ARCHIVED - RPP 2006-2007
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

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HOW TO READ THIS REPORT

This Report on Plans and Priorities presents Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's (AAFC) planned program activities for the fiscal year 2006-2007. The report's structure is as follows:

Section I, Plans and Priorities Overview, contains an introductory message from the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, summarizing the Department's plans and priorities. This section also contains: a Management Representation Statement, signed by the Deputy Minister and the Associate Deputy Minister; Summary Information in table format, designed to provide a quick view of AAFC's reason for existence, the total financial and human resources the Department manages, and an overview of departmental program activities by strategic outcome; an outline of all priorities, and areas of the Department's vision, mandate and strategic outcomes, and benefits accruing to Canadians from its activities; highlights of performance accomplishments by program activities that contribute towards ongoing departmental priorities; and the management framework that the Department uses to deliver results.

Section II, Analysis and Performance, provides a detailed analysis of AAFC's program activities by strategic outcome: Security of the Food System, Health of the Environment and Innovation for Growth. This section also describes the program activities of the Rural Secretariat and the Co-operatives Secretariat, and the two agencies that report to Parliament through the Department: the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency and the National Farm Products Council.

Section III, Supplementary Information, contains Financial Tables, Horizontal Initiatives Information, Key Government-wide Themes, Statutory Annual Reports, and Parliamentary Committee Reports and audits and evaluations that apply to the work of the Department during the reporting year.

Section IV is Other Items of Interest. These include the portfolio's organizational chart and contacts, and Legislation and Acts administered by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and other agencies in the portfolio. Also, this section has an appendix providing links to electronic resources for further information.

Due to rounding, figures may not add to totals shown.

In our continuing effort to provide Canadians with on-line access to information and services, we are including web links to more information and highlights. These links are indicated by

We are committed to continuous improvement in our reporting. We therefore welcome receiving your comments on this report. Please send us your comments:

Message from the Minister

The Honourable
Chuck Strahl

If there is a word that could be used to best describe Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector, it is opportunity. Agriculture is integral to creating opportunities for Canadians. The sector employs one in eight Canadians, accounted for more than $26 billion in exports in 2005, and generates more than eight per cent of Canada's gross domestic product. It is innovative, it fosters good environmental stewardship, and it is a key contributor to the vitality of our rural communities.

As Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, it is my job to help champion Canadian agriculture and agri-food, both at home and around the world. And it is the Government of Canada's goal and commitment to help agriculture grow, prosper and be competitive on the world stage. This is key to the continued success of Canada's economy, and it is key to continuing to create opportunities for the sector, and for all Canadians.

I am honoured and privileged to have the chance to work for a sector that is of such significant economic, environmental and social importance to our country. Indeed, I am optimistic about the future of Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector.

Its productivity growth far surpasses other sectors of the economy, and has done so for decades. The sector has proven itself to be innovative and adaptive, able to constantly evolve to meet the needs of consumers. That is why Canadian agriculture and agri-food products are known and respected at home and around the world for their superior quality.

And I am proud to say that all organizations within the agriculture and agri-food portfolio - including Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Canadian Dairy Commission, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Canadian Grain Commission, Farm Credit Canada, and the National Farm Products Council - are working in concert to maintain the strength and productivity growth of the sector.

Of course there are challenges. Declining farm income, for example, has been a persistent frustration to the sector. One of the first things the new Government did upon taking office was accelerate the payout of the $755 million Grains and Oilseeds Payment Program. We will also be replacing the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program, to ensure income stabilization and disaster assistance best serves the needs of farmers, while remaining affordable to taxpayers. And we are making good on our commitment to provide an additional $500 million each year for agriculture to help address immediate farm needs and build profitability for the long term.

Another important priority for the Government of Canada will be the implementation of a Cover Crop Protection Program to protect prairie farmers. This program will create a compensation fund for farmers facing the devastating consequences of crop damage caused by severe flooding.

Canadian producers will also be assisted by the Enhanced Spring Credit Advance Progam, which we announced for the 2006 crop year, and the recent amendments to the Agricultural Marketing Programs Act, which combines the Spring Credit Advance Program and the Advance Payments Program into one program. These initiatives will provide increased benefits not just to crop producers, but to producers of other commodities and livestock as well.

To help the sector take greater advantage of new opportunities, we will continue to work towards the development of a Science and Innovation Business Plan to build a national science capacity for agriculture, and we will keep working across the entire value chain - or as we like to say, from the farm to the fork - to help ensure faster adoption and commercialization of scientific and technical knowledge.

We will also pursue our commitment to ensure all motor vehicle fuel in Canada contains an average of five per cent renewable fuel content, such as ethanol or bio-diesel, by 2010. The Government of Canada is going to make sure farmers have the opportunity to profit from this new environmentally sensitive alternative.

At the same time, we want to achieve an outcome at the World Trade Organization which benefits all of Canadian agriculture. We are committed to lowering the international trade barriers and unfair trade-distorting domestic subsidies in other countries. The Government will continue to advance the interests of our agriculture sector through multilateral, regional and bilateral trade initiatives.

We will also provide Canadian wheat and barley producers with the ability to choose how they market their products. We will provide western Canadian producers with the ability to market their grains either through the Canadian Wheat Board, or to a buyer of their choice.

And relevant to all of this work, an important priority for the portfolio during the next two years will be the development of the next generation of agriculture and agri-food policy, to provide an enduring foundation for profitability throughout the value chain. The agreements on the existing Agricultural Policy Framework expire in 2008, so as a portfolio we will be working in close collaboration with our provincial and territorial counterparts and with a wide range of stakeholders to develop new policies and programs that meet the needs of the entire agriculture and agri-food sector.

To demonstrate how the Department is going to respond to some of the challenges facing the sector during the next three years, I am pleased to present to Parliament and all Canadians the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's Report on Plans and Priorities (2006-2007). This report outlines the fiscal and strategic direction that the Department will pursue.

I look forward to working with the entire agriculture and agri-food portfolio, with producers, with provincial and territorial governments, with industry and with all Canadians, to ensure the agriculture and agri-food sector remains competitive, innovative and strong. By fostering security of income for farm families and a solid economic foundation for rural communities, the Government of Canada is helping ensure the agriculture and agri-food sector can continue to create opportunities for producers and for all Canadians.

The Honourable Chuck Strahl
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board

Management Representation Statement

We submit, for tabling in Parliament, the 2006-2007 Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for the Preparation of Part III of the 2006-2007 Estimates: Report on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports.

• It adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) guidance.
• It is based on the Department's approved Program Activity Architecture structure as reflected in its Management, Resources and Results Structure.
• It presents consistent, comprehensive, balanced and reliable information.
• It provides a basis of accountability for the results achieved with the resources and authorities entrusted to it.
• It reports finances based on approved planned spending numbers from the TBS.

Summary Information

Mandate

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) provides information, technology, policies and programs to achieve its three strategic outcomes:

1. Security of the Food System
2. Health of the Environment
3. Innovation for Growth

Benefits for Canadians

AAFC's departmental program activities, based on the vision-driven Agricultural Policy Framework, form a cohesive action plan that is working for the benefit of all Canadians. The Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector will enjoy enhanced business stability. Consumers will be confident in the safety and quality of their food and the environmentally responsible methods used to produce it. Canadians will also benefit from a range of new food and non-food products that will improve their day-to-day quality of life. A stronger Canadian agriculture and agri-food sector will, in turn, strengthen the Canadian economy as a whole.

Departmental Resources (Total Planned Spending)

Departmental Program Activities

* Full Time Equivalents
The figures have been rounded to the nearest millions of dollars. Figures that cannot be listed in millions of dollars are shown as $0.0.
Due to rounding, figures may not add to the totals shown.

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