New Farmers - content

Les ministres de l’agriculture des niveaux fédéral, provinciaux et territoriaux se sont rencontrés le mois dernier afin de discuter et de convenir des priorités clés du prochain cadre stratégique pour l’agriculture. Avec une vision directrice d’ “innovation, croissance, prospérité”, ce cadre stratégique paraît malheureusement suivre la même voie que ces prédécesseurs créés avec l’impératif de croissance orientée vers l’exportation, ce qui suppose que lorsqu’il est question de l’avenir de l’agriculture canadienne, plus gros veut nécessairement dire meilleur.

Le recensement de l’agriculture 2016, publié aujourd’hui par Statistiques Canada (mercredi 10 mai 2017), illustre plusieurs tendances préoccupantes dans notre système alimentaire. Le nombre de fermes au Canada continue de diminuer, il y en a près de 6% de moins qu’en 2011, tandis que la moyenne d’âge des fermiers continue d’augmenter.

The New Farmer Initiative was a pan-Canadian network of Food Secure Canada (2010-2017) bringing together groups and stakeholders working to advance the success and sustainability of small-scale local organic and ecological farmers in Canada. We inspire, equip and mobilize stakeholders to reduce the barriers new local ecological farmers face, such as access to land, capital and training.

In 2017, the governments of Scotland and Canada will launch consultations towards new legislation for their food systems. What can we learn from each other about becoming good food nations?

As we move into the new year, the negotiations and conversations around the Federal-Provincial Agricultural Policy Framework will heat up, and now, more than ever, we need to show our provincial and federal governments that supporting new farmers is a top priority.

The agricultural input industry is already highly concentrated with the “Big Six” (Syngenta, Dow, DuPont, Monsanto, Bayer, and BASF) controlling 75% of agricultural input sales globally. But the players are going to be even fewer if these corporate giants are allowed to pursue a series of mergers and acquisitions that will transform the sector.

"The Earls situation is highly visible, but is just one of the opportunities our farmers have lost due to the lack of alternatives in Canada’s system" says Emery Huszka, President of the National Farmers Union in Ontario.