Including flexibility within existing national BRM and non-BRM programs  for regional administration, delivery and allocation of funds.

“Farmers have been very clear with us: they want this Agri-Flex Program,” said Friesen. “And there are a lot of good regional programs and program ideas out there across the country that are benefiting or would benefit the farmers in those regions, while still moving agriculture forward nationally. Those deserve federal support in our national policy framework.”

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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.