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Program failing young farmers: Hardeman QUEEN’S PARK – Today in the Ontario Legislature Ernie Hardeman, MPP for Oxford and Agriculture critic questioned the Minister of Agriculture and Food, on the failure of her program to get help to young and expanding farmers in need. “We are hearing from young farmers that went into beef or pork in the last two years and were hit hard in 2007 by a rapidly increasing dollar,” said Hardeman. “Those are some of the farmers that need the most help and those are the ones who are disqualified or receiving next to nothing under this poorly designed program.” In the 2007 fall economic statement the Minister of Finance announced a $150 million program to assist horticulture, beef and pork producers with “higher input costs, the stronger Canadian dollar and lower market prices.” The program uses 2000 to 2004 as reference years to calculate the annual allowable net sales. For new farmers this time period is unlikely to be an accurate reflection of the size of their operation and the income lost due to the high dollar. In addition the qualifying years of 2005 and 2006 prevent farmers who went into pork or beef in 2007 or were just expanding in the previous two years from qualifying for the program. “Because they are using old qualifying and reference years and do not have an application process, not only are young farmers getting excluded, but farmers that have been out of the pig business for several years are receiving cheques,” said Hardeman. While questioning the Minister, Hardeman used the example of the Veyhof family in Oxford who are struggling to feed their four children and keep the farm and are not receiving any support under the current program. If the program calculations were done at December 31, 2007, based on the program average they would have received $138,000. In contrast a neighbour who sold his pigs approximately two years ago received a cheque for $80,000. During question period Hardeman asked: “Minister, how many retired people in Florida received cheques to help them feed pigs that they don’t have?”
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