Opinion
The announced withdrawal of six major farm groups from the Sustainable Ag Strategy steering committee is a safe move for two reasons.
First, there is little belief that the current government has a chance at forming the next government, and the Conservative government-in-waiting will most likely abandon the process anyway. Second, farmers see environmental policies and the Sustainable Ag Strategy specifically as having a negative impact on their farms.
In the spring of 2024, RealAgristudies surveyed 545 farmers on a number of policies related to Canadian agriculture and the policy with the most perceived negative impact was the Sustainable Ag Strategy. Our data supports that this decision by farm groups will be supported by the majority of farmer members.
Forty eight percent of farmers indicated that they see either a very negative impact or slightly negative impact from environmental policies and the Sustainable Ag Strategy. Broadacre farmers, farms over $500,000 in revenue, and farmers over the age of 35 report the most dissatisfaction with these policies.
Farmers under 35 still see the policy as a negative but less so than the farmers older than them.
It’s important to note that for many farmers in the study and that I have talked to personally about the impact of these policies, it’s the tone and lack of flexibility to recognize regional differences within these policies that is driving the negative sentiment.
The creation of the Sustainable Ag Strategy has been a real slow and winding road for stakeholders attempting to piece together this concept. For me, it’s been confusing whether this is in addition to what is already being done or something that ties current strategies and programming together. With some of the major farm groups finding the bravery to withdraw, we can finally put this nice-to-have in the trash so the industry can focus on more critical projects that actually impact farmers positively.
Check out more from RealAgristudies here.
