Blueprint unveiled to assist PEI farms

Agriculture on Prince Edward Island absolutely must embrace major change or be swallowed by an aggressive world market, say the authors of a public commission on the industry.

The third and final report of the Commission on the Future of Agriculture was released Thursday (Jan. 29)a glossy 45-page document complete with pictures and graphs that illustrate a sector in trouble.

However, unlike its predecessors this report doesnt just talk about the problems facing the industry and offer ideological solutionsthis report gives 14 specific recommendations for immediate and long-term action, as well as a plan for their implementation.

The commissions plan promises to save the sector. But it must be embraced by producers and stakeholdersand followed.

The commission believes that consistent execution of the full set of strategies and plans recommended can allow Prince Edward Island to achieve our vision, the report states.

That vision maps out a systematic way to change industry practices to achieve higher revenues.

To do this, producers and processors need to develop better knowledge of what the market wants and must change to adapt to those demands.

For a small Island like PEI, all signs point to organic, value-added products as the way to go for a viable future, the commission report states.

But many Island farmers are currently facing a financial crisis. Changing the way they farm means time and money they dont have.

Its fine to have a vision, but if we dont have immediate help for these farmersthey are in crisis today, said Edith Ling of the National Farmers Union at the commissions press conference.

But commission co-chair Rory Francis advocated looking past the immediate need and toward the larger steps that need to be taken to change the cycle of farmers relying too heavily on government safety nets.

There are always challenges and always crises in agriculture, and those pressures always force the short-term thinking of what do we do right now about this short-term situation, therefore you never get the opportunity to look at the longer term, more systemic situation, Francis said.

If you go from crisis to crisis you dont get underneath and really understand the problems that are causing those crises. Thats what the commission members tried to do.

The commissions 14 recommendations include measures to help make the sector more self-sustaining and financially viable.

It also established an implementation committee to help make the recommendations a reality, with the body made up of producers as well as provincial and federal government representatives.

However, the implementation of this plan is what most of the farmers are waiting for.

Coming through things in agriculture for the last few years, some of us have been a bit discouraged, said producer Alan Ling, who worked with the commission.

As we worked through the report and we started looking at the different opportunities and challenges that are out there, I think we see a lot of opportunities there.

John Colwill, president of the PEI Federation of Agriculture, feels the report is a good start, but he wants to see real action.

Lets roll up our sleeves and make sure work happens, Colwill said. Too many reports have been produced for agriculture that have sat on the shelf and we cant afford to let that happen this time.

Provincial Agriculture Minister George Webster agreed. He told the roomful of farmers that the commissions report is just the beginning of a new direction for agriculture in the province.

We are at the fork in the road and we really need to change the way we do business and we need to develop a new vision and a plan, Webster said.

But Opposition Leader Olive Crane said she wants to see government help farmers put the commissions plan into action.

Theres a variety of recommendations here that talk about niche markets, specialty markets, investment, etcetera but over the past year weve seen where government has actually pulled the plug where industry, especially the hog industry, was transitioning into a new marketplace, Crane said.

What is government planning to do to support the industrys document? The Guardian