Lawrence MacAulay, minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

“Canada’s grain and oilseeds industry is a competitive and efficient sector, known around the world for producing high-quality, safe and sustainable foods,” said Lawrence MacAulay, minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “Providing our farmers with the tools they need to mitigate risk helps strengthen farm businesses, creating jobs, helping to drive our economy.”

The first investment of C$197,400 is earmarked for Soy Canada, which will use the funds to develop a profile of the soybean industry, including the current and potential risks producers face in both the short and long term. Soy Canada is a national organization that represents every group involved in the development, production, handling, processing and transport of soybeans.

“Although soybean production in Canada increased by a phenomenal 131% during the past decade, and now ranks third in terms of farm cash receipts, the continued success of the sector is directly contingent upon overcoming a series of significant challenges,” said Ron Davidson, executive director of Soy Canada. “The Agri-Risk Assessment and Mitigation Report not only identified and catalogued 11 notable threats, the clear ranking of the potential magnitude of each risk provides a solid benchmark for determining the future allocation of sector resources. Soy Canada is already prioritizing its resources on addressing the top two risks that were identified by the assessment: market access and protein content.”

The second investment, of C$158,310, has been provided to the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO). The funds will be used for a feasibility study on revenue declines not currently covered under the agency’s business risk management programs. The GFO is the province’s largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean, and wheat farmers. The crops cover 6 million acres of farm land across the province, generate over C$2.5 billion in farm gate receipts and create over 40,000 jobs in the province.

“The current risk management suite of programs are due for a refresh,” said Markus Haerle, chairman of the GFO. “There is need to improve agriculture policy and programs to enhance the economic, environmental, and social contributions of farming in Canada. The revenue risk management project funded by AAFC is an important step to help define, not only the issues of modern farming, but to start to explore updated and new programs that will work for today's grain and oilseeds farmers in the same way Crop Insurance works.”