Tariffs, Greenbelt and food security: Farmers share what's important to them as Ontario election nears

Shawn Brenn, a farmer near Millgrove outside of Waterdown, Ont., spends a lot of time thinking about how U.S. tariffs will affect Ontario farms.

As the chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and owner of Brenn-B Farms, he fears produce prices will see a huge hit in the likely case that American buyers aren't willing to pay an extra 25 per cent after proposed tariffs are enacted March 4.

"Eighty per cent of our fruits and vegetables get exported," Brenn told CBC Hamilton last week. "It will affect everyone hugely, but especially our greenhouse sector."

Brenn knows that negotiating tariffs is a federal issue, but says there are things the province can do to buffer their effects, such as programs that invest in farms and help them mitigate risk.

The province committed an additional $100 million in such funding in January, but it's not enough when compared to farm subsidies in the United States, said Brenn, 46.

Leaders of Ontario's major parties have all pitched their ideas for how they'd cushion the crippling blow of the tariffs to the province's economy if elected on Feb. 27. 

"We have a good relationship with this government, our biggest challenge is with the budget," said Brenn, whose main crop is potatoes.

"When you see announcements for electric vehicles – people can't eat electric vehicles. We need to make sure we have our own domestic food supply."

He's one of several farmers who expressed concerns about the success of Ontario agriculture compared to the juggernaut to the south in recent interviews with CBC Hamilton about the upcoming provincial election.

Catherine Petropoulos, a retired teacher who owns poultry and egg farms with her husband, was also keenly aware of the support received by American farmers, who often are in direct competition with those just across the border. 

Petropoulos, who lives in the Smithville area, south of Grimsby in the Niagara Region, said the supply management system in Canada gives farmers some protection but she's heard federal politicians talk about scrapping it over the years, so she always watches that issue closely.

Supply management is a system that allows specific commodity sectors — dairy, poultry and eggs — to limit the supply of their products to what Canadians are expected to consume in order to ensure predictable, stable prices. Those prices are negotiated through provincial marketing boards. 

U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed Canada to dismantle the system to help U.S. farmers – but Petropoulos believes it's a good system for farmers here, and for Canadian taxpayers.

"They have so much dairy and milk they end up throwing it out," she told CBC Hamilton in a phone interview, referring to the unrestricted production in the U.S. "When they have too much, those subsidies are paid by the taxpayers."