Ag ministers discuss BRM changes 

Glacier FarmMedia—Canada’s agriculture ministers wrapped up their annual meeting in Whitehorse Friday saying they continue to look at changes to business risk management programs to make them more responsive.

Federal minister Lawrence MacAulay and his Yukon counterpart, John Streicker, said during the closing news conference they held productive meetings on a wide number of topics.

However, there was no mention of changes to the capital gains inclusion rate, which at least two ministers said they raised and that have drawn criticism throughout the agricultural sector.

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Germany, Ethiopia, South Africa, Australia, Bangladesh and the U.S. were represented in the Ag in Motion attendance demographics this year.

Both Saskatchewan minister David Marit and Alberta’s R.J. Sigurdson said they found support among their colleagues in that they agree the changes are harmful.

“The provinces are aligned,” Marit said during an interview after the meeting.

Ministers want to adjust both AgriRecovery and AgriStability, and Striecker said they would advance work on proposals at their next ministerial meeting.

MacAulay acknowledged that payments through AgriRecovery take too long.

“We want to make sure we get the money into the pockets of the farmers and ranchers quicker than we have been,” he said.

Streicker added it’s not productive to have to “fire up” a specialized program each time there is a natural disaster.

“We’re looking for something that will be more predictable across the board,” he said.

Ministers also agreed to advance the pesticide working group action plan so that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency makes decisions based on evidence.

Further discussions included preparedness for African swine fever, avian influenza in dairy cattle, trade and accelerating work on specified risk material regulations that currently put Canadian cattle producers at a disadvantage to their American counterparts.