WHEREAS food security is becoming a critical issue, and agriculture producers in British Columbia have faced numerous financial challenges including Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy BSE, drought, loss of agricultural land for non-agricultural uses, and the loss of rangeland through forest fires, making it non-profitable to produce food locally; AND WHEREAS other western provinces in Canada have developed and implemented comprehensive agriculture policies to assist local food producers financially in light of the challenges they face: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM lobby the Province of British Columbia to develop a comprehensive agriculture policy similar to those in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta which includes fair compensation to our food producers and that the federal and provincial governments work with food producers to assist them in accessing existing federal and provincial government programs designed to support food producers.
Ministry of Agriculture All of the provinces and territories in Canada have signed on to a multi-lateral five-year agreement with the federal government known as Growing Forward. Within this agreement, there is a suite of financial programs known as Business Risk Management programs that provide support to all farm families in Canada. The terms of, and access to, these programs is similar across Canada. The programs are: AgriInsurance cropproduction insurance, AgriStability income stabilizing, AgriInvest and AgriRecovery funds for recovery from natural disasters. Funds for farm families impacted by flooding in the Delta area and for fires and drought in the Interior were secured recently through the AgriRecovery program. These programs provide funds to farm families to help them manage a variety of risks that impact their businesses weather, price and input cost fluctuations etc.. British Columbia continues to contribute financially 40 of the funds in these programs. The federal government contributes financially 60.