Grainswest - Fall 2026

Fall 2026 grainswest.com 47 BY BRUCE BURROWS GGC pushes for programs farmers can count on Areliable farmsafetynet POLICY PLACE WITH HARVEST IS IN THE BIN, grain farmers turn to the numbers. What did the crop bring in, and what did the year cost? And did the programs meant to protect the farm perform as needed? These questions are central to the Next Policy Framework, an important file the Grain Growers of Canada (GGC) has advanced this year. The federal, provincial and territorial governments that fund agriculture policy issued the Halifax Statement on July 17. It laid out the vision for the next five- year framework for 2028 to 2032. GGC submitted formal input ahead of the meeting. The federal government is now in the next phase of consultation focused on how the programs in the business risk management (BRM) suite will work. This work will determine whether the framework delivers meaningful improve- ments for farmers. The Halifax State- ment lays out the right diagnosis: BRM spending has grown over the past decade without a corresponding improvement in the effectiveness of programs that protect farmers. Coverage is uneven. Programs are built for one-off shocks, not the over- lapping and compounding risks farmers manage from weather and market volatil- ity to trade disruptions. GGC’s message through this process has been direct. Business risk manage- ment is not a place to cut corners while funding is redirected elsewhere. AgriIn- surance should remain the cornerstone of farmer risk management, with its long- term funding and effectiveness protect- ed. AgriStability must be more respon- sive, predictable and timely, yet leave room for provinces to deliver it in a way that fits their farmers. BRM programs need to catch up to the risks farmers now manage. This includes the market disruptions and geopolitical shocks their export-driven sector contends with. GGC first vice-president Sally Parson- age put the stakes plainly. Earlier this year, she told the Manitoba Co-operator that farmers rely heavily on AgriInsur- ance when yields fall short. It is the one program they can least afford to see weakened. She also noted farmers are often uncertain which support they are entitled to receive from AgriStability. This unpredictability undermines the program’s purpose. We also ask government to strip out complexity that doesn’t add protection. Adding environmental cross-compliance requirements to BRM programs increases paperwork without improving outcomes for farmers. This complexity has no place in a framework meant to be farmer focused. BRM is not GGC’s only priority. Research and innovation matter just as much to the long-term competitiveness of the sector. We’re pushing for stable, long-term federal investment in public agricultural research. Research priorities should be set in partnership with farm- ers, industry and researchers to ensure investments respond to the sector’s needs. Prescriptive spending rules that limit how research dollars can be used should be reconsidered, and government must make more effort to get research findings out of the lab and onto the farm. Competitiveness is the third piece of our advocacy. Canadian grain farmers sell into some of the world’s most inte- grated markets, and the framework must reflect this. We call for stronger support for market development and diversifica- tion so farmers aren’t overexposed to any single buyer. We also call for the federal government to take non-tariff trade barri- ers seriously. They can shut out Canadian grain as effectively as a tariff does. Simpler administration ties all of this together. A single point of contact across governments and a shift toward measuring farm-level outcomes rather than administrative activity would save farmers time and allow governments to focus resources on what works. Farmers will find none of this abstract. They manage some of the sharpest swings in yield and price faced by any Canadian industry, and they feel it first when a program falls short. To get the framework right will have consequences far beyond the bureaucratic process, particularly when it can determine whether a farm absorbs a bad year or is buried by it. The next framework will be shaped over the coming 18 months. GGC will continue to push to ensure the programs farmers depend on are built around the risks they face today, not the conditions these programs were designed to address a decade ago. Bruce Burrows is the executive director of the Grain Growers of Canada