Agriculture Ministers meeting in Victoria, British Columbia this week, discussed governments' policies with respect to a number of key issues facing Prince Edward Island agriculture and agri-food sector.
Walter Bradley, Prince Edward Island's Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said that now that the issue of farm safety nets has largely been dealt with, the focus has shifted to other critical issues in agriculture.
"The renewed emphasis on the value and importance of the agriculture and agri-food industry to the Canadian economy and the need to remove barriers to growth is particularly important to Prince Edward Island," said Bradley.
The agenda included discussion on reducing domestic and international trade barriers, options for reducing costs for inspection services, examining the increasing cost of farm inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, the Canadian Food Inspection System, agri-food awareness and land and water resource sustainability.
In order to ensure that industry maintains a competitive position, Ministers agreed to look at new cost effective delivery options for services such as potato seed inspection. As farmers face new inspection fees, exploring alternatives to current services which may reduce costs is a priority.
Eliminating internal barriers to trade is particularly important to provinces such as Prince Edward Island which must continue to increase the value of exports of primary and value-added food products. Specific steps were confirmed to continue the progress toward removal of current barriers and to ensure that new barriers are not established.
Ministers expressed concern with the rise in farm input costs and impact these costs have on farm income. Prince Edward Island will cooperate with the federal government and other provinces in studying the effect of increasing prices on farm inputs such as fertilizer, fuel and pesticides.
The growth and development of a diversified and sustainable agri-food industry is critical to the Prince Edward Island economy. Bradley presented an update on the work of the province's Round Table and Land Use and Stewardship to the national meeting. On a national basis, Ministers were in full support of a continued emphasis on sustainable land use and water resource protection initiatives for the sector.
Ministers noted that "if you eat, you're involved in agriculture." Public understanding and satisfaction with the industry is important to the agriculture community. In recognition of this, Ministers agreed to cooperate and support industry in developing initiatives designed to increase public awareness of the importance and the value of the industry.
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