It isn't often these days that a minister of the crown gets to
say "the envelope, please". So Federal Agriculture Minister
Ralph Goodale was savouring every moment when he dropped by
Mississauga late last month to present a $7-million cheque to
the new Agricultural Adaptation Corporation.It was the morning of Hollywood's Academy Awards, and Goodale was in a bit of an Oscars night mood, glad-handing and posing for photo-opportunities with everyone from the local member of Parliament to the aquaculture people. "This is one of the really good days for a minister of agriculture," he told an audience that looked like a Who's Who in Ontario agriculture. "These are the good days...We get enough of the bad," said Goodale, who had just come from doing yet another Mad Cow Disease interview that morning, this time on CTV's Canada AM. For farm leaders in the room, it was happy days as well: Goodale was handing over $7 million to their new Agricultural Adaptation Corporation, the first installment of $28 million over four years.
The money is part of the $60-million Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development Fund, announced in the 1995 federal budget, intended to ease the pain of cuts to agriculture, and help farmers compete.
The new farmer-run corporation, which will decide how to spend Ontario's portion, will be a "catalyst to encourage Ontario farmers and organizations to ensure industry seizes opportunities in the agri-food sector," said former Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) president Roger George, the corporation's first chairman. "It's the start of a new era." The non-profit corporation, formed early this year, is made up of 47 farm groups, and has a 15-member board. The idea is for farmers to decide where program money is needed, and Goodale said three other provinces are looking at the Ontario model: "It's an innovative model to put decision-making into the hands of the agri-food sector....This is a ground-breaking initiative."
With everyone from francophones to fish farmers involved, divvying up the cash won't be easy; George said "the phone has been ringing for a while." But he expected consensus would be possible: "Farm politics has become a team sport."
Criteria for applicants are expected shortly, but it's expected anyone already receiving government support won't eligible. Falling in that category would be groups such as the Seaway Valley Farmers' Energy Co-op, which is trying to build an ethanol plant in Cornwall. Seaway Valley recently received $3 million in provincial money, and ethanol gets a federal excise tax exemption.
Huron county corn grower Bob Down, a grains and oilseeds representative on the adaptation corporation, says criteria aren't ready yet, but it's unlikely "double-dipping" by groups already getting funding would be allowed. "As far as I would be aware, we're not interested in funding anyone's operational expenses....We would probably give higher credence to a group working in partnership or coalition."
While the board is considering hiring a "project manager", Down says the corporation is making every effort not to replace government bureaucracy with its own: "We want to keep the bureaucracy to a minimum and the efficiency at the highest."
Among those pouring accolades on the new farmer-run venture was provincial Agriculture Minister Noble Villeneuve, who called it "a model for other provinces to follow. I'm not taking anything away from bureaucrats, but farmers can do a better job.
"It will be in the hands of farmers and the Mike Harris government can't be blamed for using the funds to reduce the deficit."
OFA president Tony Morris said the corporation was "farmers making decisions for their future".
For now, the corporation is run out of the Guelph office of the Agricultural Commodity Council. Interest from the money will go towards operating funds, including director per diems and mileage for monthly board meetings.
Asked what happens when the $28 million runs out in four years, federal minister Ralph Goodale was coy. He called it an "experiment in new delivery systems in government programs....We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
George, who represents the OFA on the corporation, expects it to have "an indefinite shelf life beyond the delivery of matching federal funding", with future funding coming from a variety of sources. - JMM