Being a profitable grain farmer becoming more difficult, says Grain Farmers of Ontario chair

Rising costs and low commodity prices are making it difficult for Ontario grain farmers to take advantage of serving global grain markets, Grain Farmers of Ontario chair Jeff Harrison told delegates at the organizations annual meeting Sept. 10 at the Craigowan Golf Club.

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“Being a least cost producer and being profitable in servicing export markets is certainly difficult in our province and in our country under the regulatory environment that we farm.”

He pointed to tariffs, taxation, land use issues, underfunded risk management programs and regulations that “really unfortunately are based on opinion rather than sound science” as the primary causes.

Consistent, constant advocacy

Despite these challenges Harrison said it’s important to remember the grain sector has a significant economic impact on the province as well as the nation, with 90,000 jobs in the province tied to the sector. The Ontario grain sector has grown in economic value by 60 per cent since 2010, contributing $2.3 billion to the provincial economy.

Government advocacy by the grain sector provincially and nationally is reaping some benefits, said Harrison. It has helped the sector receive better funding for “vitally important research”, such as $5.7 million for the Crop Science Research Cluster, administered by Canadian Field Crop Research Alliance (CFCRA).

Over the past 15 years, he said GFO has worked hard to get funding for risk management programs, and in the past few years the organization has been successful “with having the provincial government add the necessary funds to this program and help us get through years where we faced new struggles,” he said.

“This past year, we proved that the mechanics of this program work.”

But RMP funds have “diminished drastically” as RMP money that participating producers received in 2023 will not be anywhere close to that in 2024 .

“But we’ve had dialog with our provincial government, and we’ve had dialog with our new provincial Minister of Agriculture, and he has agreed to partner with us in that fight for more funding,” said Harrison.

“He has assured me he is our ally in this fight.”

The economic importance of the sector to the provincial economy is “one of the reasons why our provincial government has seen the value in investing in our industry with further funding for the RMP program.”

“We need to keep farmers growing, and we need to keep this economic driving message moving forward, it has been an ask of us by our government to provide any impact the fund that will enable our farmers to handle risks and struggles that the next year has in store for us.

“Our asks of government have been consistent, our messaging has been constant, and every chance we get, we try to strive for new touch points with government,” he said, which includes having accurate, fresh data and up to date information to help different levels of government.

Advocacy priorities for GFO continue to be climate policy, carbon tax, clean fuel standards, PMRA, fertilizer, tariffs and access to a solid, properly funded suite of business risk management programs, said Harrison.

“When it comes to the carbon tax, we are in our sixth year of fighting for an exemption of the carbon tax on grain drying. You all know that the rebate that you received was nowhere close to offsetting the cost of this carbon tax on your farm,” he told delegates.

Although he couldn’t promise success on continued pursuit of an exemption to the carbon tax, “I can guarantee you we won’t stop fighting fertilizer.”

Tariffs remain in place, creating a barrier for farmers to access competitively priced fertilizer, which “is certainly putting us at an uneven playing field with our nearest competitor, our United States counterparts.”

Commitment to mental health

Harrison said the financial picture on farms as a result of low commodity prices and “ever increasing costs” are top of mind, and “it’s important to recognize that all of these challenges can take a toll on our farmers mental health.”

He noted “agriculture has really come a long ways in the last several years to prioritize this issue of make resources available for our farmers, and it has been highlighted at all levels of government.”

He said the GFO board and organization has “been very committed to maintaining these resources for farmers.”