Some time ago, I wrote some columns about the hundreds of agricultural producer organizations that exist at local, provincial, regional, national, and international levels. All of them are directly or indirectly financed by producers, with many groups claiming to represent the same producer.
What’s even more presumptuous is when groups pretend to represent the general producer community when their membership base is minuscule. For instance, the National Farmers Union portrays itself as a national voice of Canadian ag producers. In reality, they are a small group of extreme left-wing, mostly hobby farmers who oppose commercial agriculture.
Many commodity-specific national producer groups exist because it is difficult for a national farmers’ organization to address the political differences between groups. For instance, it’s hard for free market groups to coexist with supply management groups under the same umbrella organization. It isn’t just ag producers that have a plethora of representative organizations; on the commercial and supplier side of the industry, pesticide, fertilizer, seed, and machinery companies all have established groups to represent their interests.
Governments, of course, have super-national groups like the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and myriad others. Governments, along with academia, are also members of scientific and ag development organizations at the international level. One shudders to contemplate the millions of producer and taxpayer dollars spent to support all these groups. The question to ponder is: What is the value of these government-supported groups to the Canadian taxpayer?
During the recent G7 conference in Kananaskis, one is surprised to learn that an unknown international ag group was holding a conference at Olds College that was apparently intended to keep G7 leaders aware of agriculture. I may be cynical, but I suspect the word agriculture never passed the lips or ears of any of the G7 leaders at their recent conference. The ag conference, entitled “On the Margins of the G7 – # AmericasAgForm25,” was sponsored by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
These two unfamiliar groups support development projects in the developing world. Canada is a member of both groups, but its primary role appears to be providing substantial financial support to both groups. Canada has a representative who is also the secretary of Procinorte, a related group but dedicated to North America. I suspect that representation alone must cost half a million dollars a year, including salaries. These international organizations often have entrenched, extensive bureaucracies, along with the usual public relations departments.
The impact these groups have on Canadian agriculture would be minuscule, if any. Much of their endeavours, I suspect, are endless monitoring, evaluation, and holding meetings on development and sustainability in agriculture. All would seem to be bureaucratic and academic playgrounds to keep countless highly paid folks looking busy. It boggles the mind.
Readers who were unintentionally oblivious to the existence of the aforementioned ag organization meeting in Olds can soothe their conscience by remembering that an International Conference on Ag Genetics, Biological and Environmental Sciences is coming up in Calgary. Not to be confused with the International Conference on Agriculture, Environment and Biotechnology, which is also being held in Calgary but at a later date.
One gets the impression that some clever entrepreneurs have created an international conference industry that entices organizations, government bureaucrats and academics to attend these contrived events around the world. Most of those folks would be on the taxpayer-supported payroll, with all expenses paid to attend these far-flung events. According to the promotion around such events, they are great opportunities for networking and career advancement. I suppose it’s just a perk for many who attend such events. I expect the cost to taxpayers in hosting these events, including the cost of attendance, is rarely reported.
Having said all that, and with all due respect, there is a significant difference between dubious international conferences and agriculture industry organizations and agencies’ AGMs and information sessions. Those meetings report on their activities and are critical to their accountability and credibility.
I suspect the recent Americas AgForum event in Olds was more an exercise in self-promotion for an unknown organization supported by Canadian taxpayers. But it failed miserably to capture the attention of the G7 leaders, which was the goal of the entire exercise. Still, for many in attendance, it was probably a great talkfest among fellow travellers on the conference circuit. If nothing else, Olds area hotels and restaurants appreciated the business.
Will Verboven is an ag opinion writer and policy advisor.