Thank you very much. Welcome to Alberta, everyone. I'm certainly pleased to have been invited to come to make a few comments today.
We certainly recognize the value of this process. We were involved in some of the preliminary discussions. We also took part in the public discussion. The original APF was certainly a positive event, as far as we're concerned. It set out a framework that programs fit into and it came to the benefit of producers. So we have a great deal of respect for this process.
I wasn't exactly sure, but I've heard two versions.... We're supposed to be talking about business risk management in the morning, but that's not what I'm talking about. I saw that after I'd made up my comments. So I will just say on business risk management that we see the need for a predictable and effective program. I'm sure in the discussions we'll have some questions about that. We certainly see that as very important. The last APF program seemed to concentrate on that. For five years we tried to straighten that out, and it still hasn't really happened.
But I want to focus on three other things. One is the recognition of farmers' contributions to ecological goods and services renewal, specifically the farm succession programs that will enable young farmers to enter the industry. I overheard the comments of the first witness and will certainly follow up on them. We also need some meaningful programs that will promote strategic growth.
On ecological goods and services, we farmers have always been recognized as being good stewards of the land. We have to balance the need for a lot of production with environmental responsibility. The public has come to expect that from us. They have expectations that there'll be safe food, erosion will be kept to a minimum, wildlife habitat and the beauty of the countryside will be preserved, and endangered species will be protected. We are very happy to do those things as producers. But we also feel that some of those things are in the public good, and we would like to see the public share in the cost and benefits of them.
In the next five-year period of the APF we'd like to see us collectively examine exactly what processes we go through on the farm that are in the interest of the public. When those are identified, we need to figure out ways that the public can share in some of the costs.
At Wild Rose we've been very supportive of the ALUS program, the alternate land use services, which Keystone Agricultural Producers in Manitoba has introduced. It's in the pilot stage, and Delta Waterfowl has been raising a lot of funding to see how that process would work. Everybody says they're supportive of it, but I think we need to get down and really start to give it support financially and make that process work.
I know this could be expensive, but from a public acceptance standpoint there's no doubt that the environment and environmental issues have come to the top of people's minds. In other countries, help from the government has been funnelled through environmental programs, and it's much more acceptable to the public.
I just want to make sure we add that we should build on the environmental farm plan program and give the ALUS proposal serious consideration. On farm food safety programs, which I think are also public goods, we need to look at having those shared as well.
On renewal and the increase in the average age of farmers, there is no doubt that trend must be reversed. I see you just had someone here from the Canadian Young Farmers' Association. We're very supportive of that group and the Alberta Young Farmers Forum. They have provincial associations. What they're trying to do with very little money is just a drop in the bucket. We've been involved in those associations, and they need to reach out to the entire young farming community of Canada. They really need some assistance to be able to do that and make their own organizations stronger. I think that would be money very well spent.
We can talk about all the nice ideas for getting farmers into this and doing what we have to do to get young farmers involved, but there also need to be financial incentives. I know Farm Credit Canada has a special program, and I think the government would be very wise to look at extending that to other financial institutions and actually giving the down and dirty financing to help people get involved.
On growth and strategic growth, we need to be very careful that we don't confuse business risk management and insurance-type programs with the actual growth that's necessary to get the industry up and moving. We've just been through the BSE crisis, and we saw that farmers were trying to get their own packing plants going. We now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with biofuels, and I'm sure you have great interest in that. But farmer ownership of some of those facilities would absolutely be a very good way to increase that value in a hurry.
It's an area where we really need to be on a level playing field with our American neighbours and at the same time take care of the feeding industry. We need to work together strategically on that as well. If grain prices are going to be higher, we don't want to hurt the feeding industry. But when we face reality, we built the feeding industry on low grain prices, which has not been in the best interest of grain producers. It has put them in dire straits.
There is talk about cooperatives and helping farmers get their own facilities, but we need to back that up with some significant programs on lending, tax incentives, and loan guarantees. We can also take a part in sharing information and understanding exactly where the initiatives and opportunities are. That would be good for the government to involve itself in.
To conclude, we can never overemphasize the need to have consultation with industry, as we're just having. We need to accept one thing—that government is going to have a role to play in agricultural production. We always want to try to get out of having the government provide any assistance—the industry should fly on its own. I'd love that too, but we need to face reality that around the world that's just not the way it happens. We need to be strategic in how that assistance is delivered.
Thank you very much.