Farmers and the Saskatchewan government reacted to Trudeau’s new “Sustainable Agriculture Strategy” (SAS) with skepticism, which was announced Monday by the federal agriculture minister..Western Canadian Wheat Growers (WCWG) Saskatchewan Director Daryl Fransoo said the over-regulation of farmers is costing Canadians at the grocery store..“It’s time for Ottawa to step out of the way. Their over regulations of an industry that's already the epitome of sustainability is only making food more expensive for Canadians in the store shelves,” said Fransoo..WCWG President Gunter Jochum said they will watch the SAS proceedings and communicate to the public how this affects their groceries bill.. Gunter Jochum .“We will be watching these consultations carefully, but we are prepared to expend resources to tell average, urban, non-farming Canadians their food supply and the cost of their food could be very negatively impacted by further federal ‘sustainability’ regimes,” said Jochum..READ MORE Trudeau government announces an agriculture strategy to meet climate change goals.A Saskatchewan government spokesperson said farmers are not getting recognition for all the work they already did to become sustainable..“Just like the federal government’s fertilizer reduction targets, there is no recognition of past practices or work done to date. The federal minister spent the summer trying to reassure producers here in Saskatchewan the previously announced fertilizer reduction ‘targets’ would remain voluntary,” said the Sask government spokesperson..“With the release of this discussion paper, we see them consulting on exactly what we feared they would do, enacting regulations to ban certain agricultural practices.”.READ MORE Sask First Act takes back control of fertilizer regulation from Trudeau.The WCWG expressed skepticism to the SAS, given recent federal agriculture announcements..“Coming on the heels of proposals to ‘voluntarily’ limit the use of fertilizer, and in the context of this government’s aggressive GHG policies, including the punishing carbon tax, the Wheat Growers are concerned these consultations may foreshadow another round of intrusive regulations that hurt consumers, decreased production, and amplified already extreme food inflation,” said the WCWG in a statement..Jochum said farmers are already concerned about sustainability as it affects the viability of their operations. .“Farmers are already deeply incentivized to make our operations sustainable,” said Jochum..“We want to produce the most outputs, with the fewest inputs, and keep our operations going long enough to pass them to our children and grandchildren. That’s the definition of sustainability.”.Jochum said farmers know more about sustainability than Ottawa does..“With due respect to the federal government, we know farm sustainability better than they do,” said Jochum..“I’m concerned what this is really about is setting up a system of higher costs and increased regulation for farmers.”. Marie-Claude Bibeau .On Monday, Federal Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced the SAS and the launch of public consultations..Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) President Mary Robinson and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) co-chair the SAS committee..“We must help Canadian farmers keep building their resilience to climate change,” said Bibeau. .“We need to sit down together and develop a roadmap that will keep us on track to meet our environment and climate goals.”.READ MORE MOE: Trudeau’s policies costing Saskatchewan $111 billion over the next 12 years.SAS is intended to “provide a coordinated approach to improving the agriculture sector’s environmental performance and sustainability.”.Robinson said the CFA asked for the SAS and is a “great opportunity” for farmers..“We’ve had some input in designing who the members of this committee were,” said Robinson. .“There’s a really great amount of diversity as far as who’s at the table, and its producers.”
