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Business risk management (BRM) continues to be the central objective of agricultural policy in many countries, including Canada and the US. The unprecedented volatility that has characterized the farming sector in recent years is only expected to rise. Thus, governments continue to implement comprehensive suites of BRM programs to assist farmers in coping with these gyrations. This paper aims to examine 1) the relationships between the main Canadian BRM programs (AgriInsurance, AgriStability, and AgriInvest), and 2) if and how those relationships differ across different farms. Understanding the interlinkages between government BRM programs is central for policy makers in order to achieve the desired objectives. The analysis uses data from the Ontario Farm Income Database (OFID), which is a longitudinal farm-level dataset compiled from Ontario farm tax-file records from 2003 to 2011. The dataset contains detailed financial, production and program payment (except for Production Insurance/AgriInsurance payments) data for all Ontario tax-filling farm operations. Additional operator-level Production Insurance/AgriInsurance payment data is linked to farm-level OFID records to complement the program payment data. The paper uses a two-stage approach to examine the relationships between AgriInsurance, AgriStability, and AgriInvest. First, a multinomial probit model is estimated in which the dependent variables are dummies for all eight possible combinations of participation in the three programs and the independent variables include program participation in previous year, operating profit margin, operating expense ratio, leverage, diversification index, size, and sector. In the second stage, the predicted probabilities of the eight participation states from the first stage multinomial function is used as regressors against percentage falls in gross margin (operating revenue minus operating expense), controlled for size and sector. We find that participation in the previous year has a strong and positive effect on participation in the current year, and the three programs are generally treated as compliments. We also find that in general, farms that participate in some combination programs have smaller drops in gross margin compared to those that participate in no programs. Despite this effect, operators continue to drop out of BRM programs.

The agri-food chain today is significantly different from that of twenty years ago. Changing consumer demands, knowledge intensive technology, North American integration and globalization have all contributed to the evolution of the different segments of the chain, which include input suppliers, agricultural producers, food processors, and food distributors. The purpose of the performance report series is to create a picture of the economic health of the entire agri-food chain and its various segments, and to identify the challenges and opportunities that they will face in the future. To get a full picture of each component's and the whole chain's economic health, these reports will measure economic performance from several different perspectives; profitability, competitiveness, investment, productivity, innovativeness, etc. Traceability is the process of tracking or tracing the flow of products through a supply chain. Traceability systems can vary from simple traceback systems to systems that provide identity preservation and quality assurance. This report examines the extent of traceability in the Canadian dairy processing industry. The authors use a mail survey and Principal Component Analysis to better understand the drivers, the challenges and the costs and benefits experienced by firms which have implemented traceability systems. The report finds that most dairy processing plants had implemented a system of product traceability and are able to trace forward and backwards.

From the protests in the streets of Genoa, Quebec and Seattle to the U.S. Senate, one doesn’t have to look far to find opposition to globalization and concentration.“… [D]o something about antitrust, the concentration that is clogging the free market …”1was one plea in the Senate debate of the Wellstone Amendment 2752. The proposal to place a moratorium on large agribusiness mergers and to establish a commission to review agricultural mergers, concentration, and market power was defeated 71 to 21 but provides an indicator of the concern felt in some quarters. Similar legislative proposals have been made in the European Union and again in the United States. Globalization and concentration have changed the agri-food sector. To experience global competitors, a firm does not have to enter new markets; the competitors will come to the firm. Adapting to the changing global landscape requires managers and policymakers to view the world differently, understand the factors behind the changes and plan how best to alter corporate strategy or government policy to meet the new challenges.

A summary report of the presentations and the discussion at the national workshop on innovation in the Canadian economy and the Canadian agriculture and food sector held on September 26-27, 2002 in Guelph, Ontario. This report is the second product of a joint collaborative agreement between the Research and Analysis Directorate of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and the Department of Agricultural Economics and Business of the University of Guelph. The first product of the collaborative agreement was the organizing and holding of the workshop. This report provides a summary and a synthesis of the presentations and the discussions at the workshop.