Featured News
Prioritizing agriculture: Nater, Pettapiece attend PCFA Forum
March 16, 2018
After participating in the annual Perth County Federation of Agriculture (PCFA) Forum, Perth-Wellington MP John Nater and MPP Randy Pettapiece agreed: Our area is extremely fortunate to have such capable and successful producers representing the industry.
“While there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding international trade and NAFTA, it is always encouraging to hear from farm and agriculture leaders about their optimism for the industry,” Nater said. “The information and feedback received today will be valuable as I continue to represent local farmers and farm families in what is Ontario’s largest industry.”
Producers, federation members and other groups weighed in on issues including business risk management programs, trade agreements, labour market concerns, transportation, rural broadband, food processing capacity, and proposed changes to the Canada Food Guide, to name a few.
“I’ve always believed that government should listen to producers—not try to tell them how to run their business,” Pettapiece added. “Too often, Queen’s Park takes a ‘government-knows-best’ attitude.”
In discussing risk management programs, one participant pointed out: “Our third-biggest risk is government regulations!” If producers don’t know what’s coming, he added, they can’t plan for that.
Dairy industry representatives spoke about proposed changes to the Canada Food Guide, which could mean the elimination of dairy from the guide. If approved, the move could have serious repercussions on an industry employing 70,000 people in Ontario.
Other proposed changes to front-of-package labelling could mean a package of yogurt may come with a warning label—even though a can of diet pop or bag of potato chips would have no such label.
International trade agreements were top-of-mind for many commodity groups. They cited ongoing uncertainty over NAFTA, and the lack of any clear timeline to ratify CPTPP—the new free trade agreement involving 11 countries, including Canada.
“Understandably, local producers have concerns over market access and what to expect in the future,” Nater said.
Both Nater and Pettapiece thanked PCFA president Robert Martin for moderating the forum, and all organizers and participants for their contributions.
