New Farmers -

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.

The federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture met last month to discuss and agree on the key priorities of the next Agricultural Policy Framework (APF), now being called the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, set to replace Growing Forward 2 in April of 2018. With its guiding vision of “Innovate, Grow, Prosper”, the framework unfortunately appears to be following the same path as previous policy frameworks, founded in an export-oriented growth imperative that assumes when it comes to the future of Canadian agriculture, bigger is necessarily better.

Increase in young women farmers offers glimmer of hope in otherwise troubling snapshot of Canadian Agriculture. The number of farms in Canada continues to decline, down nearly 6% from 2011, while the average age of farmers continues to rise.

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.