Bill C-264

2nd Session, 40th Parliament,

57 Elizabeth II, 2009

house of commons of canada

BILL C-264

An Act to provide cost-of-production protection for the family farm

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Family Farm Cost-of-Production Protection Act.

INTERPRETATION

2. The definitions in this section apply in this Act.

“average cost of production” means the average of the input costs per hectare for a year of all the designated products prescribed in respect of a farming zone, weighted by the percentage of hectares used for each designated product in the farming zone averaged over the previous three years.

“average netback” means the average of the netback to farm gate per hectare for each of the designated products prescribed in respect of a farming zone, weighted by the percentage of hectares used for each designated product in the farming zone averaged over the previous three years.

“designated product”, in respect of a farming zone, means

(a) livestock produced for food or for breeding for food production, or

(b) a crop,

prescribed for the purposes of this Act as a product typically produced or suited to production in that farming zone.

“family farm” means a farm

(a) operated by a family or extended family, whether or not incorporated; and

(b) of which the members of the family who are actively engaged in full- or part-time farming or are retired from such activity are directly or indirectly the beneficial owners of seventy-five percent or more of the farm.

“farming zone” means an area prescribed as an area in which the soil type and weather are sufficiently consistent to allow the establishment of a reasonably widely applicable cost of production.

“input cost” means the cost of production of a designated product, including but not limited to cost for land and buildings, labour, fuel, utilities, seed, fertilizer, pesticide, feed and animal health, that would normally be incurred on a family farm in a farming zone taking into account the typical costs and typical yields of marketable product at the time in the zone.

“Minister” means the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

“netback to farm gate” means the average return to a farm from sales of a designated product net of freight, cleaning and other costs incurred outside the farm.

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulation.

“qualifying land” means land that is used for the production of one or more designated products.

REGULATIONS

3. (1) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations

(a) listing the designated products that are typically produced or suited to production in each farming zone;

(b) subject to subsection (2), prescribing, for each farming zone, the typical average input costs of designated products in a farming zone on the basis of marketable product;

(c) subject to subsection (2), prescribing, for each farming zone, the typical average netback of designated products in a farming zone; and

(d) prescribing any terms that are by this Act to be prescribed.

(2) The Minister shall not recommend a regulation for the purposes of paragraph (1)(b) or (c) unless it has first been audited and approved by an independent auditor who

(a) is experienced in agriculture economics;

(b) has been named by the Minister for the purposes of this Act after consultation with representatives of the farming community; and

(c) has been approved by the Auditor General of Canada.

SUPPORT PAYMENTS

4. In respect of every year, the Minister shall designate a payment per hectare, to be made to every family farm in a farming zone for land that is qualifying land in that year on the farm, that equals the amount, if any, by which the average cost of production exceeds the average netback per hectare of production of designated products in the farming zone, weight-averaged by the amount of each designated product produced in the zone in that year and the previous two years.

APPLICATION

5. Section 4 applies to 2009 and the succeeding nine years.