How cuts to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's budget will impact farmers remains to be seen.
The federal budget outlines $310 million in cuts to AAFC's core spending within three years.
"As you know, the agriculture budget has one of the largest percentage cuts to it, however there's not a lot of details as to exactly where those cuts will be," says Richard Phillips, Executive Director of the Grain Growers of Canada. "We've identified to the government our priorities that we did not want to be touched, and those would be the area of research and the area of trade and market access."
Both the Grain Growers and the CFA welcomed the $44 million in the budget for the transition to a full cost-recovery funding system for the Canadian Grain Commission.
Phillips says the Grain Growers are reserving judgement on the cuts until more details are released.
"We'll be in touch with the minister's office shortly to see what the plans are, but if the government is focused on the food safety side, and we have market access, than I think we'll be well positioned going forward," he says.
The CFA also notes the budget suggests business risk management programming will remain demand-driven and programs will be refocused, not cut.
Budget highlights:
- $310 million in cuts to AAFC's departmental budget by 2014-15. $56 million of these cuts will be to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
- $44 million over two years to transition the Canadian Grain Commission to a sustainable funding model.
- $99.2 million over three years for permanent flood mitigation measures for the 2011 floods.
- $51.2 million over two years for streamlining the food safety regulation process, split between the CFIA, Public Health and Health Canada.
- commitment to implement the Canada-U.S. Action Plan on Regulatory Cooperation.
Related Stories
