Handicapped by Design
Beginning Farmers Handicapped by Design
During the worst crash in pork markets in any living farmer's memory, the period 2007-2008 when hog prices collapsed 43%, the Ontario government came to the rescue with an emergency cash payment worth 150 million dollars to Ontario's cattle, hog and horticulture producers (Ministry of Agriculture and Food excerpt from news release, December 14, 2007).
The design left out beginning farmers.
Quick and Dirty
Normally a farm support program is a convoluted affair - every farm is different - how do you help them all - it takes a long time to design. But for the design of what became known as the OCHHP program (Ontario Cattle, Hog and Horticulture Payment) there was little time. It was an emergency (read: farmers needed money in a hurry). The design was quick and dirty. No application necessary - just send out cheques based on a farmers average production during the years 2000 to 2004. $150,000,000 spent.
And if you started farming in 2005? No average production in the required years. No emergency cheque. (Read About for more)
Not Enough Heart to Craft a Remedy for the Handicap
In the shadow of no OCHHP cheques for beginning farmers, a Beginning Farmers Group was organized in April 2008. They wrote letters and held demonstrations. They spoke to the media and their Members of Parliament. They took a petition to the Legislature. They asked Leona Dombrowsky, then Minister of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs, to tweak the assistance program to make beginning farmers eligible for the desperately-needed cash infusion. (Who is likely to need help more than beginning farmers?) Some suggested a simple remedy - create an appeal process so that beginning farmers can bring in their records showing that they "lost their shirts" just like everybody else that took a 43% dive in prices. But the Minister found excuses for leaving the beginning farmers handicapped. (Read more in Excuses ...)
The Pain Goes On ... and On ... and On
Overlooked in 2008; handicapped ever since.
After a 43 percent crash in prices, a sector makeover was necessary. Both federal and provincial governments devised renewal programs. Since 2008 there has been a cull sow program, a kick-start to Agri-Invest, a food safety and traceability initiative, a loan loss reserve program and a farm transition program.
The cash infusion of the emergency OCHHP program helped a majority of producers rebuild their balance sheets and thus were able to participate in these renewal programs. OCHHP-Overlooked Beginning Farmers were left on the sidelines. Their balance sheets were not rebuilt. Their debt per sow was greater than the cull sow payment. They could not afford to hire an accountant to prepare the required five year cash flow as required for the Loan Loss Reserve Program. Their equity was below the 25 percent minimum required. (Read more in The Pain Goes On ...)
Time to Lift the Handicap! You can Help
Beginning farmers were left out in 2007-2008 and have been left handicapped ever since. To survive in agriculture, these families have had to be among the best farmers. But the burdens continue: limited access to renewal and support programs, higher costs, family stress and no financial room to save for retirement. You can help...
