NFU Briefs
2024
Submission to CFIA Consultation regarding Proposed amendments to the Plant Breeders Rights Regulations
The National Farmers Union responds to proposed changes in Canada’s Plant Breeders’ Rights, addressing potential impacts on farmers' rights, food security, and plant breeding. This policy outlines key concerns regarding the amendments and their broader implications.
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NFU Submission to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food on Issues relating to the Horticulture Sector
The NFU is pleased to provide comments to support the Committee’s study on issues relating to the horticultural sector, particularly insurance programs and federal assistance granted to the horticultural sector, with a focus on the effectiveness of insurance programs and the one-time assistance available to address climate hazards.
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NFU Testimonies – Senate Study on Soil Health in Canada
To promote soil health, we need common-sense solutions that ensure farmers have the security of tenure. We need a system that does more to protect farmland for farmers and food producers, and that prevents large-scale consolidation of land by outside actors that financialize land, turning it into a commodity to be exploited rather than an irreplaceable ingredient necessary to sustain us.
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NFU comments on proposed PMRA continuous oversight of pesticides
As stated in a previous submission to the PMRA, the NFU affirms that the powers under the Act appear to be sufficient to authorize continuous oversight, but there are opportunities for it to be strengthened. The NFU is also supportive of the proposals outlined in “The Proposed Policy on Continuous Oversight of Pesticides'' by the PMRA. The NFU believes that the implementation of continuous oversight (CO) in the PMRA’s evaluation process aligns with our values in regard to the precautionary principle, and at the same time supports the PCPA’s mandate.
Read MoreNFU Testimony – Issues relating to the Horticulture Sector
We are here to address the climate impacts threatening the economic viability of our farms. We also face a rapid rise in costs of production accompanied by downward pressure on the price we can command. The farmer’s share of the consumer food dollar is small, so grocery store price increases disproportionately benefit the large retailers. Increasing ownership concentration in wholesale and food processing further depresses our returns. Falling returns are creating a structural deficit: the difference is being taken out of the land, farm workers' labour and the farmers income. Failure to address these issues means ever fewer Canadian horticulture farms, less of our food being grown in Canada, vulnerability to environmental, political and economic conditions in the countries our imported produce comes from.
Read More2023
Supporting the rights of temporary and migrant workers
The National Farmers Union (NFU) appreciates the opportunity to provide a written submission to inform this committee’s study on Canada’s temporary and migrant labour force. The NFU is in a
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Annual Regulatory Modernization Bill Consultation
Our fundamental concern is that Incorporation by Reference (IBR) separates law-making from democratic oversight by Parliament. The authority to use IBR transfers power to create and amend regulations from elected representatives to unelected bureaucrats who are not directly accountable to voters. Combined with a regulatory policy that gives privileged access to corporations, the proposed use of IBR for internally-generated documents enables, encourages, and may even institutionalize the influence of lobbyist working on behalf of regulated parties over public regulators who should be working for the broader public interest. This unacceptably widens the gap between those responsible to the public and those making the laws that govern the public.
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Aggregate Data on Farmgate and Retail Food Prices
National Farmers Union’s Submission to House of Commons Standing Committee Canadians have been struggling to afford groceries. Many farmers have been struggling to make a living. Food retailers and processors, however,
Read MoreThe Competition Act as a Tool for Democracy – Fairness for Farmers
The Competition Act can be a powerful tool for balancing the Canadian economy by tempering the positive feedback loops that lead to ever larger, more powerful corporations concentrating wealth and shaping ever larger parts of the economy through their ability to set the terms of commerce as a result of their dominance within the market. The Competition Act needs to be designed as a tool for democracy, to ensure Canadians have a diversity of meaningful and accessible ways to participate in society as producers, workers, and small business owners.
Read MoreNFU submission on Proposed Special Review Decision of Atrazine
The National Farmers Union submitted the following brief to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency’s public consultation on its Proposed Special Review Decision of Atrazine and Its Associated End-use Products The
Read MoreNFU submission on BILL C-282 – An Act to amend the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Act (supply management)
Trade agreement negotiations are done behind closed doors, thus, it is critical that ground rules to uphold our supply management system are set now by our elected representatives voting openly in Parliament. The NFU therefore recommends that Bill C-282 be passed without amendment as a matter of national interest.
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Seed Regulatory Modernization – What’s it all about?
Much of Canadian farmers' success results from over a century of operating within a seed regulatory system that was designed to promote quality crops, prevent serious disease problems, and protect farmers from fraud. While there have been some changes to these regulations over the years, the basic purpose and structure of our seed regulations has remained constant over the entire lifetimes of today’s farmers. Our regulations have served us well, but if big seed corporations have their way, all this will change. The federal government’s Seed Regulatory Modernization process currently underway is a critical crossroads where global corporations seeking to control Canada’s seed for their own benefit are challenging our public interest-based seed regulatory framework.
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