‘An extra burden that we don’t need’: Red tape costs farmers, stunts growth, industry leaders say

Ken Sarauer grows canola, malt barley and flax on his farm near Humboldt, Sask. (CTV News)

Canadian farmers face a swath of variables this season: tariffs, weather and crop prices. But industry leaders say red tape and burdensome regulations are stunting growth and putting the future of agriculture at risk.

A new report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) suggests 90 per cent of survey respondents believe red tape is negatively impacting productivity and growth. Seventy per cent say it constrains competitiveness.

“The burden has become extreme,” said CropLife Canada CEO Pierre Petelle.

The red tape that agri-businesses face comes in many forms, such as federal survey requirements, building and expansion permits, and environmental and health regulations, according to the CFIB.

Petelle said the environmental and health regulations are the most significant barriers that create years-long delays for farmers to access the newest technology and crop protection products.

“Over the past decade, the number of submissions for new crop protection products has dropped by about half for a variety of reasons. But the time to get those approved has doubled in many cases,” Petelle told CTV News.

“Whether it’s disease or insect pressures, famers need to have a robust toolbox to be able to protect their crops.”

Petelle would like to see regulatory departments “widen their mandate to consider economic growth” when developing new regulations, he said.

CFIB research suggests Canadian businesses face just under $18 billion in red tape annually. Agri-businesses bear a large portion of the burden, as they are among the most heavily regulated industries in the country, according to CFIB provincial affairs director Brianna Solberg.

“Small independent farms are the ones hit the hardest by this. They have virtually no ability to pass costs on to their consumers,” Solberg said.

Ken Sarauer grows canola, flax and malt barley on his farm near Humboldt, Sask.

Sarauer says over the course of a year, the paperwork associated with red tape can add up.

“There’s not one specific regulation. It’s death by a thousand cuts,” he said.

“It’s not a huge cost, but it is an extra burden that we don’t need.”

On a cold day in January, Sarauer doesn’t mind sitting at his kitchen table filling out paperwork to sell his barley to a company that would then sell it to Europe. This particular report will only take him about an hour.

But there are surveys and reports that can take him hours, if not days to complete. Those usually have to be done during seeding or harvest, he said, when farmers should be out in the field.

“It’s very frustrating. There’s a disconnect between the people making the programs, and their deadlines and the farmer. They don’t understand,” Sarauer said.

Besides costing farmers time and productivity in the field, some red tape hits the pocketbook.

New regulations now require engineering plans to build a shop on farms, according to Sarauer, which adds to the cost.

“Any extra cost is a burden when things are so tight,” he said.

The CFIB wants federal, provincial and local governments to measure, and publicly report the burden that red tape places on businesses. The group is also calling on all levels of government to reduce the number of regulations by two every time a new regulation is introduced.

“We understand that some regulation is certainly necessary. But what we’re calling for here is just a better, more efficient use of rules, not necessarily fewer standards,” Solberg said.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) is in the process of modernizing regulations to reduce red tape, according to an emailed statement to CTV News.

AAFC says it has identified 19 different initiatives that will streamline the regulatory system.

One-third have already been achieved, the statement said, and the rest are ongoing or upcoming. Many are expected to be completed within the next two years.