QUESTION PERIOD — Agriculture and Agri-Food
AgriStability
November 3, 2020
Honourable senators, my question is for the government leader in the Senate.
Leader, last week I met with the National Cattle Feeders’ Association. Like everyone else in the agricultural industry, they are suffering tremendously from this pandemic. Inflation is up 47%. The price of finished cattle is up 50%. Feedlot input costs are up 70%. An MNP study estimates a 25,000-head feedlot will sustain a minimum of $6.5 million in losses this year. Less than half of this loss is covered by the AgriStability program, which caps at $3 million, leaving significant feedlot production exposed. Total cumulative losses from mid‑March to mid-October add up to $450 million.
Leader, when will the government respond to our hard-hit farmers and cattle feeders and increase the AgriStability cap, which has been stuck at $3 million for some 20 years and is not nearly enough in these highly unusual times?
Senator, thank you for the question. The government is very aware not only of the importance of the industry to which you refer but also of the challenges that industry and many others are facing. The government remains committed to providing assistance to the agricultural sector through various programs, which I’ve outlined in this chamber before. I don’t have the specific answer with regard to the change in the cap to which you refer. I’ll certainly make inquiries and report back.
The government seems to be aware of every problem that every industry is facing and seems to have a problem doing things about it.
Cattle feeders argue that the cap should be upwards of $20 million, leader, not $3 million. Leader, in the lead-up to this month’s meeting of federal and provincial agricultural ministers, can you tell us if the government has had any discussions about increasing the cap? Can you give us a sense of the number under consideration? And if you’re not considering increasing the cap, why not? And if you can’t give us those answers, could you please find out what those answers would be and report back to us?
Thank you. As Government Representative in the Senate, I’d be pleased to make those inquiries and report back.
