The Chair of the Federal Agriculture and Agri Food committee says it’s time start working on strategies to get more young people interested in farming as a career.
Bruce Grey Owen Sound Conservative MP Larry Miller says the average age of farmers in Canada is around 59 and as they retire, there are fewer and fewer young people willing to replace them.
He says it is a serious situation that the government must address and he wants the Agriculture committee start looking at this problem as soon as it completes work on its latest project.
Miller says the committee now is dealing with a draft report on the competitiveness of Canadian Agriculture which should be presented to Parliament before Christmas.
He says one of the main reasons young people are reluctant to get into agriculture as a career is the lack of profits in the industry.
Miller says one way to get around this is for consumers to actually pay the real price for the food they produce.
He says it’s time to change the mindset of people who feel they deserve cheap food.
He says farmers are being short changed because of this and as a result are having a very difficult time making a living.
Miller says its time consumers started acting to support their farmers by paying a fair price for their food.