AG Department Criticized for Failing to Offer COVID-19 Financial Impact on Farmers Estimate

Conservative agriculture critic John Barlow says he’s disappointed with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) failure to provide an estimate of the financial impact of COVID-19 on Canadian producers, arguing it contributes to the view that farmers are being left behind by Ottawa’s response to the pandemic

by Rachel Emmanuel – iPolitics

Barlow’s comments came after he received a response this week from federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau to his order paper question asking if her department or Farm Credit Canada, Canada’s largest agricultural term lender, had conducted an analysis on projected farm income loss by sector as a result of the pandemic.

In a written response, signed by Bibeau, AAFC said while it regularly forecasts the short-term financial situation for primary agriculture, it’s not possible to fully isolate the impacts of COVID-19 from other drivers, including the “macroeconomic situation, underlying supply and demand fundamentals, and growing conditions.”

“With an issue this substantial, there should be some time given to it”

 

Conservative MP John Barlow talks to media during a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday, March 1, 2018. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

“While COVID-19 has impacted things like meat processing capacity, labour availability (such as temporary foreign workers), and disruptions to general economic activity and trade throughout the world, we are not able to isolate COVID-19 specific impacts on their own,” the response read.

Barlow said this response “reads like excuses” and the department should be consulting industry groups who’ve been studying the pandemic’s impact on their sectors.

“With an issue this substantial, there should be some time given to it,” he told iPolitics.

In an interview, Keith Currie, the first vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA), acknowledged that it’s difficult for farmers to determine their COVID-19-related losses with many relevant sectors affected. He said restaurants, processing and the hospitality industry all affect the bottom line for primary agriculture.

As well, he said cattle and pork farmers losing value on livestock that isn’t being processed on time may not be certain what the final outcome will be.

“To try and nail that down is probably going to be pretty tough right now,” said Currie, who’s also the president of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

But, Currie said the department could have asked individual commodity organizations for an estimate of the pandemic’s impact to help guide a federal assessment.

“[The losses] are going to be significant,” he said.

In response to a query from iPolitics, AAFC did specify whether they consulted with agriculture commodity groups for an estimate of financial losses created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The department said it has been continuously engaging with agriculture and agri-food stakeholders to exchange information and more fully understand the impacts of COVID-19 to inform decision-making on emergency responses. As well, AAFC claimed to have had about 60 calls with industry representatives since March 16, with approximately 700 industry stakeholders invited to each conference call.

“In addition to the broad stakeholder calls, AAFC has also been in direct contact with individual organizations/firms on specific issues and impacts,” said AAFC spokesperson James Watson. “The situation continues to evolve and we continue to engage regularly with the sector.”

The federal government announced a $252 million aid package for agriculture producers in May, far short of the $2.6 billion the CFA estimated would be needed to respond to challenges created by the pandemic.

Farmers told the House of Commons agriculture committee that more emergency aid is needed, especially funding outside of credit. Bibeau has said the $252 million must be used before she can ask cabinet for additional spending.

In May, Rick Bergmann, the president of the Canadian Pork Council, which represents 7,000 producers in Canada, told the committee that the council’s “conservative estimates” show producers will lose at least $30 for each hog they sell in 2020, with some regions eating a $50 loss per head because of overall damage to the market.

At the same meeting, René Roy, first vice-chair of the council’s board of directors and a producer in Quebec, said there was a backlog of over 100,000 pigs in Ontario and Quebec due to delays at facilities caused by outbreaks of the novel coronavirus.

Ryan Koeslag, CEO of the Canadian Mushrooms Growers’ Association, also told the committee that its 52 companies it represents have spent more on housing, transportation, personal protective equipment and hygiene management supervision at a cost of $240,000 a week.

“We don’t care where the funding comes from, but right now, nothing has been received,” Koeslag said in late May.

Farm Credit Canada was also included in the order paper response, and said its analysis was limited by data from only some provinces that was not broken down by sector and based on limited 2019 statistics.

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