Growing Forward Framework Agreement

(To the) Complete Growing Forward Framework Agreement

Executive Summary

The Growing Forward Framework Agreement lays the groundwork for coordinated federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) action over five years (2008 to 2012) to help the sector become more prosperous, competitive, and innovative. The agreement builds on the vision, principles, and policy outcomes agreed to by Ministers in Whistler in June 2007, and gives the details of national cost-shared initiatives, as well as complementary federal initiatives, that will help to achieve the outcomes. The agreement also contains the details of the new Business Risk Management (BRM) program suite launched on April 1, 2008. The Growing Forward Framework Agreement will supersede the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Framework Agreement on Agricultural and Agri-Food Policy for the Twenty-First Century (also known as the APF Framework Agreement), which was signed in June 2002 at Halifax, NS.

To support the new framework, FPT governments are investing $1.3 billion over 5 years in new Growing Forward programs - an additional $330 million over the Agricultural Policy Framework (APF). The funding is cost-shared on a 60:40 basis between the Government of Canada and provincial and territorial governments.

Structure of the Framework Agreement

The Growing Forward Framework Agreement is divided into three parts: Part I contains the overarching policy architecture and general provisions, Part II contains non-BRM funding and initiatives, and Part III sets out the new BRM program suite.

Part I. Policy Architecture and General Framework Provisions

Part I contains general provisions for the framework, including the policy architecture (Part IA). This architecture builds on the fundamental vision, principles, and outcomes agreed to by FPT Ministers in June 2007 at Whistler, BC:

"Our common vision is for a profitable and innovative agriculture, agri-food and agri-based products industry that seizes opportunities in responding to market demands and contributes to the health and well-being of Canadians."

To achieve this vision, FPT Ministers agreed to put into place policies and programs to achieve three fundamental, strategic outcomes:

• A Competitive and Innovative Sector,
• A Sector that Contributes to Society's Priorities, and
• A Sector that is Proactive in Managing Risk.

To achieve these strategic outcomes, the Growing Forward Framework Agreement commits FPT governments to undertake a number of targeted initiatives in specific areas:

A Competitive and Innovative Sector:

• Expanding the sector's capacity to innovate by: offering support for commercialization and innovation; developing a bioeconomy strategy; and creating science clusters to deal with priority areas.
• Improving governments' regulatory performance by: improving the approval processes for veterinary drugs, novel foods, and food additives; and offering science and other support to help the industry generate approvals for health claims and new minor-use pesticide products.
• Facilitating industry success in global and domestic markets through: support for industry-led marketing strategies; a Canada branding strategy; market intelligence and services for exporters; and action to maintain and improve market access.
• Enhancing the sector's capacity to adapt and succeed by helping entrepreneurs evaluate their performance and plan the futures of their businesses.

A Sector that Contributes to Society's Priorities:

• Enhancing food safety through support for, and recognition of, food-safety systems; and by facilitating producer adoption of systems where the market demands it.
• Enhancing environmental performance through: research into agricultural practices that improve environmental performance; support for the adoption of management practices that create benefits or reduce risk in priority areas; the dissemination of knowledge and information on environmentally-sound practices; and measurement of the sector's environmental performance.

A Sector that is Proactive in Managing Risks:

• Preventing and preparing for risk through an animal and plant biosecurity strategy; and by implementing biosecurity and traceability systems.
• An improved BRM program suite, including AgriStability, AgriInvest, AgriRecovery, and AgriInsurance.

Finally, in achieving the vision and strategic outcomes FPT governments will be guided by a number of specific principles, including most notably the commitment to flexibility in programming to meet the needs of specific regions. This flexibility will apply to the framework's funding rules, as well as the intensity and details of national programming offered within specific jurisdictions.

Part II. Non-BRM Funding and Initiatives

Part II contains details of programming intended to complement national demand-driven BRM programs. Building on the APF's four non-BRM pillars (Food Safety and Quality, Environment, Science and Innovation, and Renewal), these programs represent targeted investments by FPT governments to help the industry achieve the three Growing Forward strategic outcomes.

Part IIA lays out the spending rules for the framework. Similar to the APF, spending for non-BRM programming will be shared between governments on a 60% federal, 40% provincial/territorial (PT) basis, with funding allocated to provinces and territories on a similar basis to that used in the APF. However, Growing Forward will offer PT governments unprecedented flexibility in determining how federal funding allocated to their jurisdiction for non-BRM programming will be allocated among the three Growing Forward priorities and among years of the Implementation Period (i.e., the fiscal years from 2008-09 to 2012-13, inclusive). Provinces and territories will be able to distribute non-BRM funding between the three outcomes, so long as a minimum of 25% of their allocation is directed towards the Competitive and Innovative Sector outcome, and a minimum of 25% is directed towards the Society's Priorities and Managing Risk outcomes.

Part IIB lays out the federal shared and matched non-BRM initiatives for Growing Forward. These initiatives will include national programs administered by the federal government, as well as jointly-funded and/or administered programs offered in conjunction with PT governments. Provinces and territories will have the flexibility to choose the intensity and details of many of these initiatives in order to tailor national Growing Forward programming to meet the priorities of their regional industries.

Part IIC includes a number of additional federally-funded initiatives that are not part of the 60:40 shared funding envelope, but which will help to achieve the vision and the three strategic outcomes of Growing Forward. These include initiatives which fall within the federal government's sole jurisdiction - e.g., regulatory reform and branding of Canadian products in international markets.

Part III - Business Risk Management

The last part of the agreement (Part III) contains the details of the new BRM program suite launched on April 1, 2008. These are national, demand-driven, FPT programs to help producers reduce income losses stemming from low commodity prices, reduced production, or natural disasters.

The new BRM suite consists of four national and cost-shared programs, namely AgriStability, AgriInvest, AgriInsurance and AgriRecovery.

• AgriStability is a margin-based income stabilization program that covers larger margin declines of more than 15 per cent caused by circumstances such as low prices, production losses or rising input costs. The program reduces the fluctuation of participant production margins by providing payments when a producer's production margin is less than the previous five-year olympic average.
• AgriInvest is a contributory style savings account program that helps cover small margin declines of 15 per cent or less. Governments match annual producer contributions to savings accounts up to a limit based on allowable net sales.
• AgriInsurance provides insurance against production losses for specified perils. The federal government contributes to AgriInsurance contracts offered to producers by provinces or territories. The commodities covered vary by province or territory.
• AgriRecovery provides a process to enable governments to respond quickly when a natural disaster hits and fills gaps not provided by existing programming.

Additionally, the agreement recognizes the supply management regime as a BRM program.

Part III also defines the general principles that apply to the design of BRM programs. These principles ensure that programs:

• respect Canada's international trading obligations and minimize countervail risk;
• minimize moral hazard and not influence farmers' production and marketing decisions;
• are developed in conjunction with the agricultural sector, including consultation with other relevant partners and stakeholders;
• have a clear purpose, and be comprehensive, comprehensible, predictable, and simple to administer;
• do not provide a disincentive to the use and development of private sector risk management tools;
• contribute to market-oriented adjustments and adoption of technological innovations;
• apply to the stability of the entire farm entity; and
• do not distort regional or commodity-based comparative advantage within or among jurisdictions.

Finally, the agreement contains detailed annexes for each BRM program with financial provisions (e.g., FPT cost-sharing arrangements), requirements such as audit, verification and performance measures, and program parameters (eligibility criteria, eligible sales, payments basis, etc.).

Bilateral agreements

The multilateral framework agreement will be complemented by bilateral agreements between the federal government and each province or territory. These bilateral agreements will lay out in greater detail how national and PT programming will work within each jurisdiction to meet the needs of farmers and other industry stakeholders. Full implementation of the new framework will take place on or before April 1, 2009.

Contact Us:

If you cannot access the Growing Forward Framework Agreement, please contact Growing Forward, to obtain an alternate format.

Complete Growing Forward Framework Agreement

Growing Forward Framework Agreement

Growing Forward, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative