When we look at agriculture in the future in this country it is going to look like Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party's vision of the sector.
The Harper led Conservatives have had a vision of agriculture unfettered by any government rules and regulations, and now with its first majority government it is pushing its agenda to fruition.
The first massive change was the elimination of the single-desk selling agency for Prairie-grown wheat, durum and export bound barley, the Canadian Wheat Board. The process undertaken by the Conservative government was suspect, and whether ultimately deemed illegal by the courts, it certainly played fast and loose with the spirit of Parliament.
That said, it was a change this government would have ultimately been able to manifest based on the aforementioned majority since Harper and his party have repeatedly shown their vision of things is paramount regardless of the suggestions of others. They forget how small a percentage of Canadians actually marked their ballots in favour of the Conservatives. It is a majority created on riding after riding splitting votes in a multi-party system so they are far from the popular choice. They are however above such concerned with their arrogance showing.
And now the Canadian Grain Commission has been radically changed by the Conservatives, and they have done so in a way which limited debate on an issue farmers should have concerns about.
Canadian Grain Commission rules and responsibilities passed through the House of Commons agriculture committee recently but most people would not have been aware of it.
The changes were included in the huge budget bill C-45, and as a result really got lost in the process of review, a situation one has to feel was by design. This federal government has never been particularly keen on listening to views not in lockstep with their own.
The proposed Grain Commission changes would lead to reduced inspection, an end to in-ward inspection of grain moving between inland terminals and export facilities and would see millions of dollars in new user fees passed on to farmers.
High grain prices might soften the impact of new user fees, but it is still picking the pocket of farmers who will pay for services previously deemed appropriate for the large taxpayer base to bear.
The reduction of inspections is also a strange decision in that increasingly the consumer is demanding more and more effort to ensure food safety, and inspections by an agency such as the Grain Commission fit into that trend.
Of course inspection in agriculture appears to be generally seen as cumbersome by this government who has also tinkered with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as it remolds agriculture in one reflective of the Conservative Party ideals.
In terms of consumer trust in a food system, and respect internationally in terms of grain exports, the Canadian system has worked well for Canadian farmers for years now.
Any system can of course use the occasional tweak to keep it current, but the Conservative Party moves are fundamentally changing the parametres under which agencies like the Canadian Grain Commission operate on behalf of farmers.
The Conservatives are fundamentally changing farming powered by their bulletproof majority, and farmers will need to adapt since the chance of tempering Harper's vision is a slim one.
