A coalition of Alberta commodity groups as well as the Grain Farmers of Ontario sent requests directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because the issue is so critical to their members they couldn’t wait until an agriculture minister is named.

The Prime Minister’s Office redirected the requests to Agriculture Canada but the government knows the challenges farmers are facing right now, said spokeswoman Justine Lesage.

A review of the business risk management programs will be undertaken early in the new year “focused on competitiveness issues in trade exposed industries, such as agriculture,” she said.

President Marcus Hearle of Grain Farmers of Ontario, said the added costs were the last thing farmers need after a hard year.

“Markets, prices and weather have combined to create a combination of stressors for farmers that some farms won’t be able to manage,” he said. “Prices are depressed from the U.S.-China trade war, China’s refusal to buy soybeans, extreme weather events that created a difficult growing season and a harvest delayed across the province.”

The government should immediately revoke the carbon tax farmers are forced to pay when drying grain, he said. Farmers across the country can’t afford the extra cost “when markets and harvest conditions are so challenging.”

Paying the tax leaves farmers unable to invest in technologies that can combat climate change, he said.

Alberta crop groups have dubbed 2019 as the “Harvest from Hell” and they want “aggressive action from governments on serious economic hardships facing farmers.”

Heavy snow has trapped a big portion of the Prairie crop in the fields. On top of that ongoing, major trade disruptions are still blocking farm exports into important global markets, the existing business risk management programs are ill equipped to mitigate these issues and the federal carbon tax will be imposed on Jan. 1.

“This is the kind of uncertainty that’s bigger than farm business cash flow,” said Gary Stanford, chair of Alberta Wheat. “The weight of these combined challenges starts to threaten farmers’ mental health.”

Keith Currie, vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, said, “While the concern regarding the need for an exemption of farm fuels for drying isn’t new, the difficult weather and challenging market conditions are putting significant financial stress on farms across Canada.

“When coupled with the myriad of trade disruptions beyond producers’ control, an exemption on fuels for heating and drying presents an opportunity to help at least slightly reduce the overall financial challenges farmers are trying to manage their way through.”

The Alberta groups want immediate adjustments to the AgriStability program to cover losses starting at 85 per cent of reference margins and to remove Reference Margin Limits in time for the 2020 harvest.

They also want the federal government to exempt farmers from the carbon tax on all farm fuels used for irrigating and grain drying, which has added extensive costs during this difficult harvest. Marked farm fuel is already exempt.

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Since the free trade agreement with Europe came into effect nearly two years ago, European beef shipments to Canada have risen from 1,719 tonnes in 2016 to 3,237 tonnes in 2018, and 2,641 tonnes for the first five months of 2019, the association said. Meanwhile, Canadian exports to the EU have grown from 340 tonnes in 2016 to 1,059 tonnes in 2018, with 653 tonnes reported in the first five months of 2019.

The gap on value is much narrower than on volume — with the EU selling $18.9 million of beef to Canada in 2018 and Canada selling $15.5 million to the EU.

The CCA said it’s optimistic about the future sales and that sales representatives in Europe report that they have turned a corner from introducing EU meat buyers to the benefits of Canadian beef to now having it become a regular product in several restaurants and retail chains in the U.K., Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Sweden. They stressed that their main constraint to selling more Canadian beef in the EU is the limited supply of EU-eligible cattle in Canada.

However, Canada’s shipments have been hindered by EU rules restricting the use of growth promoters.

The solution lies with encouraging more Canadian veterinarians to be authorized by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to oversee enrolment of cattle in the EU’s Growth Enhancing Product (GEP) Free Program or utilizing VBP+ auditors to oversee and certify young cattle as GEP free. The CFIA would have to translate that proposal into workable protocols that the EU officials would accept, the CCA said.

Doing so could create an additional market for 400,000 to 500,000 beef and 200,000 dairy cull cows which are available every year. But they currently can’t be certified as GEP free because veterinarians can’t certify they’ve overseen the animals during their whole lives.

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“Price volatility, higher input costs and weather-related challenges in many parts of the country over the past year took a toll on Canadian net cash income in 2018,” said J.P. Gervais.

“With little chance of real growth in commodity prices this year and possibly higher farm input costs, Canadian farmers will need to properly evaluate the outlook for profitability along with the associated risks.

“Risk management will become an even more significant component of success.”

Even with the uncertainty, Gervais remains upbeat.

“If there’s a silver lining to the cloud of uncertainty that hung over the sector last year, it’s that this coming year may be the start of something bigger and better.”

The long-term outlook for Canadian agriculture remains positive since consumer demand for food at home and abroad is still robust, he said. The European, North American and Pacific trade agreements should help while ongoing trade disruptions between the U.S. and China could possibly open new markets at the same time.

“Disruptions can pave the way for new trade flows, which could be positive,” he said. “But global trade tensions also have the potential to slow growth in the world economy. They can upset the status quo, and potentially impact the demand for Canadian ag commodities and food, and that’s never comfortable.”

While the world is better positioned than a decade ago to absorb potential weather-related supply shocks, higher production is still needed to meet rising food demands, he said.

“Canadian producers of both animal and plant-based protein stand to gain buyers both at home and abroad as markets around the world are embracing a wide variety of protein products. This trend will continue in 2019 and beyond, as plant and animal proteins serve different segments of the global market.”

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Now they want Marc Garneau to get working and ensure the bill is passed before Parliament’s summer break.

• Read more: Farmers seek ‘urgent’ action from Senate on rail service

“Along with support from (Agriculture) Minister (Lawrence) MacAulay, Minister Garneau’s commitment to the amendments we pressed for is promising news,” said Jason Lenz, Alberta Barley chair. “With grain still backlogged across several regions in Western Canada, we strongly encourage the House to pass the amended legislation as quickly as possible so we can avoid similar circumstances this harvest. Bill C-49 as amended offers the mechanisms we need to see that happen.”

Both crop commissions said an amendment ensuring improved access to long-haul interswitching was key. They also noted they have been lobbying for reciprocal penalties (which would punish railways for not delivering promised rail cars) “for several years.”

Other Senate amendments include giving the Canadian Transportation Agency power to investigate rail service issues, and including soybeans and related products in the maximum revenue entitlement program.

Garneau also promised more useful waybill and transportation performance data for shippers to assist in negotiating confidential contracts. Transport Canada will work with the Agriculture and Natural Resources departments to organize a meeting with shipper groups “before the summer to discuss these provisions and how you may be able to use them to their maximum effectiveness.”

As well, there will be a ‘data workshop’ to collect shipper views under the transport bill to ensure “that regulations are developed in a way that meets the needs of interested parties.”

Parliament is scheduled to start its summer break in June, although it could be extended by a couple of weeks. It won’t resume until Sept. 17.

The transport bill is just one of the government’s legislative headaches. It’s still trying to get its hefty budget bill approved by the Commons so it can be passed on to the Senate and bringing in legislation to ratify Canada’s membership in the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. A wide swath of agri-food groups want that measure passed quickly so Canada enjoys the full benefits of membership in the trade alliance.

On top of those issues the government is struggling to find a solution to the dispute over the Trans-Mountain pipeline expansion including possible legislation to authorize the project as well as ongoing uncertainty over its marijuana legalization plans.

Railway service delays have led to major cash flow concerns, steep financial penalties, and risks to farmers’ international customer base, Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett said. Farmers need assurance this summer’s crop will be reliably delivered to grain terminals in ports as well as other customers.

“Seeding season has already started, and producers need certainty to plan for delivering next year’s crop. We are hopeful that the amended bill will be passed into law without further delay.”

Grain Growers president Jeff Nielsen said the Senate “heard farmers’ voices and did its job and provided sober second thought.” The amendments “will provide meaningful tools that the shippers need to hold railways to account, increase competition and bring better rail service to the grain industry.”

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Olds-area farmer Jeff Nielsen travelled with other farm leaders to Ottawa at the start of the month in a bid to get the government to crack a whip and get the railways moving more grain to port.

But the group didn’t meet with federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, said Nielsen, who is president of the Grain Growers of Canada.

“He isn’t as in tune on this file as grain producers would like him to be,” he said. “That’s where our frustration lies. Transportation is a key factor when it comes to agriculture and moving our products into position, and that hasn’t resonated with him unfortunately.”

Alarmed by MacAulay’s lack of action, Nielsen and other farm leaders made a public appeal for help at a press conference in Ottawa. Opposition ag critics said they would seek an emergency meeting of the Commons ag committee to “address the worst grain backlog in years.”

However, MacAulay responded by saying he and Transport Minister Marc Garneau “have contacted CN to indicate how serious it is, and that it needs to move grain faster. I have spoken to grain farmers, and indicated to them that we are fully aware of the seriousness of the situation.”

At the press conference, Nielsen said the situation sends a big signal to foreign buyers about Canada’s reliability as a grain supplier. The priority is to prevent the kind of grain crisis Western Canada suffered in the winter of 2013-14, the farm leaders said. The then Conservative government resorted to an order-in-council to impose minimum grain movement numbers and stiff fines on the railways to make sure they were respected. The Liberal government did not renew that special cabinet order because measures in its transport modernization bill were designed to achieve stronger shipper protection.

But that bill is currently under study by the Senate transport committee, which has concerns about other sections of the sweeping legislation it’s contained in. Parliament is now on break and Nielsen said it will be mid-April at earliest before it can be passed — with additional time needed for approval of the regulations that will give its provisions teeth.

Meanwhile the Ag Transport Coalition said in its Week 30 report that CN and CP had “the poorest order fulfilment performance to date.”

• Read more: Tepid rail service cripples farmer deliveries on Prairies

“CN and CP combined enter Week 31 with 5,383 outstanding orders — a 36 per cent increase (+1,400) from the position entering Week 30 (which ended Feb. 25),” said the coalition’s report.

CN was easily the worst of the two railways, and for the second week in a row delivered only 17 per cent of the rail cars that grain shippers ordered.

• Read more: CN apologizes as farm groups, Ottawa press on rail service

The railway’s poor performance appeared to be the main reason for the abrupt exit of CEO Luc Jobin. In announcing his departure on March 5, CN’s board said it “recognizes the immediate operational and customer service challenges the company has been facing since fall 2017 — led by high demand and insufficient network resiliency, coupled with severe winter weather conditions.”

A turnaround can’t come soon enough, said Nielsen, because the cost to Prairie farmers mounts by the day. He sits on a government advisory board called the Crop Logistics Working Group and reports to that group are not good.

“We’re hearing that grain companies are having to put off sales, and they’re not accepting new contracts. And if ships are sitting empty out in the harbour, they’re charging a fee to grain companies that basically gets passed to us in our basis.”

When asked what kind of financial impact that might have on grain growers, Nielsen said, “That’s the million-dollar question. It’s really individual.”

He cited operating lines of credit as an example. He said Farm Credit Canada’s lines of credit expired in the middle of this month and are supposed to be paid off in full by then. But farmers who haven’t been able to deliver grain because of the rail backlog may not be able to do that, said Nielsen.

“So even if your grain is in the bin for the upcoming year, if you haven’t paid off last year’s line of credit, you’re going to get nailed with higher interest rates from that, and you won’t be able to access that credit.”

Young farmers are also vulnerable because their cash flow is usually much tighter, he added.

“Landlords don’t care if you couldn’t move the grain,” said Nielsen. “Come rent day, the rent is due.”

– With staff files

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The spread of plant diseases — particularly clubroot — as well as weeds means farmers are paying more attention to the issue, said Norm Hall, vice-president of the Agriculture Producers Association of Saskatchewan.

“The issue has really come to a head in the last 10 years,” said Hall. “It had been lurking in the shadows out here for some time.”

The big concern is that outsiders coming into a field — whether they’re hunting or working or even trespassing — could spread infected soil to another field. Hall’s organization is pushing for the Saskatchewan government to toughen and enforce trespassing laws on hunters and recreational uses.

“In their current form, they’re no deterrent,” said Hall, who is also a vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture. “It would take a $10,000 fine to get the public’s attention.”

Because of the spread of clubroot, growers are regularly reminded of the need to clean tillage or harvesting equipment as they switch fields and to ensure custom operators do as well. They also need to make sure pipeline and utility workers follow biosecurity practices too when they come on farmland.

Manitoba farmer Les Routledge, who is trying to raise awareness of the threat to crop health from trespassers, said he started with biosecurity for his livestock.

“As I learned more about risk management procedures, I also adopted biosecurity procedures on my cropland and forage land,” he said.

“That action really annoyed some hunters and recreational people, but the risk of spreading crop disease to my clean land was too much risk to take.”

He noted professional crop scouts disinfect their boots between fields or use disposable booties to minimize the risk of spreading crop diseases between fields.

Biosecurity “definitely is an issue” for some Alberta farmers, said Keith Gabert, an agronomist in the Canola Council of Canada’s Central Alberta South region.

“I have talked to growers who come back and say, ‘There are duck hunters in my area who come back each and every year. Some of them are coming from areas that are of higher clubroot than my area,’” said Gabert.

But bigger threat is from larger equipment travelling to oil leases or working on power lines and utility polls alongside fields, he said.

“Most talks have been with industry or with your own equipment,” he said. “We know that not every piece of equipment or vehicle has the same risk, but it just boils down to management risk and understanding what the issue could be.” — With staff files

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“The foundation for Canada’s fresh produce supply chain is made up of approximately 25,000 small-, medium- and large-size farms that produce vegetables, fruits and potatoes,” he told the Commons agriculture committee. “The produce industry is one of narrow margins with little bandwidth to absorb rising costs.

“It’s critical to the sustainability of the industry that research and innovation enable the industry to increase its productivity and reduce costs.”

There are fears within the industry that the research funding model of 75 per cent government and 25 per cent industry funding could be terminated by the federal and provincial governments.

“There is little ability in our industry to increase the dollars devoted to these research projects at this time,” said Lemaire. “A decrease in the ratio of the government contribution for research projects will only have an effect of decreasing the number of projects overall.”

With the introduction of regulations to implement the Safe Food for Canadian Act imminent, the agri-food industry is looking for support “to meet the new requirements being delivered in the coming years,” Lemaire said.

“Given the substantial investment that our federal and provincial governments will be making under this framework, it is important to ensure that the regulatory burdens are not counterproductive to our efforts. A responsive, science-based regulatory framework that allows for the timely approval of new ingredients, product and processes, is essential.”

The industry also has international market access concerns for fresh produce because of the non-tariff barriers related to food safety or plant health it faces. “Industry alone cannot meet the requirements of foreign governments in these areas.”

As well, pest-management products being used in other countries are being deregistered here and without new plant-protection tools, it’ll be “hard for our growers to be competitive,” he said.

He said that in 2013, the fresh fruit and vegetable sector supported over 147,000 jobs, created $11.4 billion in real GDP and contributed $1.3 billion in personal income tax and $840 million in corporate taxes.

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“To ensure success during this crop year, the broader supply chain must work together to collectively harness our energy so that the entire Canadian economy can reap the maximum benefit,” said CP CEO Hunter Harrison. “We have been preparing for this crop year for months and we are ready.

“The grain supply chain in Canada, like most efficient supply chains, works best when demand is well distributed throughout the year. The rail supply chain has returned to normal since the extraordinary crop and winter of 2013-14 and CP has continued to move record amounts of grain. This means there is now excess capacity in the supply chain, including thousands of rail cars in storage ready to move the latest crop.”

Meanwhile CN says it’s “fully prepared to move the coming Western Canada grain harvest safely and efficiently over the crop year. CN has the motive power, freight cars and people to do the job.

“At the same time, the entire Canadian grain supply chain, from Prairie elevators to terminals at West Coast ports, will need to work collaboratively and at full capacity throughout 2016-17 to move the crop,” CN spokesman Mark Hallman adds. “CN will be operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week to do its part.

“CN’s operating plan is designed to enhance rail network capacity and to provide efficient hopper car cycle times between origin and destination. With the assets, team and solid operating plan in place, CN is ready to move its share of the coming crop to market.”

Meanwhile Wade Sobkowich, Western Grain Elevator Association executive director, says overall grain shippers are entering this crop year with an optimistic outlook.

“Many conditions are different than those which existed in 2013, such as less demand for shipping in other sectors and an early acknowledgment of the large crop size,” Sobkowich said.

Back in June, the WGEA sent a letter to the railways and the federal government noting that the Prairies were heading toward a harvest between 63 million and 74 million tonnes with more than additional eight million tonnes carry-over.

“We felt it important to provide both railways with as much advance notice of these projections as possible, so you may ensure enough capacity is available to meet shipper demand for the upcoming crop year,” Sobkowich said.

While the comments from CP and CN are encouraging, disconnects remain between the grain companies and the railways. Sobkowich points out while the railways call for 24-7 operation of grain terminals, that “will do nothing more than result in more sitting around and waiting for cars to arrive, and impose an unnecessary cost burden to the entire industry.” The important element is speedy unloading of rail cars once they are delivered.

“Grain facilities do not sit idle unless it is because they do not have rail cars,” he says. “When rail cars are presented at port terminal facilities, with appropriate notice and with a regular and consistent cadence, they are unloaded by terminal operators in a timely way.”

The grain companies communicate their delivery requirements “to both railways on a regular and frequent basis, so the railways have a good understanding of grain shippers’ collective demand on a week-to-week basis.” The companies need to know “in advance the capacity it will be offering in the various weeks, in each of the corridors.”

Grain companies face penalties from the railways if they fail to load and unload rail cars in a timely way, or if they do not use rail cars provided to the elevator, he said.

“This places accountability on grain shippers to perform.”

Currently, the railways are not held financially accountable if they don’t meet their delivery commitments, he added.

Harrison urged the grain companies to make more use of Thunder Bay to relieve the pressure on the Port of Metro Vancouver.

Sobkowich says grain companies make sales in a way that returns as much value for grains, oilseeds and pulse crops as possible and pointed out the delivery route should be a decision made by the shipper, who is the customer of the railways.

“That is not for the railways to dictate, that is for us to decide,” Sobkowich said.

Thus far, federal cabinet ministers say they are monitoring the situation but for now are leaving it to the railways and grain companies to deal with any issues.

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The agreement was reached during meetings in Charlottetown following a year of talks, which followed previous attempts to open a dialogue over pricing and other issues.

Details of the agreement won’t be released until dairy farmers and companies have had time to review and ratify it, the two sides said in a statement. The anticipated implementation date is Sept. 1.

“As our dairy industry operates under supply management, it is important that farmers and processors work together to be responsive to the evolution of the market, and this is exactly what this agreement in principle is all about,” Jacques Lefebvre, CEO of the Dairy Processors Association of Canada, said in a release.

The agreement includes an understanding on ingredient pricing, which has been the subject of protests on Parliament Hill and at Quebec dairy plants.

An agreement would be a major break for Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, whose assurance the government was working on a long-term strategy for the dairy sector — and a solution to the contentious imports of U.S. diafiltered milk — was wearing thin after he didn’t meet a June 3 deadline.

MacAulay has said he’ll meet with the industry to discuss that issue, as well as challenges following the possible ratification of the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

The deal would allow a 17,700-tonne increase in European cheese imports, about four per cent of the Canadian cheese market. The cheese is made from milk which is heavily subsidized by European governments.

Compensation for increased tariff-free European cheese imports was promised by the Harper government but never worked out. When no plan was included in the March 22 federal budget, dairy farmers said they were worried the new government was backing away from compensation.

When asked about that concern after the budget’s release, MacAulay said the government remained committed to compensation as part of the goal of getting the trade deal ratified this year so it can be implemented in 2017.

DFC says the increased European imports amount to an annual loss of between $110 million and $150 million a year in revenues and market share for Canadian dairy farmers.

— Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and parliamentary press gallery reporter in Ottawa.

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Whoever Justin Trudeau selects will find Gerry Ritz a tough act to follow. During his eight years in the portfolio, he has put an increasing production and export stamp on the industry. And he caught a lucky bounce with strong commodity prices although the livestock sector had tough times.

Ritz flew around the globe more times than anyone can count promoting Canadian farm and food products. He can recite seemingly endless facts and figures about Canadian agri-food. He did a lot to convince the agriculture and food sectors into realizing they are partners in one of Canada’s most significant industries.

Despite his accomplishments and the support he gathered in the agri-food sector, he rarely received the credit he deserved from his own government. After all he did to promote the would-be Canada-Europe free trade deal, he wasn’t included in the herd of ministers who announced its completion.

The only veteran members of the Trudeau team with a connection to agriculture are Ralph Goodale, a former ag minister and the party’s deputy leader, and Wayne Easter. He has deep roots in farming and cabinet experience which will likely land him a senior cabinet post. Mark Eyking was the Liberal agriculture critic for the last few years but his Nova Scotia riding is too far removed from mainstream Canadian agriculture. He’s expected to land a regional portfolio.

Insiders note that Trudeau, who made a good impression on delegates in an address to the annual meeting of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture in 2014, thinks of the agri-food sector as an agriculture, food and consumer continuum. As he has mostly urban MPs, he may have no choice but to select an urban MP.

The insiders expect the Liberals’ food platform, released during the campaign, will become required reading for everyone in the sector.

Ritz, who was first elected in 1997, served as Reform ag critic, then the Conservative chair of the Commons agriculture committee before being appointed to cabinet. He is well liked among farm organizations except for the NFU, which is still smarting over the end of the Canadian Wheat Board. It’s the same amongst the myriad of organizations involved in the food and beverage sector.

From a personal perspective, Ritz was remarkable in that unlike most of his prickly Harper cabinet colleagues, he retained a sense of humour and was always civil in dealings with the media, political opponents and critics. A sense of humour is a rare commodity in politics but he ranked with Don Jamieson and Herb Gray in finding the amusing side of many issues. It showed through during the CFA’s agriculture issues debate a couple of weeks ago.

That said, he missed two opportunities to put this respect to good use.

One was in October 2013, when CN CEO Claude Mongeau rang the alarm about a massive Prairie crop that would require a lot of co-operation to ship. Two months later Ritz was still insisting the grain was moving when it wasn’t. Ritz should have jumped on Mongeau’s comment to convene a meeting of farm groups, grain companies and the railways to get the grain moving. He had the creds to do that.

The other was supply management. Dairy supply management has been around for 40 years and the poultry boards aren’t far behind. They were designed for a much different agriculture than we now have. Ritz could have used his good standing with the boards to have the Commons or Senate agriculture committee take a long hard look at what works and what doesn’t. This should be an exercise in what changes are needed to make supply management relevant to 2020, not 1970.

Of course, even if he had wanted to take either initiative, there’s no guarantee the cabinet would have backed him.

Hopefully the history books will give Gerry his due.

— Alex Binkley is a member of the Parliamentary press gallery in Ottawa and a freelance reporter on federal agriculture, food safety and transportation policy and other issues for newspapers and farm journals across Canada and abroad. Follow him at @AlexBinkleyWrit on Twitter.

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